Systems for Writing ASL

rockdrummer said:
there is something called signwriting. I started a thread about it here
http://www.alldeaf.com/sign-language-oralism/44822-what-about-signwriting.html

Here is a link to the signwriting website.

SignWriting For Sign Languages
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That looks horrifically complicated. I was makle to make out most of The Cat In the Hat (doesn't hurt that I have it memorized anyway), but the symbols would be a nightmare to replicate by hand.

IMHO, it's just not a feasable idea. Is there some reason people are wanting to avoid being bilingual where this would be necessary? Why not just use English (or whatever your chosen written language is) and write ASL gloss?
 
shel90 said:
Then what do you do for the movement part?

I took grad level courses in Linguistics at Gallaudet University and it was empasized that there were many attempts to gloss ASL or get it in the written form but one of the components was always missing.
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In my opinion what makes ASL so beautiful is that it uses the body...to separate the language from the body is like separating your fingers from your hand...[/I]
 
BLeGal2 said:
Oh Gallaudet--I'm jealous!! I could never afford to go there if I tried. I'm so jealous!

So any way when glossing movement there are symbols that are written that signify the motion of the sign. For example, ^ is an upward movement (vertical) whereas one facing down (idk how to make one) is a down motion vertically. N is up and down. They have lots, but like I said I have only ever seen them used in Linguistics classes when you have to gloss out something and then sign it. then for the handshape they just name the shape so for example when glossing the sign "high" it is written H ^

Most of the glossing comes from Stokoe's dictionary glossing ASL, but Colorado has a whole course on it that my interpreting teacher took. In her class they wrote out the signed sentences with english words in object first grammar and then used stokoe's symbols above the words to describe it.

It is all way too confusing to ever use daily. Sucks that natural signers have to convert their grammar to write in english- i bet it is a pain.
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I think about that all the time...my boyfriend is Deaf and since his high school was not accredited, he has had to get his GED though the 'graduated' from high school...his challenge while trying to pass the GED is the English part, I can't imagine how a person leans English without hearing it, he writes well but he does not use perfect grammar, it annoys me that this is the only thing keeping him from passing the GED...when you said how tedious glossing is, I thought about having to write English while Deaf has to be just as, if not more tedious for him.
 
Is very impressed with Si5s writing.. Can't really coherently write at the moment due to making up for the lack of Avery beer while being in las vegas...
 
I am with Potts... si5s, wow.... just wow..

Shel - I suggest you to check it out, http://www.youtube.com/si5s ...

My daughter understood it after 5 minutes of me explaining it to her. Then she started to explain to me what the paper/shirts in the booth were saying....

She's 8..
 
Did you know that China had and Korea had movable print 400 years before Gutenburg. Why did it not become widespread?

"Neither movable-type system was widely used, probably because of the enormous amount of labour involved in manipulating the thousands of ceramic tablets, or in the case of Korea, metal tablets."
Movable type - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

All ancient cultures invented their own pictographs / logograms. However, the alphabet was only invented once - all other alphabetic written languages inherited from that original. If ASL would have a written system using pictures, how big will the keyboard have to be? How would you look a word up in a dictionary if there is no "correct" spelling for it, i.e. you could make up your own picture that would be as correct as anyone else's?

ASL is definitely recordable using video capture. So is English using audio capture. Do I look for information on the Internet using my voice? Should we dump those archaic loads of trees at the library for CDs or MP3s? No. The written word is a trade-off. You trade expressivity for simplicity and accuracy. Vocal inflections, pausing, hand and facial gestures all play a part in the English languages. They are only hinted at in English writing, and therefore some ambiguity exists. But the trade is well worth it for most applications.

I have made an alphabetic writing system for ASL called ASLSJ. Please let me know what you think of it.

ASLSJ
 
BLeGal2 said:
Not completely true. It can be glossed out in written form. Yes it is not like how we write in English, but it is a written version of ASL. Really it is only ever used in an ASL Linguistics course to help specify signs and explain locations,NMM, etc -- but IT IS A BIG PAIN in the butt to do. it is annoyingly tedious
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I'm afraid a written from of ASL won't capture the nuances of signed ASL. You'd need to indicate facial expressions, postures etc and that doesn't translate well into written form.

That said, I would embrace a written form of ASL if someone was able to get around these problematic areas.
 
shel90 said:
That's why for ASL to be in "writing" , videos are needed. I did go to a workshop for ASL glossing to teach deaf children read and write but it just ened up confusing them even more. Just have them read straight out English or whatever the native spoken language is at their countries.
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I have always thought theater and videos are much better medium for ASL than prose.
 
Wirelessly posted

If people aim to write as a mean to record and preserve information, rather than trying to translate a spoken or signed language into written form, perhaps we wouldn't have all of these horrendous prototype writing systems.
 
souggy said:
Wirelessly posted

If people aim to write as a mean to record and preserve information, rather than trying to translate a spoken or signed language into written form, perhaps we wouldn't have all of these horrendous prototype writing systems.
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huh?
 
Wirelessly posted

posts from hell said:
souggy said:
Wirelessly posted

If people aim to write as a mean to record and preserve information, rather than trying to translate a spoken or signed language into written form, perhaps we wouldn't have all of these horrendous prototype writing systems.
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huh?
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Just thinking about how horrid glossing, SignWriting and proto-writing systems are. :)

Will have to check out the writing system you've linked to in a week or so.
 
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