I think the most viable system is Stokoe (with the modifications used
in the BSL dictionary). It is by far the easiest to learn and doesn't
use more than a couple of non-latin glyphs (the problem is the
positioning of subscript and superscript clusters and diacritics).
Few people write signed languages at all, and when they do they
usually use the "gloss" method (ie, word-for-word translation into the
national spoken language). After this the most popular is Sutton
SignWriting which I personally despise for various reasons, then
Stokoe, then personal systems (yes, prior to Stokoe and SSW some
people wrote signed languages using systems they invented themselves),
then HamNoSys (based on Stokoe, but capable of much more detail,
perhaps paralell to Stokoe not distinguishing from allophones but HNS
distinguishing; mostly used in academic circles).
Stokoe is in fact an alphabet, just because it doesn't record sound
doesn't mean it can't be broken into similar units.
Mark
On Wed, 26 Jan 2005 14:43:41 +0100, Pablo Saratxaga
<pablo(a)mandrakesoft.com> wrote:
Kaixo!
On Wed, Jan 26, 2005 at 08:44:01AM +0100, Skriptor wrote:
Excuse my ignorance, but how do you write sign
language? I was under
the impression that no common written form of sign language exists
(although I know of attempts to create a notification system, which is
however more like a dance notation language than a normal alphabet).
Writting sign languages with alphabets makes no sense at all, as there
is no sound to encode, but motions and expressions instead.
An ideographic system is much more logical to the nature of the
languages; and while current representations are quite far away
of what we would expect a written language to look like, if it spreads
in use it could well evolve to be something looking like chinese
writting.
--
Ki ça vos våye bén,
Pablo Saratxaga
http://chanae.walon.org/pablo/ PGP Key available, key ID: 0xD9B85466
[you can write me in Walloon, Spanish, French, English, Catalan or Esperanto]
[min povas skribi en valona, esperanta, angla aux latinidaj lingvoj]
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