SignWriting: Sign Languages Are Written Languages By Valerie Sutton & Adam Frost Center for Sutton Movement Writing (CSMW)
[email protected] •
[email protected] Abstract SignWriting is one of the world’s scripts, ISO Center for Sutton Movement Writing 15924 Sgnw, recognized by the ISO on October http://www.MovementWriting.org 10, 2006: Lucinda O’Grady Batch, a Deaf native American ISO Codes for Recognized Scripts Sign Language user, together with Valerie http://unicode.org/iso15924/iso15924-codes.html Sutton, founded the Deaf Action Committee for SignWriting in 1988, to encourage input from The SignWriting Spatial Alphabet is a daily Deaf people who are writing their native sign writing system for any sign language in the languages for the first time in history. world. It is used by thousands of people SignWriting is a successful writing system worldwide, in some 40 countries. It can be because of the influence and use by skilled written by hand as a daily script, or typed by signers. It is evolving naturally as more and computer, making it possible to publish books more people write, and as Deaf children learn it and web sites in written sign languages. in schools. 1. Introduction 2. Purpose & Background Sign Languages are becoming written languages SignWriting is an alphabet for writing body because of SignWriting. movement, and was not developed for linguistic research, although linguistic research labs do use Software can be accessed freely. Thousands of SignWriting to study how signers write their people create their own SignWriting dictionaries language. and long documents written in the handshapes, movements and facial expressions of their native History of SignWriting sign languages, directly on the web: www.signwriting.org/library/history/index.html SignPuddle Software Online SignWriting was not developed with a prior http://www.SignBank.org/signpuddle knowledge of any one sign language, but was instead developed as a writing tool for writing The SignWriting Central Web Site provides how the body looks while signing.