| SignWriting List Archive 1 October 1997 - May 1998 |
February 18, 1998
MESSAGE TO THE SIGNWRITING EMAIL LIST
SUBJECT: Help In Research
Date: Wed, 18 Feb 1998 11:42:31 gmt
From: alice thacker <athacker@sghms.ac.uk>
Subject: Re: Help in Research
To: SignWriting <DAC@SignWriting.org>
Hello Cecelia;
A very quick note re: my use of SIGNwriter in my research: My
doctorate looks at schizophrenic sign .. that is, the sort of
language errors that prelingually deaf signers make when they
become schizophrenic.
In order to describe some of these very bizarre signs correctly,
it was important to have a "phonetic" transcription
system, that is, one that allowed me to describe exactly what
I saw, without being locked in to conventional signs. So, for
example, if a patient produced a handshape that doesn't exist
in British Sign Language, I could quite easily draw the shape.
(Or show an unusual location on the face, etc.). This would not
be possible with the Stokoe-type systems, which rigidly classify
handshapes (e.g. "B hand" or "G hand").
The other thing about SIGNwriter is that it reflects the simultaneous
nature of sign - handshape, location, and movement occur at the
same time, as they do in reality, of course. Linear systems lose
that visuo-spatial element.
Alice Thacker
athacker@sghms.ac.uk