| SignWriting List Archive 1 October 1997 - May 1998 |
April 27, 1998
MESSAGE TO THE SIGNWRITING EMAIL LIST
SUBJECT: Re: Message #2 from Brazil...
From: "Dr Norine Berenz" <104NOR@muse.arts.wits.ac.za>
Organization: University of the Witwatersrand
To: SignWriting <DAC@signwriting.org>
Date: Mon, 27 Apr 1998 19:09:54 GMT + 2:00
Subject: Re: Message #2 from Brazil...
Hi.
It would be interesting to know more about the uses Marianne
Stumpf is asking her students to put SignWriting to. Ronice raises
some of these questions in her comments. If SignWriting is just
an exercise without real goals, then that may account for the
lack of student enthusiasm. If students needed SignWriting to
write down a poem or story they'd seen performed (perhaps on
video), then that piece were analyzed or re-created, maybe that
would help the students see the utility of SignWriting.
Another question I have is the level of literacy in Portuguese of the students involved. If they have good Portuguese literacy skills, that may actually be a disincentive to learn SignWriting. It seems to me that an important use of SignWriting is to show students the relationship between conversation (in the sign language) and writing (of the sign language) when they are struggling with literacy in the majority (spoken) language.
Just a few more thoughts on the subject...
Best,
Norine
South Africa
104NOR@muse.arts.wits.ac.za
On April 25th, 1998, SignWriting wrote:
>In regards to the difficulties of teaching SignWriting to
young children,
>I believe you are referring to >another posting written
by Ronice Müller
>de Quadros>reference, you can find Ronice's two postings
on this subject on our
>web site on these pages:
>Message #1 from Brazil...
>https://www.SignWriting.org/email060.html
>Message #2 from Brazil...
>https://www.SignWriting.org/email061.html
>I had originally planned to respond to Ronice's excellent
points too, but
>never got the chance until now. So in a way, this is a response
to both
>of you :-)
>I think that it is a matter of perspective on the history
of the
>development of other writing systems. For example, literacy
in English
>did not truly begin until centuries after the actual alphabetic
characters
>were developed. First, small groups of educated people, such
as monks,
>wrote bibles and other religious materials laboriously by
hand. Later the
>printing press was developed. Later dictionaries finally
helped
>standardize spellings, but all this took centuries. And "everyday
people"
>still did not read and write. It took a long time for school
systems to
>develop. Literacy in English "for every child"
is, from an historic
>perspective, something rather new.
>Twenty-five years ago, I started developing the symbols
and testing them.
>Then, from 1981-1984 we wrote the SignWriter Newspaper laboriously
by
>hand (it took three months to complete 20 pages with ink
pens). That was
>the equivalent of monks writing bibles by hand. Then we worked
on the
>first dictionaries - someday I will tell you all about that
>experience...which was much harder than you would ever imagine
- and of
>course the work is not done! Then we developed a way to type
SignWriting
>by computer (and we were told it could never be done). And
now we are
>starting the SignWriting Literacy Project to encourage teachers
to
>experiment with "Sign Language Literacy". That
too is a new idea.
>So...historically, reading and writing signed languages
is in its infancy.
>We are the first generation attempting this, and naturally,
when
>pioneering a new idea, there are difficulties to be overcome.
But we will
>overcome them, with your help, and with experience.
>I admire Marianne Stumpf and others in Brazil for their
courage in
>teaching something that is so new. The main reason why Marianne
and
>others have had frustrations is that there are no materials
written in
>Brazilian Sign Language yet! That is exactly why we started
the new
>SignWriting Literacy Project, so that we can assist teachers
with free
>materials and technical support.
>So I think that your expertise in literacy in other languages
will be very
>useful, if we can apply that knowledge to the experience
of teaching
>literacy in signed languages. But I also would not fault
the school
>systems in any country, because no one knows, at this moment,
where this
>adventure will lead us!
>By the way, while I think of it, Dr. Judy Shepard-Kegl
and her husband,
>James Shepard-Kegl, have done outstanding work with literacy
in
>Nicaraguan Sign Language. They are actively building written
literature
>written in SignWriting there. Some of the Deaf people in
Nicaragua are
>writing and typing directly in their native signed language
- so it is
>happening in small pockets around the globe. It just isn't
widespread yet.
>All the best -
Valerie
DAC@SignWriting.org