Re: OT (con)sign languages and secret messages

----- Original Message -----
From: "Roger Mills" <romilly@...>
To: <CONLANG@...>
Sent: Friday, December 12, 2003 6:09 PM
Subject: Re: OT (con)sign languages and secret messages


> Sam Drost wrote:
>
> > I remember recently seeing a post about how sign languages were hard to
> > transcribe onto paper (or digital) since it is hard to transcribe the
> > motion.  Recently I came across the site signwriting.org.  Has anyone
> looked
> > at this and considered using it (or at least the symbols) as a basis for
> > con-sign languages?  I only took a very brief look at the site and,
since
> I
> > don't know sign language at all (except maybe "the finger"), I probably
> > wouldn't know if the site did a decent job of transcribing the motion
used
> > in sign language anyway.
>
> I haven't looked at the site, but IIRC, the people at Gallaudet College
(for
> the deaf) have devised a system for transcribing ASL-- again IIRC they got
> the idea from Labanotation, a system used to record ballet/dance.
A quick search for Labonotation brought up a site that explained it to me.
The writing at signwriting.org is nowhere near as exact.  But, it also
doesn't require extensive explanation of the symbols.

> (re a signing system in Children of Dune...)
> > What they'd do is place their hands
> > in their laps and sign the "real" conversation
>
> Hmm, sounds a little like catcher-to-pitcher signals in baseball.??
I guess it does kind of.  What strikes me as hard is that the characters
were holding two totally different yet comprehendible conversations at the
same time, which would require a degree of concentration that I, for one,
have yet to develop.  I think I would tend to mix the conversations or (more
probable) I'd end up ignoring one completely, either way only one would be
comprehendible.

---
Sam Drost

Americans will put up with anything provided it doesn't block traffic.
- Dan Rather