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From:  "Wayne H. Smith"
Date:  Sun May 9, 1999  10:40 pm
Subject:  Fwd: Your questions...


>From: SignWriting
>To: "Wayne H. Smith"
>Subject: Your questions...
>Date: Sat, 8 May 1999 09:26:45 -0700
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>From Sat May 8 09:27:07 1999
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>May 8, 1999
>
>Hello Wayne!
>Thanks for this quick reply :-)
>
>The post office deserves a gold star for delivering the package so quickly!
>And it sounds like you are off to a good start!! SignWriter 5.0 is not
>finished yet. We ran out of funding, but two weeks ago I received a phone
>call from a foundation promising to send us funding to complete the beta
>test version by Fall, 1999. So I am still waiting for their check in the
>mail. As soon as the money is in the bank, I can hire a new programmer and
>hopefully we can get started soon. I can't wait myself!! Anyway, when
>SignWriter 5.0 is ready, it will be for both Macintosh and Windows, and
>Unix and several other computers as well.
>
>Yes, of course I know all about the problems of typing Japanese and Chinese
>and other languages that do not use the Roman alphabet. I think
>internationally, I assure you. That is why we have 9 spoken languages on
>the screen right now, because that means so much to me. The only problem is
>a technological one - typing the non-roman alphabet languages is different,
>and our program at the moment is in MS-DOS, which means it is limited to
>the roman alphabet. But the new SignWriter 5.0 will be able to hook into
>the operating systems in other countries, and if their operating system is
>running in Chinese, then there will be no problem typing in Chinese and
>also using SignWriter 5.0. But as you know, 5.0 is not ready yet. This
>means that for now we are working with MS-DOS. In Japan, we have discussed
>creating a Japanese fingerspelling keyboard anyway - and it can be done,
>even if we are not typing the Japanese spoken language in SW 4.3. So we
>could also create a Taiwan Fingerspelling keyboard. You will have to send
>me illustrations of the fingerspelling and then I would create the
>fingerspelling keyboard for you and send you a new disk.
>
> > Oh, we'll need at least one new symbol for a handshape probably
>unique
> >to TSL. In the sign GINGER, the dominant hand has the following
> >configuration: the thumb is touching the side of the middle joint of the
> >index finger, the middle finger is resting on top of the index, the ring
>is
> >resting on top of the middle, and the pinky is resting on top of the
>ring.
> >It's an iconic handshape, suggestive of a piece of garlic.
>
>Sure. Send me a picture of the handshape and I will add it for you, when
>you send me the fingerspelling illustrations.
>
> > Another question: what type of arrangements have you made or might
>you
> >make to alphabetize signs in the dictionary according to their
>handshapes,
> >etc.? It would be nice if we could "look up a sign" in an ASL-English
> >dictionary to find its English meaning, instead of always having to find
>the
> >sign through an English gloss. In what order might such an
>alphabetization
> >be arranged? By typing groups? Let me know what research might be going
> >into this issue.
>
>It is called "Sutton's Sign-Symbol-Sequence". You already have a small
>ASL-English dictionary at your disposal in the American Sign Language
>dictionary you purchased, which is section two in the notebook. You can
>also look at the dictionary online at:
>
>ASL-English dictionary online
>https://www.SignWriting.org/asl001.html
>
>I am writing a book on how to look up by Sign-Symbol-Sequence. In regards
>to the computer program, SignWriter 4.3 for Ms-DOS does not have that
>capability, but the new SignWriter 5.0 will someday. We have a Macintosh
>way to look up by Sequence, but that is out-of-date and needs to be updated
>before use.
>
> > Sorry to be "pushy", but I'm trying to determine the limits of the
> >system so that I can fully use its capabilities. Hopefully, there are
> >greater and better things to come!
>
>Thats not being pushy - I write ten messages like this a day to ten
>different countries. Right now I am re-doing the fingerspelling keyboard
>for Switzerland and I recently did their German screen messages.
>
>Keep asking questions - I would prefer you post your questions to the SW
>List so others can benefit from my answers, but if you are shy that is OK!
>
>Hope you enjoy the materials, and please say hello to new Taiwan Sign
>Language "Signwriters" for me!
>
>Valerie :-)
>
>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>Valerie Sutton
>
>
>Visit the SignWritingSite:
>https://www.SignWriting.org
>
>Deaf Action Committee For SignWriting
>Box 517, La Jolla, CA, 92038-0517, USA
>(619)456-0010 tty
>(619)456-0098 voice
>(619)456-0020 fax
>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>
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>
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  Replies Author Date
1236 Taipei Joe Martin Mon  5/10/1999

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