Dear Leonard and others,
If the topic still interests you, this is my level of knowledge -
beyond this you'll need to talk to a linguist. (Switch off now if
you're not interested.)
There is no written form of BSL (one reason learning it was so hard
before interactive CDs were about). There is a BSL dictionary that
used photographs, classified by strange terms that indicated the
location, direction of movement, speed, handshape etc.
There are a whole spectrum of 'visual' languages (I'm not suggesting
websites use them all). Along this spectrum are:
Makaton, which is widely used; has a small vocabulary of signs, with
symbols and speech, for people with severe learning disabilities. It
uses a smaller 'signing space' for more limited movements.
The Paget-Gorman Sign System used to be used in deaf schools as
'visible English' but has no relation to BSL.
Signed English is also a form of visible English that uses the BSL
vocabulary but has sign additions to show word endings and tenses and
uses English word order.
Sign Supported English is similar to the above but rather than signs,
fingerspelling and lip-reading for word endings and uses English word
order.
At the end of the spectrum is BSL, which uses signs, handshapes,
movement, placement, eye gaze etc etc as well as fingerspelling for
names etc. and has its own syntax. There are idioms which in one
movement convey a whole sentence; if I were at the mcg AGM with all
of you and you saw me puffing out a long breath whilst hauling an
imaginary heavy sack over my right shoulder means "Wow! I haven't
seen you in such a long time!"
To finish my essay, BSL has regional dialects and isn't the same
throughout the UK. There is an artificial sign language called
Gestuno which is adapted from the sign languages of many countries
but I don't think it's used, deaf people from all over the world find
it easier to communicate than hearing people do.
Mary
On 7 Jul 2004 at 8:51, Leonard Will wrote:
>
> Thanks to you and the others who have enlightened me on this. It must be
> quite difficult, though, for such people to navigate the Internet and
> get to your Web site if their knowledge of English and their reading and
> typing skills are limited. Unicode was thought to cover all the world's
> languages, but this one seems to be impossible to deal with in that way.
> Am I right in thinking that there is no written form of BSL?
>
> I can see the value of a BSL display as a fixed interpretative unit in a
> museum gallery.
>
> Leonard
> --
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Mary Hider - Registrar, Leicester City Museums
New Walk Museum, 53 New Walk, Leicester LE1 7EA, UK
T: 0116 225 4908 F: 0116 225 4927
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LCMS website www.leicester.gov.uk/museums
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