How to improve metalinguistic awareness by writing a language without writing: sign languages and SignWriting
Améliorer la conscience métalinguistique dans les langues sans écriture: langues des signes et SignWriting
Migliorare la coscienza metalinguistica in lingue senza scrittura: lingue dei segni e SignWriting
Résumé
More than 90% of the spoken languages do not have a own written form; that notwithstanding, when the problem of their representation arises - for reasons of convenience, of preserving linguistic culture, of studying the language, etc. - it is possible to adopt or adapt one of the many existing writing systems for vocal languages. On the contrary, Sign Languages (SL), being based on gestuo-visual rather than phono-acoustic channels, are impossible to represent using a system developed for LV, be it the Latin alphabet, the Hangul, the hieroglyphics or else.
Over the past two centuries, and even more so in the last 40 years, many attempts to transcribe SL have been devised, as well as a few aimed at methods suitable for everyday use. However, such systems are often difficult to read, slow to write and complex to learn, and are based on an idea of linear writing which, applied to a multilinear language such as SL, cannot convey much of the complexity (and thus the meaning) expressed by these languages. For these reasons, no writing system created so far has managed to be adopted on a large scale (and/or for a long time) by the signers of the various SL (about 140, altogether).
Among the various existing systems, one seems to be an exception: SignWriting, created by Valerie Sutton (1995). It is a graphic system, considered by many to be alphabetic or featural (Bianchini, 2016) which is based on a set of about 37,000 characters (called symbols) describing all the formational parameters of the SL: shape, orientation and movement of the hands; contact of the hands with parts of the body; facial expressions; postures and movements of the head, torso and trunk. Despite the considerable number of characters that make up the system, various experiences with the deaf and hard-of-hearing have shown that it can be learned in a few hours1, since most of the symbols (about 36,500) are nothing more than the result of applying a few dozens of modifying rules over approximately 500 "prototypical" characters of highly iconic basis.
Contrary to all the other systems of SL representation, which place these elements in a linear sequence of characters, SW organizes them into "vignettes", two-dimensional spaces that analogically represent the space where the signer creates the signs (called "sign space"). This expedient allows SW to be the sole system able to represent all those SL linguistic elements which are codified only by the peculiar use of the sign space, framed in a system whose reading is both rapid and intuitive.
During the early 2000s, a group of deaf people (mostly SL teachers) at ISTC-CNR in Rome, was trained in SW and began researching SL2 using it, demonstrating since the first experiences the system ability to stimulate meta-linguistic considerations on SL, as well as meta-systemic thoughts on the most appropriate use of SW. These reflections continued to arise and grow over the years, e.g. when texts were created as working examples in the Italian translation of the SignWriting Manual or when creating the "Pear Corpus", composed of four different kinds of materials originated after viewing the Chafe's "Pear Stories" (1980): videonarrations, transcriptions in SW of video-narrations of other signers, narrations written directly in SW or read-alouds of the narratives written by other authors. Similar reflections emerged (albeit to a lesser extent given the lesser competence of students both in SL and in SW) also in SW teaching experience at the University of Poitiers.
This work will show and classify the different meta-linguistic and meta-systemic reflections that have been observed by the author among SW users. As for the meta-linguistic considerations, those regarding the stylistic differences when creating a written text instead of an oral narration will be explored: adaptation of contextual and extra-textual references; changes in the representation of highly iconic structures (e.g., when a signer describes the visual characteristics of an object or "becomes" the character he/she is talking about to convey his/her actions or emotions); diversity in the presentation and segmentation of information; etc. These reflections are even more pregnant when remembering that most of the deaf people is functionally illiterate and therefore does not have the necessary skills to consider these things as evident. Some examples of the creation of new SL signs due to novel competences arising among the signers who participated in the working group will also be shown.
Speaking of the meta-systemic skills, this work will show how the signers were able to adapt (or improve) SW to match their specific needs as signers-writers: in particular, new glyphs were invented for SW, as a result of the deep knowledge of the system. These considerations allowed Bianchini to propose a substantial reorganization of the SW system with the aim of facilitating not only its use but also its learning.
In conclusion, providing a language lacking its own writing with a system apt to represent gives not just the possibility to write it down, but also offers the signers the opportunity to better understand how their language works.
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