How To Write a Sign Language, Part 6: SL Writing IRL

 How To Write a Sign Language
Part 6: SL Writing IRL

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 Whether you are new to sign languages or a native signer who has signed your entire life - you probably haven't heard about sign language writing systems. Spoken languages around the world have writing systems so surely sign languages can too? Well, many have been tried and used in brief corners of the world but none have been widely adopted by Deaf communities.

 I recommend these resources if you want to learn more about all of those attempts and their histories:
 But in this mini-series of posts I want to explain the different types there are so that you, intrepid future sign language writer, may better understand the options and pick which to learn or make.

 In the last part I talked about the uses of sign language writing systems. And wow that one was very divisive over on Reddit! In this post I want to go through some uses I have found in real life.

Part 6: SL Writing IRL <= You are here

Setting the Scene

 I think perhaps some people assume that sign language writing is something that only exists in theory. Instead I want to take a moment to actually go through real life uses of sign language writing that I have heard about.

 To make it clear I will not include dictionaries, grammars, sign language classes, other learning materials, proofs of concept and most academic work, unless there is a clear reason why it should be an exception. I want to find natural organic uses of sign language writing, ones that show the potential it has.

Sutton Signwriting in Brazil (and more)

 Sutton signwriting is perhaps the most internationally adapted and successful writing systems. It was pushed heavily across multiple sign languages. There are examples like Bibles being written in it, the UN declaration of Human Rights, ASL + LIBRAS + Tunisian SL Wikipediaes and other books.
The Bible

UN Declaration of Human Rights

A page from the TunisianSL Wikipedia

A SignWriting Book

 But in most places it has mostly flown under the radar. The primary major exception being Brazil. In Brazil the main national sign language is LIBRAS. There signwriting is far more widely taught, known and accepted. It is taught in 12 schools and 18 universities!

SignWriting on the Side of  School

 Here are some items found with SignWriting from Brazil:
A physical book printed in/with SignWriting

Water Bottles
Thanks to Nulpoints for helping me find these images, originally sourced from the Sutton Signwriting Whatsapp group.

 Additionally SignWriting is popular in Deaf academia, so much so that an entire dissertation was written and accepted in SignWriting in 2015.
Cover Page

Abstract

The same page in both LIBRAS and Portuguese
(the whole thing is like this)

 This is all to say that Brazil, and to an extent the rest of South America in its wake, have adopted SignWriting more than anywhere else on the globe.

 But this comes with a caveat. While some parts of the Brazilian Deaf community have adopted it, others do not use it. It is not the language of ever-day Brazilian Deaf people despite being taught for quite a while now.

The SI5S Boom and Bust in the USA

 In around 2013 Si5S made an explosion onto the scene! Originally conceived of in 2007, it wasn't until 2013 that the textbook was published. This kicked off a wave of interest and support for it.

 This video is from roughly that time, where Robert talks about and shows examples of people using the writing system. He talks about other Deaf folks asking him to write their life stories, and about teaching Deaf children, and them being "hungry" (in his words) to learn.

 Additionally across social media there was a flood of posts using and supporting Si5S, promoting workshops in classes across the country.
Si5S Superbowl Advert

People posing with their Textbooks

People Posing with the Creator of Si5S

An Advert for a Si5S Class

  Thank you to Nulpoints for finding these images from old social media posts (I believe mainly Facebook).

 Additionally at one point Si5S was adopted and taught within Gallaudet. I have heard this from multiple people at this point, although the support doesn't seem to have spread much beyond the classroom and these nameplates.

When I was at Gallaudet, sign language writing systems were a mandatory part of the curriculum. Every Gallaudet student learns si5s (or in the past, Stokoe).
[...] 
faculty nameplates in the ASL and Deaf Studies department. 

 But just as quick as it had exploded onto the scene it fizzled to nothing. I believe this is only in part due to the internal fracture between Si5S and ASLwrite - though I haven't heard much about it's creator in the intervening years. More importantly I believe it just lost momentum. While it is remembered today by some, it is a far cry from the impact that its creator and early adopters had hoped.

The Stokoe Birth Certificate in the UK

 One lovely story of sign language writing comes from Britain. Both parents were Deaf, I am unable to find out where the baby was or not. She was named: Hazel UbOtDDstarL

Hazel UbOtDDstarL (right)
Someone* Signing "SMILE" (left)
*possibly either the linguist, or her father

Hazel UbOtDDstarL's Birth Certificate
The BSL Birth Certificate | AIMS

 The parents even faced a legal battle, originally being told no at the Registry Office (as UK naming law allows refusal of names that are "impossible to pronounce"), but hired a solicitor who helped them secure the right to name their child as they'd like in their native language.

 "UbOtDDstarL" means "big smile", and is this sign here: BSL SignBank. They consulted with a BSL linguist to produce this, though it isn't stated who this person is, as they are just labelled as "a linguist" by most publications. The version of Stokoe being used is likely the ASCII adaptation which can be found here: Stokoe notation - Wikipedia
  • U = chin
  • b = prone arm as an orientation (aka palm down) (this is on the left side of the handshape in ASCII Stokoe, but on the right side in regular Stokoe)
  • O = O handshape
  • t = towards the signer.
  • DD = most likely a typo
  • star = * (open up)
  • L = L handshape
Thank you to Nulpoints for helping to check my work on this.

 Unfortunately the DD seems to be a typo or mis-understanding from this part of the Wikipedia page (or whatever reference the linguist used):

 The Ds shown here are meant to be stand-ins for the Dez (aka handshape) and are meant to be replaced with something else. Additionally I presume that '*' was changed to 'star' due to UK naming laws which refuses names with symbols/punctuation.  Thus the name would read: "UbOt*[L]" or "UbOtstarL" to remain compliant with UK naming laws.

Thus a more typical Stokoe rendition would look something like this:
My rendition using Paint

Nulpoint's rendition using the Stokoe Font in Latex

 That being said - it's still a lovely name and it's via these sorts of mistakes that language evolves. Hazel UbOtDDstarL will be around 13 at this point, and I hope she is living her best life :)

The ASLphabet Homework in the USA

 A random use of written sign language I found in the wild was this use of ASLphabet in a child's homework! Sadly the original Reddit post has now been deleted but these are the pictures I got from it.

 This is a fascinating example of sign language writing in use in an actual real life educational setting - occurring seemingly spontaneously. I can't tell if this is linked to any wider examples, though it doesn't seem to be so far as I am aware.

 But it demonstrates the principle that a writing system could indeed be useful in education. The children were, in-fact, able to match the handshapes to the relevant signs - demonstrating they had learnt the glyphs and were gaining phonological awareness.

 I have reached out to someone purporting to be the maker of said worksheets, and will update if I hear anything back from them.

 Additionally I have found a website called ASL Clear, which seems to be an educational website using ASLphabet to teach educational signs alongside videos!

Conclusions

 Sadly this isn't much, but I think it demonstrates what could be.

 Perhaps the hurdles to sign language writing are too high ever to leap. Or perhaps they just need the right combination of when, where and how. I think it shows us that we need to learn the lessons of these systems and take what works. Either we can build upon what we already have, or building something new with these foundations.

 I'd suggest though, that we do need to consolidate. Notice that these different occurrences are spread out quite far and wide and across numerous different systems. Ideally we would centralise our focus on one system building momentum rather than scattering to the winds.

 But more on which system and why in the next and final part of this series.

Written by jan Olipija - 2025

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