Recent content by natalie

The Internet is a GLOBAL marketplace First off, America is not the only country that is dependent on the Internet. Hi, I'm sending this message from Canada! So any attempt to crash the Internet as a whole would wipe out all developed countries, not just the States. This is actually a subject...

I am compelled to ask you the same. I find this the least convincing of all the arguments that I have seen thus far. Where is the distinction between your statement and 'English is an ORAL/AURAL language. (PERIOD)'? All oral/sign languages are symbol systems. All writing systems of...

No, I would give them different symbols. I am trying to emphasize the representation of the meaning of the signs, not the signs themselves. As Steve was saying, this has already been accomplished by SignWriting. With whom, by the way, I completely agree when he says that it is absolutely...

The magic word is 'chereme' Nit-pick away. William Stokoe called them 'cheremes'. 'Morphemes' doesn't work because this refers to a slightly larger unit than does a 'cher-/phoneme'. It refers to the smallest unit that carries independent meaning. Like 'er' in 'teacher' means somebody who...

I watched 'For my Deaf Son' as part of my Psychology of Deafness class. I am saddened and shocked to hear that he is no longer with us. I have posted the news on my class' discussion board. I assume that my prof was likewise unaware of Tommy's death, since he mentioned his anticipation of a...

...or Sanskrit, Classical Arabic, or Classical Tibetan. I'm actually taking Classical Tibetan right now and it's a lot of fun! Admittedly, not as much fun as learning a language that's still alive. I actually know a Tibetan speaker, but Modern Tibetan has changed so much from Classical that...

Why are all the "little" words of English so precious? Why should ASL be any less of a language if it doesn't have them? Languages all over the world vary in how many "little words" they have. Language is a means to and end - communication. It doesn't matter what the language looks like, so...

Oh no! It's not a joke at all. As a linguist, I believe that Black English Vernacular (BEV) is a full language on its own. But you're right, a resume written in ASL is no more useful in an English-speaking environment than is a resume written in Chinese. And it's a very valid point against...

Always happy to receive more ramblings! Yes, Chinese is very odd. The writing follows the grammar of Mandarin (of which I can speak a little). But if you speak Cantonese (of which I can speak much less), sometimes the written grammar doesn't actually follow what you say. But then again, I...

No need to apologize for your vagueness. It's a vague subject with equally vague answers. I've actually already thought a lot about those questions, and have even tried to look for some answers. A number have been works have been written on the subject of the impact of a new writing system on...

Hello to all, My name is Natalie. I am an undergraduate Linguistics/Psychology student at McGill University, and I am currently working on a research proposal to pursue the development of a writing system for ASL. If things go well, then in the new year, I intend to follow through with this...