Editing Sign language (section)

=== Written forms ===
{{anchor|Notation}}<!-- [[Sign language notation]] redirects here -->
Sign languages do not have a traditional or formal written form. Many deaf people do not see a need to write their own language.<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Hopkins | first1 = Jason | year = 2008 | title = Choosing how to write sign language: a sociolinguistic perspective | journal = [[International Journal of the Sociology of Language]] | volume = 2008 | issue = 192| pages = 75–90 | doi=10.1515/ijsl.2008.036| s2cid = 145429638 }}</ref>

Several ways to represent sign languages in written form have been developed.

* [[Stokoe notation]], devised by Dr. [[William Stokoe]] for his 1965 ''Dictionary of American Sign Language'',<ref name="StokoeWilliam">[[William Stokoe|Stokoe, William C.]]; [[Dorothy C. Casterline]]; [[Carl G. Croneberg]]. 1965. ''A dictionary of American sign language on linguistic principles''. Washington, D.C.: Gallaudet College Press</ref> is an abstract [[phonemic]] notation system. Designed specifically for representing the use of the hands, it has no way of expressing facial expression or other non-manual features of sign languages. However, it was designed for research, particularly in a dictionary, not for general use.
* The [[Hamburg Notation System]] (HamNoSys), developed in the early 1990s, is a detailed phonetic system, not designed for any one sign language, and intended as a transcription system for researchers rather than as a practical script.
* [[David J. Peterson]] has attempted to create a phonetic transcription system for signing that is [[ASCII]]-friendly known as the [https://dedalvs.com/slipa.html Sign Language International Phonetic Alphabet (SLIPA)].
* [[SignWriting]], developed by Valerie Sutton in 1974, is a system for representing sign languages phonetically (including [[mouthing]], facial expression and dynamics of movement). The script is sometimes used for detailed research, language documentation, as well as publishing texts and works in sign languages.
* [[si5s]] is another orthography which is largely phonemic. However, a few signs are [[logogram|logographs]] and/or [[ideograph]]s due to regional variation in sign languages.
* [[ASL-phabet]] is a system designed primarily for education of deaf children by Dr. [[Samuel James Supalla|Sam Supalla]] which uses a minimalist collection of symbols in the order of Handshape-Location-Movement. Many signs can be written the same way ([[homograph]]).
*The Alphabetic Writing System for sign languages ({{Lang|es|Sistema de escritura alfabética}}, SEA, by its Spanish name and acronym), developed by linguist Ángel Herrero Blanco and two deaf researchers, Juan José Alfaro and Inmacualada Cascales, was published as a book in 2003<ref>{{Cite book|title=Escritura alfabética de la Lengua de Signos Española : once lecciones|last=Herrero Blanco, Ángel L.|date=2003|publisher=Publicaciones de la Universidad de Alicante|others=Alfaro, Juan José,, Cascales, Inmaculada|isbn=9781282574960|location=San Vicente del Raspeig [Alicante]|oclc=643124997}}</ref> and made accessible in [[Spanish Sign Language]] on-line.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.cervantesvirtual.com/seccion/signos/psegundonivel.jsp?seccion=signos&conten=materiales&pagina=cat_materiales1&tit3=Lecciones+de+escritura+alfab%25E9tica+de+LSE|title=Biblioteca de signos – Materiales|website=www.cervantesvirtual.com|access-date=2019-07-07|archive-date=2020-09-06|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200906213725/http://www.cervantesvirtual.com/seccion/signos/psegundonivel.jsp?seccion=signos&conten=materiales&pagina=cat_materiales1&tit3=Lecciones+de+escritura+alfab%E9tica+de+LSE|url-status=dead}}</ref> This system makes use of the letters of the Latin alphabet with a few diacritics to represent sign through the morphemic sequence S L C Q D F (bimanual sign, place, contact, handshape, direction and internal form). The resulting words are meant to be read by signing. The system is designed to be applicable to any sign language with minimal modification and to be usable through any medium without special equipment or software. Non-manual elements can be encoded to some extent, but the authors argue that the system does not need to represent all elements of a sign to be practical, the same way written oral language does not. The system has seen some updates which are kept publicly on a wiki page.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://wiki.apertium.org/wiki/Traductor_de_espa%C3%B1ol_a_LSE|title=Traductor de español a LSE – Apertium|website=wiki.apertium.org|access-date=2019-07-07|archive-date=2019-07-03|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190703071935/http://wiki.apertium.org/wiki/Traductor_de_espa%C3%B1ol_a_LSE|url-status=live}}</ref> The Center for Linguistic Normalization of Spanish Sign Language has made use of SEA to transcribe all signs on its dictionary.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://sid.usal.es/libros/discapacidad/20740/8-7-2/diccionario-normativo-de-la-lengua-de-signos-espanola-dvd.aspx|title=Diccionario normativo de la lengua de signos española ... (SID)|website=sid.usal.es|language=es|access-date=2019-07-07|archive-date=2019-07-07|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190707142030/http://sid.usal.es/libros/discapacidad/20740/8-7-2/diccionario-normativo-de-la-lengua-de-signos-espanola-dvd.aspx|url-status=dead}}</ref>

So far, there is no consensus regarding the written form of sign language.  Except for SignWriting, none are widely used. Maria Galea writes that SignWriting "is becoming widespread, uncontainable and untraceable. In the same way that works written in and about a well developed writing system such as the Latin script, the time has arrived where SW is so widespread, that it is impossible in the same way to list all works that have been produced using this writing system and that have been written about this writing system."<ref name="GaleaLinguistic">{{cite book
 |last        = Galea
 |first       = Maria
 |title       = SignWriting (SW) of Maltese Sign Language (LSM) and its development into an orthography: Linguistic considerations
 |year        = 2014
 |type        = Ph.D. dissertation
 |publisher   = University of Malta
 |location    = Malta
 |url         = https://www.academia.edu/10451785
 |access-date  = 4 February 2015
 |url-status     = live
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20180513202709/http://www.academia.edu/10451785/SignWriting_SW_of_Maltese_Sign_Language_LSM_and_its_development_into_an_orthography_Linguistic_considerations
 |archive-date = 13 May 2018
}}</ref> For example, in 2015 at the [[Federal University of Santa Catarina]], João Paulo Ampessan wrote his linguistics master's dissertation in Brazilian Sign Language using Sutton SignWriting. In his dissertation, "The Writing of Grammatical Non-Manual Expressions in Sentences in LIBRAS Using the SignWriting System," Ampessan states that "the data indicate the need for [non-manual expressions] usage in writing sign language".<ref>Ampessan, João Paulo. "The Writing of Grammatical Non-Manual Expressions in Sentences in LIBRAS Using the SignWriting System." ''Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina'', 2015. [https://web.archive.org/web/20210129185100/https://repositorio.ufsc.br/bitstream/handle/123456789/180688/351070.pdf Archived] from [https://repositorio.ufsc.br/bitstream/handle/123456789/180688/351070.pdf the original] on 29 January 2021.</ref>