I very recently started on sign language just out of interest and
curiosity. In the process of learning I discovered that signwriting
exists so I looked it up in Wikipedia.

I don't know who wrote the Wikipedia article about signwriting but I
do have a suggested change. Since that article may be the first one
for people who are interested in learning about signwriting , I
believe that it is essential that the first demonstration should be
very clear and free of ambiguity or confusion. Cherie Wren's version
of Jack and Jill is not the way to introduce the topic. The
introduction should contain a very literal transliteration of
signing. That would give a person an idea of what it is about and how
to go about it. In Cherie's poem the second line, "to fetch a pail of
water", doesn't contain the words: pail, fetch or water. I spent
quite a lot of time trying to figure out what was in that line and
failed. Cherie Wren eventually wrote to me explaining that it is a
poetic version of the verse and not meant to be a transliteration of
the original. But my feeling is that many people would have given up
by that time and simply ended up being confused about the
effectiveness of signwriting.

Mind you, I have no objection to Cherie's version, but I think that it
is something that can be accessed later, when the reader might be
interested in more cultural issues. What is needed in the
introduction is something clearer and unambiguous. By analogy I would
say that it would be have been a mistake to have Robert Frost try to
instruct first graders to read by reciting one of his poems.

Sincerely,
George Veronis














Regards,
George