Linguistically, ASL uses fingerspelling a lot for proper names, but more often it uses "name signs" at the beginning of a narrative and establishes them early. See this narrative on Lauren Clerc which I transcribed.
Here is an article on Lauren Clerc with the fingerspelling first and then the name sign introduced. I have not seen an "underline" in orthography to set that apart as I would not know how to
distinguish that from a "period" for the termination of a sentence.
Laurent Clerc (name sign)Deaf student study under De L'Eppe and Sicard. Laurent Clerc (name sign scar on cheek) was a Deaf student studying under De L'Eppe and Sicard.
Charles Butler [log in to unmask] 240-764-5748 Clear writing moves business forward.
From: Madson Barreto <[log in to unmask]> To:[log in to unmask] Sent: Wednesday, August 13, 2014 8:16 AM Subject: Do you use Underline for proper names?
Hi Valerie and everyone
I just read a Joe Martin's paper and he said about the in Nicaraguan Sign Language that around 1998 has a orthographic rule that said to underline proper names for differ of common names/ simple names.
I've searched the SW-List archives and I found a 2005' discussion about it.
So, much time has passed...
My question is: this role is currently using in some Sign Language?
We believe it would be interesting for differ Sign Names (proper names in Sign Languages) of common signs. In spokes writings we use upper case, but in SignWriting?