Meaningful Gestures

I just read an article on one person's personal discovery of Nicaraguan Sign Language (NSL) , and thought it was worth posting on both fronts. From the vivid descriptions of some of the signs the author encountered, I was struck by how poetic sign language seemed to be. Though lacking sound, sign language takes advantage of other modes of human expression involving the speaker's face, hands, body, and the space in front of the speaker's body. Signed language involves the human body much more intimately than does its spoken variety.

Also, whereas spoken language is linear- we can only make one sound/word at a time- you can sign a whole thought in one fluid movement. Moreover, despite this capacity for non-linear expression, NSL still contains syntax- word order- like regular spoken languages.

The natural development of syntax and other linguistic structure in NSL makes a case for Chomsky's "universal grammar" view of language- that language arises from a specific part of our brain that is hardwired for language creation. On the other hand, its dependency on the human face and body and the surrounding space could make a case for the "embodied cognition" view of language- that language arises from general cognitive processes, which are wholly dependent on the fact that we are trapped in a human body and are thus limited and shaped by our physical experiences within these human bodies.

I was equally fascinated by the discovery of Signwriting, which is a writing system for sign languages invented by, of all people, a ballerina named Valerie Sutton. Two years before inventing Signwriting, Sutton had invented Dancewriting in order to facilitate her dance training by standardizing how dance positions and movements were recorded on paper. Then she went on to similarly create a notation device for Sign Languages. Signwriting is heavily pictographic, which makes me wonder whether it will develop into a much more abstract form as the decades go by. After all, this is exactly how every other modern writing system evolved: from pictographs to logograms to syllabaries, abjads, and alphabets.

Oooooh, it makes me wonder!

In other news, I am happy to be back at ballet after a 2 week break...from Life. I feel ready for 2010! I've got an India trip lined up somewhere along the year, the beginning of graduate school in September, languages to learn, songs to sing, dances to dance, books to read, moments of zest followed by moments of utter despair! C'est la vie, c'est la vie...

2010 Goals:

-Learn to cook a mean biriyani.
-Learn Sanskrit in India.
-Photograph the Taj and watch a death ritual on the Ganges (I should just make a separate list for India).
-Write & illustrate a children's story.
-Go to a wedding...in Southern California...involving a bride named Jess & a groom named Eric.
-Read War & Peace and a 3rd book of poetry.
-Learn a song a month on the guitar.
-Advance to Intermediate Ballet.
-Run a half-marathon (Philly's Broad Street Run in May!).
-Do 100 pushups in a row.
-Learn to unicycle.
-Learn Dreamweaver & build my own photo website (gotta do something with all these pics!)
-Reach the 26th year of the Life of Angie Chung (I better!)

In 2009, I...
-spent over half of it in Iraq teaching Kurdish kiddies;
-traveled to Lebanon, Egypt, Oman, and Istanbul;
-toured the MET on New Years with the best personal guide;
-danced ballet and tango and found happiness there;
-worked for a wedding photographer;
-invested in my first DSLR camera;
-learned to juggle;
-saw and touched two ancient writing systems NOT in a museum: Egyptian Hieroglyphs & Akkadian cuneiform
-explored and photographed the ancient Erbil Citadel;
-met mon cher Adam in a cafe called La Citadelle;
-watched entire seasons of The Office in one sitting (& found happiness there);
-read my first and second books of poetry (Walt Whitman and Rilke)
-read a book by Einstein called "Ideas and Opinions" (It was dense.)
-went on hour-long runs along the lovely Schuylkill River;
-went to DC;
-rang in the New Year with the worst hangover ever;
-got into grad school

Cheers!