Journal of Linguistic Anthropology Number 18 Issue 2

Metasemiotic Regimentation in the Standardization of Nepali Sign Language
Erika Hoffmann-Dilloway

Transcript 1

The transcript is in two sections. The first contains an English gloss of NSL appears in capital letters, followed by an English translation. When a classifier is used in the transcript it is marked with a CL preceded by an initial that marks the number or letter shape (in the Devanagari fingerspelling alphabet) the classifier most resembles. The second transcript conveys the formal properties of the manual channel using Sutton Signwriting (SSW). This portion is written in lanes that can be read top to bottom and then left to right. The lanes allow better representation of the use of signing space.  Each transcript is numbered for comparison.

NSL:

1. JHANKRI.
Jhankri.
2. VILLAGE YOU-PLURAL SICK MEDICAL-DOCTOR, MEDICINE ISN’T.
In the village when you are sick, there are no doctors or medicine.
3. JHANKRI GCL:EXORCISES-YOU, GCL:EXORCISES-ME.
The jhankri exorcises you, like this.
4. YOU-PLURAL UNDERSTAND?
Do you understand?
5. SEEN? SEEN YOU-PLURAL?
You’ve seen this?
6.1CL:BANGS-ON-DRUM, 5CL:WEARS-FEATHERED-HEADRESS.
He bangs on a drum and wears a feathered headdress.
7. UNDERSTAND?
Do you understand?
8. SAME.
It’s the same.

Click here to view the Sutton Signwriting transcript.

A brief key to reading Sutton SignWriting transcripts appears in an
appendix to the article. For a
complete guide to reading and writing Sutton SignWriting, please visit: http://www.signwriting.org/lessons/lessonsw/lessonsweb.html