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I am aware of some systems of sign writing (e.g. Sutton SignWriting). They are used in dictionaries, teaching materials, or scientific documentation. But did some Sign Language speech communities develop literature in sign writing?

Sir Cornflakes
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    This for example? http://signwriting.org/deaf/fond/fond01.html – user6726 Oct 12 '16 at 18:17
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    There's an ASL Wikipedia in Sutton SignWriting – TRiG Oct 16 '16 at 05:52
  • @TRIG: Currently a test wikipedia in the incubator ( https://incubator.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wp/ase ) but it looks promising. – Sir Cornflakes Oct 18 '16 at 12:15
  • You're concerned only with materials that exist on paper? – jlawler Aug 09 '19 at 01:39
  • Not necessarily on paper, but the means of communication should include a level of abstraction similar to writing on paper comparable to text messages, email or similar media. Video chats and video messages in sign language don't count. – Sir Cornflakes Aug 09 '19 at 09:25
  • @jknappen could you elaborate on "community" here? What are we talking here? Isolated villages? Schools of Academia? Literally 3 people?

    Also, what kind of "literature" are we dealing with? I mean sign-language works can and do exist, and their means of transmission are trivial.

    So let me get this straight: Are you asking if there is a sign language utilizing group of people who transcribe their works using some form of "sign writing"? (I should be looking at something like Windings?)

     – madprogramer Aug 11 '19 at 05:26
  • @madprogramer Video messages and video chat may sound trivial nowadays, but I won't call them so. However, I am really interested in the use of sign writing as a medium of communication (and not only as a means of documentation and teaching). I am deliberately vague about the size and the stabilitity of the community and open to see what comes up.community – Sir Cornflakes Aug 11 '19 at 19:14

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Yes. – However these communities are quite small. There seem to be active groups on Facebook for ASLWrite (315 members) and another for Sutton SignWriting (442 members). Sutton SignWriting is also used for teaching sign language in Brazil.

I have made an attempt at adapting the ASLWrite system for use with Swedish Sign Language (linked page in Swedish). Hopefully one day I'll manage to drum up some interest for it. :)

Comparison of handshape glyphs between different sign language writing systems The above image was taken from an article called “History of sign language writing” on handspeak.com. The table compares the symbols for five different handshapes in different sign language writing systems.

There also exists numerous systems for transcribing sign language for research or dictionary work, but as far as I know none of these systems are used by a wider community. (These would include HamNoSys, Stokoe notation, Swedish Sign Language Transcription and several others. – NOTE: The linked article on Swedish Sign Language transcription is in Swedish and was written by me.)

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