Stokoe notation
under construction
The Stokoe notation for American sign language (ASL) was the first writing system designed for a sign language. It was published in 1960 and became the organizing principle of A Dictionary of American Sign Language on Linguistic Principles, which Stokoe wrote with two Deaf colleagues and which is arranged according to the pronunciation of the signs in ASL, rather than by their English translations as in all other ASL dictionaries.
The Stokoe notation is mostly restricted to linguists and academics. Unlike SignWriting, it is arranged linearly on the page. Unlike SignWriting or HamNoSys, it uses elements of the Latin alphabet and is phonemic, with a reduced set of symbols to match the needs of ASL rather than attempting to capture all possible signs. For example, there is a single symbol for circling movement, regardless of whether the plane of the movement is horizontal or vertical; this is because the orientation of the motion is determined by ASL phonotactics and need not be indicated in a phonemic system.
Stokoe coined the terms tab, dez, and sig, meaning sign Locataion ("tabula"), Handshape ("designator"), and Motion/Orientation ("signification"), to indicate different categories of phonemes in ASL, somewhat like the distinction between consonant, vowel, and tone in oral languages. A fatal deficiency of the system is that it does not provide for facial Expression, as Stokie had not worked out the phonemics of expression in ASL, but this is easy to remedy. (One proposal adds a symbol for Expression in parentheses at the beginning of the word.) Verbal inflection and non-lexical movement is awkward to notate, and more recent analyses such as those by Ted Supalla have contradicted Stokoe's set of motion phonemes. There is also no provision for representing the relationship between signs, which restricts the usefullness of the notation to the lexical level.
The Stokoe notation has been extended to other sign languages, including British Sign Language and the Australian Aboriginal sign languages. However, each researcher has made idiosyncratic modifications to the system. There are also several proposals for typable ASCII equivalents; one of these is shown below. (For this system, Orientation symbols occur before the dez rather than being subscripted after it.)
Contents |
Tab (Location) symbols
| symbol | ASCII | description |
| Ø | 0 | neutral location |
| ⩇ | Q | face, or whole head (symbol is superimposed ᴖ and ᴗ) |
| ∩ | P | forehead, brow, or upper face |
| ⊔ | T | eyes, nose, or mid face |
| ∪ | U | lips, chin, or lower face |
| Ȝ | } | cheek, temple, ear, or side face |
| Π | N | neck |
| [] | [] | shoulders, chest, trunk |
| 7 | upper arm | |
| √ | J | elbow, forearm |
| ɑ | 9 | inside of wrist |
| ɒ | 6 | back of wrist |
Dez (Handshape)
Dez symbols may also be used as tabs. 'BB' represents a dominant flat hand acting on a passive flat hand; this is disambiguated from both hands acting together by using an overt tab symbol, such as 'ØBB'.
| A | fist (as ASL 'a', 's', or 't') |
| B | flat hand (as ASL 'b' or '4') |
| 5 | spread hand (as ASL '5') |
| C | cupped hand (as ASL 'c', or more open) |
| E | claw hand (as ASL 'e', or more clawlike) |
| F | okay hand (as ASL 'f'; thumb & index touch or cross) |
| G | pointing hand (as ASL 'g' or 'd') |
| H | index + middle fingers together (as ASL 'h' or 'u') |
| I | pinkie (as ASL 'i') |
| K | thumb touches middle finger of V (as ASL 'k' or 'p') |
| L | angle hand, thumb + index (as ASL 'l') |
| Ʒ (3) | vehicle classifier hand, thumb + index + middle fingers (as ASL '3') |
| O | tapered hand, fingers curved over thumb (as ASL 'o' or 'm') |
| R | crossed fingers (as ASL 'r') |
| V | spread index + middle fingers (as ASL 'v') |
| W | thumb touches pinkie (as ASL 'w') |
| X | hook (as ASL 'x') |
| Y | horns (as ASL 'y', or as index + pinkie) |
| ȣ (8) | bent middle finger; may touch thumb (as ASL '8' in the latter case; this is a common allophone of Y) |
Sig (Movement and Orientation) symbols
Sigs are superscripted after the dez to indicate Movement, as in D# (a dez D which closes) or subscripted to indicate hand Orientation, as in D# (a dez which starts off closed). (These would be D# and #D in the ASCII system.) Multiple movement sigs are linear when the movements are sequential, as in TD×∨× (a dez D which touches the tab T, moves down, and touches again; TDx-v-x in ASCII), but stacked when simultaneous, as in TD×ͮ (a dez which moves down while in contact with the tab; TDxv in ASCII).
A dot placed above the sig indicates that the motion is sharp, as in TD×̇ (sharp contact by the dez D; TDx! in ASCII), while a dot placed after the sig indicates that the motion is repeated, as in TD×· (repeated contact by the dez; TDx" in ASCII).
Only some symbols are relevant for Orientation; these are indicated with "(Ori)" below.
| symbol | ASCII | description |
| Dʌ | D^ | upward (Mov or Ori) |
| Dv | Dv | downward (Mov or Ori) |
| Dɴ | Dw | up and down |
| D> | D> | to the side (dominant side) (Mov or Ori) |
| D< | D< | to the center or non-dominant side (Mov or Ori) |
| D≷ | Dz | side to side |
| D⊤ | Dt | toward signer ("to") (Mov or Ori) |
| D⊥ | Df | away from signer ("fro") (Mov or Ori) |
| DI | Dm | to and fro (symbol is like a serif 'I') |
| Dɑ | Da | supinate (turn palm up); supine (Ori) |
| Dɒ | Db | pronate (turn palm down); prone (Ori) |
| Dω | Dg | twist wrist back & forth |
| Dŋ | Dr | nod, bend wrist |
| D◽ | D* | open (resulting Dez shown in brackets); open (Ori) |
| D# | D# | close (resulting Dez shown in brackets); closed (Ori) |
| Dᴥ | De | wriggle fingers (symbol looks like a cursive e) |
| D@ | D@ | circle (symbol is a spiral) |
| D⁾⁽ | D: (D=) | approach |
| D× | Dx | contact, touch; touching (Ori) |
| D≬ | D$ | link, grasp; linked (Ori) |
| D‡ | D+ | cross; crossed (Ori) |
| Dʘ | Do | enter; inside (Ori) |
| D÷ | D% | separate |
| Dʻʼ | D§ (D&) | exchange positions |
Orthography
A sign is written in the order Tab Dez Sig.