ISWA 2010

The ISWA 2010 is a focused refactor of the ISWA 2008. The ISWA 2010 was completed March 30, 2010. The ISWA Font Reference has been available since October 20th, 2010.

Symbol Identification
Each symbol of the ISWA 2010 has several unique values. These values are isomorphic.

Symbol ID
The symbol ID is a six part number formatted for zero padding with a mask of "xx-xx-xxx-xx-xx-xx-xx". The six individual numbers of the symbol ID listed by order are: category, group, base, variation, fill, rotation.

The first number by itself identifies the Category, together with the second number identifies the SymbolGroup ID.

The third number identifies the BaseSymbol place, usually with an "01" for the fourth number: variation. When more than one BaseSymbols share the first three numbers, the fourth number will order these BaseSymbols with variation numbers starting from 1.

The fifth and six numbers uniquely define an individual symbol. They are used to place symbols on a 6 by 16 palette. Each BaseSymbol has a unique symbol palette that lists the symbols on a 6 by 16 grid with valid columns and valid rows. Any cell on a valid column and a valid row is valid and must identify a symbol. Any cell on an invalid column or an invalid row does not represent a symbol and is invalid.

Symbol Code
Within the 16-bit coded character set called x-ISWA-2010, each symbol has a unique 16-bit number assigned. This code is perfect for index fields in relational databases.

Symbol Key
This is a formatted string, 6 ASCII characters long, that identifies a symbol. The first character is always "S". This aids in parsing and human readability. The next three characters represent the base in hex as a character from the 12-bit coded character set x-Binary-SignWriting. The last 2 characters represent the fill and rotation values in hexadecimal respectively.

BSW String
This is a formatted string, 9 ASCII characters long, that identifies a symbol. It consists of 3 codepoints from x-BinarySignWriting: base, fill, and rotation respectively.

PUA Unicode
The BSW string has been designed for an easy conversion to Unicode. Each x-Binary-SignWriting codepoint can be shifted by the value of U+1D700. For example, codepoint B+39A becomes U+1DA9A. The x-Character-SignWriting character set is used in the Private Use Area of Unicode on plane 15 with a offset of U+1D700.

Symbol Type
The ISWA 2010 identifies 3 main types of symbols.

Writing
Writing symbols are used in 2-dimensional arrangements as the written representation of a sign.

Detailed Location
Detailed Location symbols can only be used in ordered lists of symbols. They are not used for everyday writing, but may enhance sorting and animation. The detailed location symbols may be useful for translation with other scripts or integration with notation systems.

Punctuation
Punctuation symbols are always used alone.

Structures
You can build 3 structures with the ISWA 2010: signs, terms, and punctuation.

General Signs of unordered characters
A general sign is 2-dimensional logogram of custom size with freeform symbol placement. It has a mathematically name that determines size and center. The symbols are used in an unordered list of positioned symbols with Cartesian coordinates. The order of the symbols in this unordered list is only meaningful for resolving issues of overlap.

Even though the positioned symbols are unordered, exact string matching is common. Searching unordered strings requires a new strategy other than an exact string match. The advanced searching of SignWriting Text details how to search an unordered string. Matching can be for individual signs or a sequence of signs.

Ordered Term
Terms are general signs with an ordered prefix as a list of symbols. A writer will add a custom order based on a particular theory. Terms are sorted with a binary string compare. Localization is possible with Unicode by giving different Unicode code points different weights.

The ordered prefix is entered manually on purpose. There are many general signs. Many look like terms, but include miss spellings or different positioning. Marking a general sign as a term indicates that the spelling is worth using and imitating. Other than alphabetical order, automated creation of the ordered prefix is not currently possible. Automation requires more analysis and more data than we currently have available. Different theories will need to develop different automation, but should be able to share core data.

Valerie Sutton's rules for creation of the ordered prefix is covered in the SignSpelling Sequence.

Punctuation
Punctuation structures are composed of a single punctuation symbol.

Categories
The ISWA 2010 identifies 7 categories for the symbols.

Writing Symbols
 * Category 1: Hands
 * Handshapes from over 40 Sign Languages are placed in 10 groups based on the numbers 1-10 in American Sign Language.
 * Category 2: Movement
 * Contact symbols, small finger movements, straight arrows, curved arrows and circles are placed into 10 groups based on planes: The Front Wall Plane includes movement that is “parallel to the front wall” and the Floor Plane includes movement that is “parallel to the floor”.
 * Category 3: Dynamics
 * Dynamics Symbols are used mostly with Movement Symbols and Punctuation Symbols, to give the "feeling" or "tempo" to movement. They also provide emphasis on a movement or expression, and combined with Puncuation Symbols become the equivalent to Exclamation Points. The Tension Symbol, combined with Contact Symbols, provides the feeling of 'pressure", and combined with facial expressions can place emphasis or added feeling to an expression. Timing symbols are used to show alternating or simultaneous movement.
 * Category 4: Head & Faces
 * Starting with the head and then from the top of the face and moving down. Group 22 includes head movement and views of the head. Groups 23-26 include detailed facial expressions and movement of parts of the face and neck.
 * Category 5: Body
 * Torso movement, shoulders, hips, and the limbs are used in Sign Languages as a part of grammar, especially when describing conversations between people, called Role Shifting, or making spatial comparisons between items on the left and items on the right. This category is important when writing sign language storytelling and poetry. All sign languages have some signs that point below the hips, or touch the torso, or hunch the shoulders, or touch the arms and wrists.

Detailed Location Symbols
 * Category 6: Detailed Location
 * Detailed Location symbols are used in the SignSpelling Sequence and not in the Spatial SignSpelling. May be useful for sorting large dictionaries, refining animation, simplifying translation between scripts and notation systems, and for detailed analysis of location sometimes needed in linguistic research.

Punctuation Symbols
 * Category 7: Punctuation
 * Punctuation Symbols are used when writing complete sentences or documents in SignWriting. The Punctuation Symbols do not look like the symbols for punctuation in English, but they do have similar meanings. SignWriting punctuation symbols include a period, comma, colon, semicolon, exclamation point and so forth.

SymbolGroups
The ISWA 2010 identifies 30 SymbolsGroups. Category 1: Hands
 * Group 01: Index
 * Group 02: Index Middle
 * Group 03: Index Middle Thumb
 * Group 04: 4 Fingers
 * Group 05: 5 Fingers
 * Group 06: Baby Finger
 * Group 07: Ring Finger
 * Group 08: Middle Finger
 * Group 09: Index Thumb
 * Group 10: Thumb

Category 2: Movement
 * Group 11: Contact
 * Group 12: Finger Movement
 * Group 13: Straight Wall Plane
 * Group 14: Straight Diagonal Plane
 * Group 15: Straight Floor Plane
 * Group 16: Curves Wall Plane
 * Group 17: Curves Hit Wall Plane
 * Group 18: Curves Hit Floor Plane
 * Group 19: Curves Floor Plane
 * Group 20: Circles

Category 3: Dynamics
 * Group 21: Dynamics & Timing

Category 4: Head & Faces
 * Group 22: Head
 * Group 23: Brow, Eyes, Eyegaze
 * Group 24: Cheeks Ears Nose Breath
 * Group 25: Mouth Lips
 * Group 26: Tongue Teeth Chin Neck

Category 5: Body
 * Group 27: Shoulders Hips Torso
 * Group 28: Limbs

Category 6: Detailed Location
 * Group 29: Detailed Location

Category 7: Punctuation
 * Group 30: Punctuation

BaseSymbols
The ISWA 2010 identifies 652 BaseSymbols.

Symbols
The ISWA 2010 defines 37,811 symbols.

Each symbol has a unique name and non-unique glyph. The glyphs of the ISWA 2010 are available as raster in PNG or vector in SVG. Symbols use 3 colors: line, fill, and back. The line color is the positive drawing of the glyph and represents the shape. The fill color is an optional negative drawing for the inside of a symbol that can cover the line of symbols placed underneath. Only category 1 and 2 use fill color. Back color is used for the background of the symbols. The back color defaults to transparent so that symbols can be written in a cluster. The 3 colored glyphs work together to form a cluster of potentially overlapping glyphs on a two dimensional canvas called a glyphogram - a logogram of determinate size from a mathematical name.

Token Reference
Each symbol of the ISWA can be represented by a single letter token. This token can be used with regular expressions to validate or analyze more complex structures.

h: Hand token
 * Category 1: Hands

m: Movement token
 * Category 2: Movement

d: Dynamics token
 * Category 3: Dynamics

h: Head token
 * Category 4: Head & Faces

t: Trunk token
 * Category 5: Body, SymbolGroup 27: Shoulders Hips Torso

x: Limb token
 * Category 5: Body, SymbolGroup 28: Limbs

l: Detailed Location token
 * Category 6: Detailed Location

P: Punctuation token
 * Category 7: Punctuation

Downloads

 * ISWA 2010 Font Reference.
 * ISWA 2010 conversion package.
 * ISWA 2010 HTML Reference.

Name Changes

 * BaseSymbol 12: Index Hinge on Fist
 * BaseSymbol 13: Index Hinge on Fist Low
 * BaseSymbol 512: Head
 * BaseSymbol 570: Breath Exhale
 * BaseSymbol 571: Breath Inhale
 * BaseSymbol 622: Shoulder Hip Spine
 * BaseSymbol 650: Semicolon

Symbol Changes
The only symbol image change was on July 6th 2010, where a small fix was required for symbol 01-06-017-01-03-10, with a symbol key of "S19629". In the ISWA 2010 image directory, file iswa/196/19629.png should have pixel dimensions of 26 x 24.

Symbol ID Omission
BaseSymbol 02-07-008-01 is not assigned by omission. It was skipped in the conversion from the ISWA 2008.

Facial Irregularities
The cheek marks for 04-03-001-01, 04-03-001-02, and 04-03-001-03 are switch for fills 4 and 5.

Movement Rotation Irregularities
The rotation of 02-07-012-01-0x-03 and 02-07-012-01-0x-04 are not consistent with others in SymbolGroup 17.

SymbolGroup 18 Irregularity
There is an aesthetic difference within the structure of SymbolGroup 18. It has a different feel than other movements groups.

Heel of Hand Irregularity
There are 6 hand shapes with an irregular design that represent the heel of hand (01-05-002-01, 01-05-004-01, 01-05-006-01, 01-05-017-01, 01-10-002-01, 01-10-016-01).

These hand shapes are the only symbols that do not use fill 1. The graphic design represent fill 5, but the symbol ID uses fill 2. This follows the rule that all hand shapes must be able to use fill 2.

Unicode PUA
The preliminary Unicode design has been deprecated. The Unicode implementation has been moved to the private use area. Temporary font characters are used on plane 15.