allthingslinguistic:allthingslinguistic: Signily: ASL Keyboard app Signily is a really nea
allthingslinguistic: allthingslinguistic: Signily: ASL Keyboard app Signily is a really neat keyboard app that lets you type many common ASL signs as images or gifs, in both left and right hands, and in several skin tones. It’s currently for iOS, with Android support on the way, and they’re using gifs because Unicode does not support handshape characters beyond a few basic ones like thumbs-up and okay, let alone the moving images that are important for some signs. The gifs are a clever workaround for the moment, but hopefully later versions of Unicode will support a larger inventory of handshapes, which is also something the Signily developers are advocating for. More information and demonstrations of how it works on Signily’s website. Several people have asked what the point of this app is if Deaf/Hard of Hearing people could just type in English. But ASL and English are different languages, so when ASL speakers are typing in English, they’re typing in a different language, one which they may be less fluent in. So even though linear sign emoji aren’t as fully expressive as an actual person signing in 3D space, they may feel closer to one’s native language than the various other ways of writing ASL. (Also yes, Unicode probably isn’t going to support gifs anytime soon. But it could at least contain a larger inventory of handshapes – currently it doesn’t even have the ASL alphabet.) -- source link