Si5s

si5s
Script type
Alternative
(Featural)
CreatorRobert Arnold
Time period
2003 – present
DirectionLeft-to-right
LanguagesASL
Related scripts
Parent systems
Child systems
ASLwrite
Unicode
None

si5s is a writing system for American Sign Language that resembles a handwritten form of SignWriting. It was devised in 2003 in New York City by Robert Arnold, with an unnamed collaborator.[1] In July 2010 at the Deaf Nation World Expo in Las Vegas, Nevada, it was presented and formally announced to the public. Soon after its release, si5s development split into two branches: the "official" si5s track monitored by Arnold and a new set of partners at ASLized, and the "open source" ASLwrite.[2] In 2015, Arnold had a falling-out with his ASLized partners,[3] took down the si5s.org website, and made his Twitter account private.[4] ASLized has since removed any mention of si5s from their website.

Arnold completed his master's thesis, "A Proposal Of the Written System For ASL", at Gallaudet University in 2007, looking at the need for a written form for ASL, and proposing the use of si5s. si5s stresses that the "written system is not to offer readers and scholars how sign language functions but how signers think and communicate in sign language."[This quote needs a citation] Its objective is to provide transparency between ASL, as a written language, and other written languages, to allow for a literary study of sign language without glossing. Arnold is currently a faculty member of the Sign Language & Interpreting program at Mt. San Antonio College.

Comparison of some ASL writing systems. SignWriting is at the far left, si5s to the right of it.
  1. ^ The napkin with the first scribbled notes
  2. ^ "ASLwrite History and FAQ". ASLwrite. Retrieved February 17, 2014.
  3. ^ "Need Online Computer Support? Ask a Computer Technician".
  4. ^ Robert Arnold Augustus on Twitter