It's me again! Now with a language question
I am creating a fictional south american country, where most of my stories take place. It's called Nauramá and it's heavily inspired by Brazil (cause I love it here). I am also making a fictional indigenous language that is spoken by the mojority of the inhabitants, called Yēra'mai.
So, I was thinking if I should make a fictional sign language for the country as well? I really want to, but since I do not primarily use SL I felt like getting a second opinion! I don’t want to step where I shouldn't.
In this case I would not come up with every single possible word or phrase because I am just a guy and I'm not doing that to do the spoken/written language lol. The main reason I wanted to do this is because I have a good number of characters that use SL and most of them are very important characters and/or very frenquent in the stories, and I don't think it would make much sense if they were using LIBRAS or ASL or something (even tho portuguese and english are also recognized as official languages, nauramenos, Yēra'mai and people with those heritages are very proud of their culture).
I definitely think establishing the existence of a local sign language is a good idea, especially if your indigenous group has a high Deaf population.
However, making signs themselves can get a little difficult. This is in part because describing sign language gets very clunky and hard to follow. Signs have many parameters, which you can think of as a parallel to grammatical characteristics and spelling of a word, except they are visuospatial. Describing a sign in a written work takes time that can distract from the actual message.
There are some scenarios where I think describing a sign is appropriate--for example, a completely non-signing character trying to piece together unfamiliar signs, or when emphasizing very specific signs (to be used sparingly). But for the most part, I recommend writing a translation of what is being said, using the language that you are writing the story in.
Compare the following three paragraphs (I am writing using descriptions of ASL signs):
Example 1: She pointed to herself, then made a motion like giving a tight hug, before pointing to him. I love you. Then, her index fingers flew apart--but--and her palm chopped against the other, eyebrows crinkled and mouth open in disgust. You're so irritating.
Example 2: "I love you but--bothersome you," she signed, her mouth slightly open to show her annoyance. "Fish-fish."
Example 3: "I love you, but you are so irritating," she said, rolling her eyes. "Leave me alone!" Her hand flicked in his direction as if to shoo him off as her mouth tightened in annoyance.
The first uses a literal description of the signs. See how much longer it is compared to the others? It also slows the pace of the scene dramatically. This format could work for a short scene if someone is trying to bridge a language barrier, but other than that, I do not want to actually read a book written like this.
The second is written using a modified version of gloss, a method for transcribing sign language. I never recommend writing in gloss, partly because it often makes no sense to non-signers, and partly because even for native signers, it's missing a lot of information that being face to face would provide. (And providing all that would make a long paragraph with many technical details!) Gloss can be more effectively replaced with the descriptors and tone indicators of natural English writing.
For both of the first two methods, since your book is using a fictional sign language that will have its own grammar and acceptable parameters, describing signs or glossing does not provide any additional level of understanding to the work. For a made-up sign language, writing out the signs is like putting a pronunciation guide and a dictionary directly into the scene.
The third is the most natural for all readers to follow, provides the most detail, and allows for something to the scene other than description of what the signs look like. Notice that I don't entirely omit descriptions of signs when it gives some emphasis, but it's only for those specific moments that I rely on describing a sign, or calling attention to the fact that a character is signing rather than speaking.
I absolutely recommend that you think about some signs or concepts that might be important to the culture. Research indigenous sign languages in the areas and cultures you are drawing inspiration from, plus look into Deaf culture and sign language linguistics to get a basis of what the Deaf community in your world might look like.
Most importantly, hire a few people fluent in sign languages and use sign language dictionaries to make sure any signs you do invent aren't slurs in existing languages. (This last one isn't foolproof--for example, the middle finger is an acceptable hand shape in many sign languages, even though it's only used as a rude gesture in ASL. But since you are creating a conlang, you can be a bit more careful.)
To summarize, I think you can write a Deaf culture and population without inventing the signs in their language. But if you are going to create a sign language, look into the linguistic characteristics of signs, get proofreaders, and prioritize the flow and readability of your writing over showcasing your conlang.
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