SignWriting Rotation Modifier-13

It records a handshape’s orientation within a written sign.

SignWriting combines symbols on a two-dimensional page to write a sign. For a handshape, the base shows its form, the fill identifies the hand’s view (palm, back, or side), and a rotation modifier sets its orientation. 𝪬 is one of those rotation choices.

Valerie Sutton created DanceWriting in 1966 to record ballet. In 1974, researchers at the University of Copenhagen asked her to adapt it for writing signed languages; a four-year collaboration developed SignWriting. Feedback from Deaf readers of a newsletter in the early 1980s helped it grow into a broader writing system.

Why does 𝪬 look blank or detached?

One combining component cannot display a complete sign.

𝪬 is a nonspacing mark, meant to attach to another component. Without a font and layout support for SignWriting, it may appear blank, as a box, or detached. Even a suitable font cannot supply the other components or their arrangement on the page.

A 2010 Unicode discussion described the base, fill, and rotation model, and a 2011 proposal lists 𝪬 in the rotation set. These are milestones in encoding SignWriting, not the beginning of the writing system.