The International Movement Writing Alphabet (IMWA) is a set of symbols that can be used to describe and record movement. Its creator,

Valerie Sutton Valerie Sutton (born February 22, 1951) is an American developer of movement notation and a former dancer. Early life She was born in the borough of Manhattan, in New York City, the daughter of a physicist father and a poetry, poet/Model (perso ...

, also invented MovementWriting, a writing system which employs IMWA. It in turn has several application areas within which it is specialised.

Application areas

Sign language transcription

Sutton SignWriting is optimised for

sign language Sign languages (also known as signed languages) are languages that use the visual-manual modality to convey meaning, instead of spoken words. Sign languages are expressed through manual articulation in combination with non-manual markers. Sign l ...

s and has the most development so far.

Dance notation

DanceWriting is a form of

dance notation Dance notation is the symbolic representation of human dance movement and form, using methods such as graphic symbols and figures, path mapping, numerical systems, and letter and word notations. Several dance notation systems have been invented ...

Mimestry notation

MimeWriting is for classic

mimestry A mime artist, or simply mime (from Greek , , "imitator, actor"), is a person who uses ''mime'' (also called ''pantomime'' outside of Britain), the acting out of a story through body motions without the use of speech, as a theatrical medium o ...

Kinesiology

SportsWriting is for the

kinesiology Kinesiology () is the scientific study of human body movement. Kinesiology addresses physiological, anatomical, biomechanical, pathological, neuropsychological principles and mechanisms of movement. Applications of kinesiology to human health ...

ice skating Ice skating is the self-propulsion and gliding of a person across an ice surface, using metal-bladed ice skates. People skate for various reasons, including recreation (fun), exercise, competitive sports, and commuting. Ice skating may be per ...

and

gymnastics Gymnastics is a type of sport that includes physical exercises requiring balance, strength, flexibility, agility, coordination, dedication and endurance. The movements involved in gymnastics contribute to the development of the arms, legs, shou ...

Identification numbers

The IMWA has more than 27,000 elements that are represented by unique identification numbers. Each identification number specifies six attributes——as dash-separated values. The symbol is specified with a three-digit value whereas all other attributes use a two-digit value (e.g., 01-01-001-01-01-01). There are eight categories: hand, movement, face, head, upper body, full body, space, and punctuation. There are 40 groups. The {{clarify span, keyboard design and symbol palette, date=April 2014 are based on the 40 groups.

History

Valerie Sutton The IMWA was originally designed for describing sign language and consequently was named ''Sutton's Sign Symbol Sequence'' (SSS) by its inventor, Valerie Sutton. The original symbol set, SSS-95, was limited in size due to memory constraints in personal computers at the time. The SSS-99 symbol set expanded the number of symbols, and the SSS-2002 set was the first to use the current identification numbering system. The final version, SSS-2004, was renamed ''International Movement Writing Alphabet'' (SSS-IMWA) to reflect its usefulness in applications beyond sign language.

External links

MovementWriting

IMWA Design Documents

IMWA Keyboard Design
category:writing systems category:constructed scripts