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zygosisproject · 2 months

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Braille Typeface

Since I started this project, I have been attempting to create a braille typeface that creates a mutual understanding of Braille literacy among the sighted and visually impaired. This was inspired by my research when I came across the term, blind-deafness which refers to a community of individuals with visual and auditory impairment.

Upon learning this, I created my 3D piece (communication cubes) reflecting on the various communication forms used by individuals with an auditory/ visual impairment. However, in my exhibition for April 19, I wanted to create an inclusive space in which people who either identify with these impairments or are unaware, can learn and understand these disability- not as stigmas but as a different way of being human.

In front of each piece (2D, 3D, 4D, experimental & Reflective), I want to have a didactic in this typeface explaining each piece briefly, like a gallery space (i.e. 401 Richmond Street W).

Below are some renditions of my typeface, starting with the exploration phase.

EXPLORATIONS

I attempted to trace the Latin alphabet onto the Braille in the images above, but some of the letters such as I, T, V, and Y were difficult due to the placements of the braille.

RENDITION #1

Then, I took those penciled versions of the Braille typeface, and used the brush tool in Adobe illustrator to create cleaner lines.

RENDITION #2

To create even stroke widths on all sides of the letters, I used the pen tool to generate these results.

RENDITION #3

And finally, I added the braille to the areas in the letters to match the chart underneath these images.

I think I might stick with the grey circle version because it is easier on the eyes and the Latin alphabet is still visible underneath.

(BRAILLE ALPHABETS)

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gladiates · 4 years

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Languages of Americas: Navajo

hey! I’m doing the 7 day Languages of Americas Challenge created by @languagessi ! Today is my first day, so I decided to research the Navajo language, which is the most commonly spoken indigenous language in my country, the United States.

What is the language called in English and the language itself? In English, the language is called Navajo (occasionally Navaho in older sources), while in Navajo, it’s called Diné bizaad or Naabeehó bizaad. “Diné” means “people” in Navajo, so “Diné bizaad” means “people’s language."

Where is the language spoken? Navajo is mostly spoken in the Southwestern United States, especially in the Navajo Nation.

How many people speak the language? I wasn’t able to find figures for overall speakers, but most speakers are in the US, which has around 170,000 people who speak Navajo at home.

Which language family does it belong to? What are some of its relative languages? Navajo belongs to the Southern Athabaskan subfamily of the Dené-Yeniseian language family. Other Dené-Yeniseian languages include Eyak and Tlingit (both indigenous Alaskan languages), while languages belonging to the same Southern Athabaskan include many indigenous Alaskan languages. It amazed me what a broad geographical region the Dené-Yeniseian are spoken over. Here’s a map that illustrates how far-reaching these languages are.

What writing system does the language use? Historically, Navajo wasn’t a written language. As a result, its script wasn’t finalized until the 1930s, but it’s based on the Latin script (which English uses). The alphabet is called the Navajo alphabet and does look pretty different from other many other languages that use this script because Navajo has several sounds not found in languages such as English. There are Navajo keyboards available on both iOS and Android developed in 2012 and 2013.

What kind of grammatical features does the language have? Based on what I read, Navajo seems to be a complex language difficult to classify. I’m definitely not an expert on linguistics so some of what I read was hard for me to understand. Something I found interesting was that while Navajo generally uses the subject-object-verb word order (SOV), there’s also a “noun ranking” system that ranks nouns based on categories (humans, animals, and inanimate objects) and attributes like strength, size, and intelligence. Despite the general SOV word order, an object might come before a subject if it has a higher rank based on this system.

What does the language sound like? Here’s a YouTube video by I Love Languages! with basic Navajo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G6P1snUWFR4

What do you personally find interesting about the language?A couple things! One is that Navajo has its own Braille alphabet, which uses some of the letters of Unified English Braille, as well as a few additional letters. This alphabet was officially adopted by the Navajo Nation in 2015. Another thing that interested me is the hard work that many people have put into preserving and reviving Navajo. There are Navajo radio stations, and even a Navajo translation of Star Wars, and several universities offer classes in the language. According to Omniglot, technology has actually helped revive the language, since people can use Navajo keyboards and computer fonts.

Resources to study Navajo:

Duolingo Navajo course: https://www.duolingo.com/enroll/nv/en/Learn-Navajo

Navajo workbook: https://www.amazon.com/Conversational-Navajo-Workbook-Introductory-Non-Native/dp/1940322324/ref=sr_1_2?dchild=1&keywords=navajo&qid=1597410680&s=books&sr=1-2

Navajo slang terms: http://www.angelfire.com/rock3/countryboy79/navajo_slang.html

Wikipedia in Navajo: https://nv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Din%C3%A9_Bizaad

Navajo memrise course: https://app.memrise.com/course/2215337/navajo-1/

Here’s a photo of writing in Navajo by Caitlyn Black, a high school student in Utah.

Sources:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Navajo_language https://omniglot.com/writing/navajo.htm

#languagesofamericaschallenge #navajo #indigenous languages #langblr #navajo language

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racingtoaredlight · 5 years

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RTARL Counterpoint: In Defense of the Catholic Church

I don’t actually disagree with anything that stark said in his post on Saturday, seeing as I’m an agnostic who’s 17 years removed from any association with Catholocism...I just disagree with stark on general principle. Well, that and because it’s too easy to simply just say “fuck the Catholic church.” Actually, the real reason I got inspired to write this is...

One day a few years ago, when the stories about Catholic priests fondling and molesting boys en masse (no pun intended) were all over the front pages, I wondered aloud to my brother Tom whether or not any of our friends and brothers had been molested. He told me that it was more likely than not.

Lets just use some basic assumptions using today’s figures.

There are currently 1,200,000,000 Catholics in the world. There are 414,313 Catholic priests. If 6% of priests are child molesters, we can round up and call that 25,000 priests. Each pedophilic priest would have had to rape roughly 500 children. Probably a few of those high achievers in Latin America hit that number...but I doubt every pedophile was. So was it “more likely than not?”

...math is really the only point I had any major disagreement about. The rest of the disagreements were with stark individually, because I’m a dick. Sure it’s the COOL! and EDGY! thing to do these days (see: previous sentence), but we do have quite a bit to thank the Catholic church for. Not that it should excuse a mass pedophilic movement followed by an even seedier cover-up, but the world we live in today has been incredibly influenced by the Catholic church. Good stuff too.

***

Western Music

We have the Catholic church to thank for Western Music as we know it. The system of written music that’s still used today was developed from organizing the chanting voices in church. The spread of this written music went through Europe like wildfire, making it a standardized language that the entire western would could use to communicate musically.

As for the creation of music, patronage or inspiration...your choice, because Catholicism had a massive impact on both. Each subsequent generation learned and was inspired by music that was written, preserved, spread, paid for and/or inspired by the Catholic Church...even music that’s anti-religious.

***

Art and Architecture

...your move, atheism.

***

Language

Like a disease, Catholic missionaries spread language through the places they conquered I mean visited. True alphabets are easier than logographic alphabets (Chinese languages, etc), and the Latin alphabet is the most widely used in the world. The canonic literature of the early Church inspired the development of modern Italian, French and Spanish and braille was founded by the oldest school for the blind that was started by Catholics.

***

Law

The first law school was started by the Catholic Church in Bologna in 1088, after Pope Gregory VII’s series of reforms. Following his example, sovereignties across Europe adopted the codified system of different bodies of law working together to form a unified front. The legal principles we use today...important things like habeus corpus, trial by jury, guilt beyond a reasonable doubt...were all born from Catholic legal principles.

***

Education

The university system is Catholic. Sorry. Watch soused try to blame student loans on Pope Benedict. If you need this part spelled out for you, I don’t know what to say...the impact on education by Catholicism has been fucking monumental.

***

Science Stuff

Do you wear glasses? Thank Catholicism.

What we know about light is important, right? Catholicism (Roger Bacon).

Space? Galileo (his imprisonment’s legend isn’t exactly accurate).

Hey, what month is it? Might want to check your Catholic Gregorian calendar.

The father of geology? Father Nicholas Steno, another Catholic.

Hey, aren’t Catholics those crazy creationist idiots? That’s pretty strange considering Father Georges Lemaître came up with the Big Bang Theory in 1966. Oh, the theory of evolution? Father Jean-Baptiste Lamarck came up with that in 1829. The father of genetics? Catholic Gregor Mendel.

***

Exploration

Magellan, Christopher Columbus, Marco Polo, Bartholomew Dias...this really shouldn’t require much thought. Despite what we were told in 3rd grade, the world didn’t really think the Earth was flat...Father Diogo Ribiero produced the first modern map in 1529.

***

Conclusion

Obviously I’m not condoning the rape of thousands of children over the centuries, and the subsequent cover-ups...nor am I presenting this as evidence that the Catholic Church is anything worth saving.

Honestly, I’m not sure why I was so rankled by stark’s post on Saturday. I never had an experience like his...truthfully, I went through 12 years of Jesuit education and there wasn’t even a sniff of impropriety. I wouldn’t have been surprised if some of my harder-edged Catholicism-inducted educators were reassigned for overly harsh discipline...oh that stereotype was there in spades...all I’m saying here is I just didn’t personally experience anything like stark did.

And it’s not like I’m a Catholic either. I’m not religious...if anything, the only point stark and I disagree on is in regards to proof...he’s waiting to see evidence god exists, I’m waiting to see evidence that god doesn’t. We’d both agree though, that the concept of God likely doesn’t exist based on the evidence at hand.

But I still got a little miffed (hence this post). Stark posits the Catholic church is dying. I wouldn’t disagree either...the numbers aren’t good, for Catholicism’s side. And I wouldn’t necessarily even disagree that the Catholic Church should die, that it deserves it. Covering up child rape on such a level is probably Top 10 horrible macro “things” along with genocide and induced-famine and things like that.

Truthfully, despite saying all that, I’m still on the “reform” side of things. I wouldn’t be where I am today without my Catholic education...dead serious. My freshman high school classes were magnitudes more difficult than any non-music thing I ever faced in college. It was an education I can conclusively say prepared me well for the real world.

And maybe it’s that which still inspires me to (somewhat) defend the institution. It sounds strange to positively, without any irony, say that my Catholic education cemented a rock-solid moral compass...considering the whole, you know. But that’s how I feel.

I don’t know if the Catholic church will survive this era...I’d likely agree with stark’s assertion he’ll die under different Catholic circumstances than he entered the world into. I don’t know if that’s a good thing or a bad thing either. But the Catholic church had an incredible impact on me personally, and an even bigger one on the world as a whole, and it’s important...maybe not important, but it’s [the appropriate word I can’t think of] to remember that they did provide the world we live in with some good things.

The manipulation and bastardization of some elements of Catholicism aren’t a Catholic issue...they’re things that rot the core of almost every institution. By getting rid of Catholicism you’re not ridding the world of pedophilia...merely chasing the rats from one dark sewer to another. It’s not the institution itself that covered up those crimes like “don’t let anyone know about the pedos” was written in the charter...it’s the individuals who sacrificed the meaning and philosophy of that institution for self-serving reasons that covered up those rapes. Hence why I fall on the “reform” side. Everything needs a purge now and then.

A world without Catholicism would still have issues of massive, institutional pedophilia, unfortunately. There’s the same issue in just about every organized religion and/or cult. But a world without Catholicism's other contributions to the Western would would look entirely different than the one we know today.

Ask yourself...if Catholicism legitimately addressed their pedophilic scandals, stepped back from their views on reproduction, adjusted to the modern realities of a globalized world, and still spread their message of living a humble, generous, self-educated life...would they be an institution you would still want excised from the world community?

#church #catholicism #counterpoint

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