Visographic Order – putting sign language dictionaries in order

Abstract

It is common to use glossaries or lists of words as exclusive didactic material in Libras (Língua Brasileira de Sinais, Brazilian Sign Language) classes. Besides the fact that such materials are not didactic books, there is another point of concern, that is, most sign language dictionaries and glossaries are organized by entries in oral languages, by their alphabetical order. That happens because the authors chose not to use a sign language writing system or use one that does not allow linear alphabetical order. Our aim with this paper is to propose a pioneer linear alphabetical order for the arrangement of entries in sign language dictionaries, which we named visographic order, by the use of the Brazilian sign language writing system ELiS (Escrita das Línguas de Sinais, Sign Language Writing System). This proposal is based in Barros (2015), concerning the identification of the elements to be organized, and in Welker (2004), for the discussion and definition of linear alphabetical order. As a result, this paper explains the details of this organization and discusses its possible impacts on the use or learning of sign language by deaf or hearing people.