Re: Sukhotin's algorithm etc

[Dennis <ixohoxi@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

	In my Hamptonese website, I noted:

>       Hamptonese has a large set of "stroke" characters, characters organized around a
> stroke like /  .  The author noticed that almost all the characters identified by the Sukhotin
> algorithm as vowels are not stroke characters.  Therefore, the author redesignated all
> stroke characters as vowels. 

	I think I only had to do this with one character.  So
Sukhotin's algorithm worked well there too.

	Incidentally, my Hamptonese site has been completely
redone, and much new info added.  For one 
things, Dr. Maude Wahlman, who had given the tables of
the Vai and Nsibidi writing systems to Cornell's site,
observed:

> I'm afraid that you are making too big a jump between the scripts being in my book and assuming
> that they were woven into quilts. They were not. 
> West Africans had traditions of protective writing, and used abstractions from numerous writing
> systems in textile designs. The idea of protective writing survives many places in the New World,
> and is seen in many textile and charm traditions. 
> I am familiar with James Hampton's work, but do not consider him an outsider artist, as he
> continued graveyard art traditions from his home in Eloree, SC, where light bulbs and tinfoil
> decorations were put on graves. He put that art tradition into a new context in DC. 
> Other vernacular African American artists such as J.B. Murry combined "spirit writing" with their
> arts. J.B. Murry was illiterate, and could not read or write, but could paint beautifully. He was
> aware of the tradition of protective writing that occurs in folk cultures in the South, but may not
> have known of its African origins. 

	Here's a link to J. B. Murry's paintings:
http://ordinaryguy.com/category.html;$sessionid$EC5GRQQAAALVFWGIHUXXBMWYZA4S1PX0?UCIDs=351896%7C351898

	So the origin of Hampton's script is more of a mystery
than ever.  However, the note about grave decorations
is very interesting indeed.

Dennis