> > > His question is sound. A writing system needn't be phonetically based,

>At 19:26 -0500 2003-12-12, Peter T. Daniels wrote:
> >Name one that isn't.

>At 06:28 PM 12/12/2003, you wrote:
>SignWriting and other notation systems for Sign Languages. Blissymbols.

So... one *could* contend that since "phonetics" more often than not refers
to basic building blocks of (spoken) languages - the various sounds,
phonations, etc. and we speak of places and manners of articulation of said
sounds/phones, would it not be readily easy to look at places and manners
of articulation in signed languages? If that's the case, since SignWriting
often marks manner and place of "articulation," could it not also be
considered a "phonetically" based writing system?

cheers,
-Patrick