Fingerspelling (somtimes known as dactylology) is the representation of the letters of a writing system, and sometimes numeral systems, using only the hands. There are many manual alphabets (or finger alphabets) in use, past and present — especially in deaf eduction and, more recently, as a part of various sign languages around the world. A letter is an element of a writing system. ... Writing Systems of the World today A Specimen of typeset fonts and languages, by William Caslon, letter founder; from the 1728 Cyclopaedia. ... A numeral is a symbol or group of symbols that represents a number. ... A sign language (also signed language) is a language which uses manual communication instead of sound to convey meaning - simultaneously combining handshapes, orientation and movement of the hands, arms or body, and facial expressions to fluidly express a speakers thoughts. ...

As with other forms of manual communication, fingerspelling can be comprehended visually or tactually. The simplest visual form of fingerspelling is tracing the shape of letters in the air, or tactually, tracing letters onto the palm. However, most manual alphabets use a unique hand sign to represent individual letters, distinguished by handshape and palm orientation, and sometimes movement, location and mouth patterns. The handshapes are often based on stylised representations of the shapes of the letters as they are written. Pupils in a traditional classroom situation signal to their teacher that they want to be heard Manual communication systems use articulation of the hands (hand signs), gestures, body language and facial expressions in place of the voice to mediate a message between persons. ... Tactile signing is a common means of communcation used by people with both a vision and hearing impairment (see Deafblindness), which is based on a standard system of Deaf manual signs. ...

Manual alphabets exist for representing Latin, Cyrillic, Greek, Devanāgarī, Bengali, Arabic, Hebrew, Thai, Hangul and Kana scripts, among others. The Latin alphabet, also called the Roman alphabet, is the most widely used alphabetic writing system in the world today. ... The Cyrillic alphabet (or azbuka, from the old name of the first two letters) is an alphabet used to write six natural Slavic languages (Belarusian, Bulgarian, Macedonian, Russian, Serbian, and Ukrainian) and many other languages of the former Soviet Union, Asia and Eastern Europe. ... DevanāgarÄ« (Sanskrit: —, pronounced , in English pronounced ) is an abugida writing system used to write, either along with other scripts, or exclusively, several North Indian languages, including Sanskrit, Hindi, Marathi, Sindhi, Bihari, Bhili, Konkani, Bhojpuri, Nepali from Nepal and sometimes Kashmiri and Romani. ... The Bengali script is an Abugida system of writing belonging to the Brahmic family of scripts whose use is associated with the Bangla, Assamese, Manipuri and Sylheti languages. ... The Arabic alphabet is the script used for writing in the Arabic language. ... This article is mainly about Hebrew letters. ... Hangul also refers to a word processing application widely used in Korea. ... Japanese writing Kanji 漢字 Kana 仮名 Hiragana 平仮名 Katakana 片仮名 Manyogana 万葉仮名 Uses Furigana 振り仮名 Okurigana 送り仮名 Rōmaji ローマ字 For other meanings of Kana, see Kana (disambiguation). ...

Fingerspelling in sign languages

Fingerspelling is used in sign languages for words which have no sign equivalent. Fingerspelling can also be used for emphasis, clarification, or (sometimes extensively) when teaching or learning a sign language.

Fingerspelling is often rapid so that the individual letters become difficult to distinguish, and the word is grasped from the overall hand movement.

When persons fluent in sign language read fingerspelling, they do not usually look at the signer's hand(s), but maintain eye contact and look at the face of the signer as is normal for sign language. People who are learning fingerspelling often find it impossible to understand it using just their peripheral vision and must look directly at the hand of someone who is fingerspelling. Often, they must also ask the signer to fingerspell slowly. It frequently takes years of expressive and receptive practice to become skilled with fingerspelling. Peripheral vision is a part of vision that occurs outside the very center of gaze. ...

History

Antique hand memory system. Originally published in "Thesavrvs Artificiosae Memoriae", in Venice, 1579.

In Greek and Roman antiquity there are recorded references to the use of the body and hands to represent the alphabet, presumably as a representational alternative to the use of paper. Modern fingerspelling can be traced back to monks of seventh century Europe. Centuries later, in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, their manual alphabet underwent significant adaptation as a result of the contact between the monks and the deaf children they tutored.^[1] Image File history File links 16_103p_from_ralph_major_slide_collection. ... Image File history File links 16_103p_from_ralph_major_slide_collection. ...

Latin alphabet

There are two families of manual alphabets used for representing the Latin alphabet: The Latin alphabet, also called the Roman alphabet, is the most widely used alphabetic writing system in the world today. ...

• one-handed manual alphabets, used with some substantial variations in most European and American sign languages;
• the two-handed manual alphabet, used for British Sign Language and the related dialects of Auslan and New Zealand Sign Language.

The American Sign Language alphabet is a manual alphabet to complement the vocabulary of American Sign Language when spelling individual letters of a word is the preferred or only option. ... BSL is also an abbreviation for Breed-specific legislation. ... British Sign Language (BSL) is the sign language used in the United Kingdom (UK). ... Auslan is the sign language used by the Australian Deaf community. ... New Zealand Sign Language or NZSL is the main language of the deaf community in New Zealand. ...

Good fingerspelling form in American Sign Language

• The hand should either remain in place while fingerspelling, or more often, drift slightly away from the midline in the manner of text being written out in the air; although, this is a subtle movement and should not be exaggerated.
• If fingerspelling multiple words or entire sentences, there should be a very brief pause between terms so as to signify the beginning and ending of individual words.
• Long nails or excessive jewelry can be distracting when watching fingerspelling and for this reason people who regularly use sign language usually avoid them.
• When fingerspelling acronyms in American Sign Language, such as with FBI, NASA, or RID, the letters are often moved in a small circle to emphasize that they should not be read together as a word.
• Additionally, when fingerspelling the hand should not bounce between letters. An exception is the case of double letters as with the word carry in which the double R can be shown by slightly bouncing the corresponding handshape, or by dragging it, slightly, to the side. Either method is a correct way to show double letters. However, people who bounce between every letter produce fingerspelling that is very hard to watch or understand. Those who cannot overcome the habit of bouncing every letter may find it helpful to hold the wrist of the hand doing the fingerspelling with the free hand so that they are forced to keep the hand from moving up and down while fingerspelling. Usually, only a few hours or days of this is enough to break the habit of unnecessary bouncing while fingerspelling.

Acronyms and initialisms are abbreviations formed from the initial letter or letters of words, such as NATO and XHTML, and are pronounced in a way that is distinct from the full pronunciation of what the letters stand for. ... American Sign Language (ASL, also Amslan obs. ... The Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf, Inc (RID) is a non-profit organization founded in 1964 and incorporated in 1972 that seeks to uphold the standards, ethics, and professionalism of the interpreting career. ...

Common mistakes made by beginners

Many mistakes made by beginning fingerspellers are directly attributable to how the manual alphabet is most often shown in graphics.

Mistakes with letters

In most drawings or illustrations of the American Sign Language alphabet, some of the letters are depicted from the side to better illustrate the desired handshape even though, in practice, the hand should not be turned to the side in order to produce the letter. The letters C and O are two that are often mistakenly turned to the side by beginners who become used to seeing them from the side in illustrations. Important exceptions to the rule that the palm should always be facing the viewer are the letters G and H. These two letters should be made, not with the palm facing the viewer or the speaker, but with the palm facing sideways - the hand in an ergonomically neutral position. The American Sign Language alphabet is a manual alphabet that augments the vocabulary of American Sign Language when spelling individual letters of a word is the preferred or only option, such as with proper names or the titles of works. ...

Mistakes with numbers

Another mistake made by people faithfully following the pictures in most illustrations of the ASL fingerspelling alphabet is the signing of the cardinal numbers 1 - 5 with the palm facing out. The cardinal numbers one, two, three, four, and five should be signed palm in (towards the signer). This is in contrast with the cardinal numbers six through nine which should be produced with the palm turned to face the person being addressed. In linguistics, cardinal numbers is the name given to number words that are used for quantity (one, two, three), as opposed to ordinal numbers, words that are used for order (first, second, third). ...

As with the letter O, the zero should not be turned to the side, but shown palm facing forward.

This applies only to the cardinal numbers however. Using numbers in other situations, such as with for showing the digits of the time for example, has different rules. When signing the time, the numbers are always facing the person being addressed, even the numbers one through five. Other signing situations involving numbers have their own norms that must be learnt on a case by case basis.

See also

• American Sign Language alphabet
• Korean manual alphabet
• Japanese Sign Language syllabary
• Cued Speech

The American Sign Language alphabet is a manual alphabet that augments the vocabulary of American Sign Language when spelling individual letters of a word is the preferred or only option, such as with proper names or the titles of works. ... The Korean manual alphabet is used by the Deaf in South Korea who speak Korean Sign Language. ... This page meets Wikipedias criteria for speedy deletion. ... Cued Speech is a system of communication used with and among deaf or hard of hearing people. ...

External links

• Deafblind alphabets explained with graphics for the sighted.