LL-L "Language contacts" 2004.06.03 (03) [E]

Thu Jun 3 23:22:43 UTC 2004

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L O W L A N D S - L * 03.JUN.2004 (03) * ISSN 189-5582 * LCSN 96-4226
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A=Afrikaans Ap=Appalachian B=Brabantish D=Dutch E=English F=Frisian
L=Limburgish LS=Lowlands Saxon (Low German) N=Northumbrian
S=Scots Sh=Shetlandic V=(West)Flemish Z=Zeelandic (Zeêuws)
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From: Sandy Fleming <sandy at scotstext.org>
Subject: "Language contacts" [E]

As most people know, sign languages often incorporate a fingerspelling
alphabet for spelling out words and abbreviations from oral languages.
Fingerspelling may be very heavily used (as in American Sign Language) or
hardly used at all (as in Danish Sign Language). Some sign languages are
spoken in countries where the hearing languages don't use an alphabet, so
fingerspelling is irrelevant: for example in Chinese sign languages the
Chinese character is just written with a finger on the palm of the hand or
in the air when a Chinese word needs to be indicated.

In nearly all sign languages which have a fingerspelling alphabet, the
letters are spelled using one hand, including those which use written
alphabets other than the Roman: Cyrillic and Greek alphabets are also
fingerspelled on one hand (this isn't to say that fingerspelling is always
the same for any given alphabet, however: Swedish, French, British and
American fingerspelling are all very different, for example - though
American and French fingerspelling are closely related - even though they
all use the Roman alphabet).

British Sign Language (BSL) is one of the exceptions, being fingerspelled on
two hands. Although Australian, New Zealand and Martha's Vineyard
(Massachussetts) sign languages also use two-handed fingerspelling systems,
these are descended from the British alphabet. The British two-handed
alphabet is in turn derived from Dalgrano's Glove, a fingerspelling system
devised by the Aberdonian George Dalgranoch around the year 1680.
Statistical analysis suggests that Dalgranoch based his system on Ogham
script, such as might be seen on standing stones in some parts of Britain.

I've heard from a Norwegian signer that although in Norway they don't use
fingerpelling much, they actually have two fingerspelling systems - one is
one-handed and the other two-handed. She said that they two-handed system
was very much like the British system except for the vowels. In the British
system there are five vowels, and a different finger is used for each one,
so it makes sense that in Norway they would have to alter the vowel system
to fit the Norwegian vowels.

But the question is, what's the historical connection between the UK and
Norway in this respect? Unfortunately the history of the Deaf isn't always
recorded and I don't think it's enough to just consider "mainstream" history
to establish sign language connections - there has to be some connection
between the Deaf in the UK and the Deaf in Norway. Any ideas?

Sandy
http://scotstext.org/

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From: R. F. Hahn <sassisch at yahoo.com>
Subject: Language contacts

Thanks a lot, Sandy.  This is really interesting.  (And nice to know that
I'm not suddenly alone on this list.)

For the benefit of everyone (including myself), below are a few
finger-spelling-related links:

British:
http://www.learntosign.org.uk/fingerspelling.php
http://www.michaelszczepanski.de/fagb.htm

Scottish (?):
http://www.michaelszczepanski.de/schottisch.htm

Irish (?):
http://www.michaelszczepanski.de/irland.htm

Australian:
http://www.wadeaf.org.au/auslan.shtml#fingerspelling
http://www.michaelszczepanski.de/faaustral.htm

New Zealand:
http://www.deaf.co.nz/fingerspelling.html
http://www.michaelszczepanski.de/neuseeland.htm

American (including Anglo-Canadian?):
http://where.com/scott.net/asl/abc.html
http://www.michaelszczepanski.de/fausa.htm

German:
http://www.kidsweb.de/schule/zeichen/fingerz.htm
http://www.michaelszczepanski.de/deutschland.htm
Alternative, after Hironymus Lorm ("Lormenalfabet"),
apparently with similarities to the British and Scandinavian systems:
http://www.michaelszczepanski.de/lorm.htm

Dutch (Netherlands):
http://www.dovenschap.nl/main.php?sid=27&cat=vingerspelling
hand-on-hand method:
http://www.dovenschap.nl/main.php?sid=27&cat=vingerspelling%20op%20hand
http://www.xs4all.nl/~hverdonk/vingerspellen.html

Belgian (Non-Romance?):
http://gebaren.ugent.be/
http://www.michaelszczepanski.de/fabelgien.htm

Danish:
http://www.michaelszczepanski.de/fadanemark.htm

Norwegian:
http://www.michaelszczepanski.de/fanorwe.htm

Swedish:
http://student.educ.umu.se/~anaflk00/udt16h02/handalfabetet.htm

Icelandic:
http://www.michaelszczepanski.de/island.htm

French (including Belgian and French-Canadian?):
http://www.michaelszczepanski.de/fafrankr.htm

Tanzanian:
http://www.michaelszczepanski.de/tansania.htm

Italian:
http://www.michaelszczepanski.de/italien.htm

Spanish (Spain, including Catalan and Galician?):
http://www.michaelszczepanski.de/faspanien.htm

Mexican:
http://www.michaelszczepanski.de/famexik.htm

Costa-Rican:
http://www.michaelszczepanski.de/facostaric.htm

Paraguayan:
http://www.michaelszczepanski.de/faparagu.htm

Uruguayan:
http://www.michaelszczepanski.de/faurug.htm

Venezuelan:
http://www.michaelszczepanski.de/venezuela.htm

Chilean:
http://www.michaelszczepanski.de/fachile.htm

Argentinian:
http://www.michaelszczepanski.de/faarbetin.htm

Portuguese (Portugal):
http://www.michaelszczepanski.de/portugal.htm

Portuguese (Brazil):
http://www.michaelszczepanski.de/fabrasil.htm

Romanian:
http://www.michaelszczepanski.de/romanisch.htm

Serbo-Croatian:
http://www.michaelszczepanski.de/yugoslawien.htm

Polish:
http://www.michaelszczepanski.de/polen.htm

Russian:
http://www.michaelszczepanski.de/russisch.htm

Greek:
http://www.michaelszczepanski.de/fagreece.htm

Finnish:
http://www.michaelszczepanski.de/fafinland.htm

Arabic (Egypt):
http://www.michaelszczepanski.de/faagypten.htm

Hebrew:
http://www.michaelszczepanski.de/israel.htm

Ethiopian (only Amharic? Also for Tigrinya?):
http://www.michaelszczepanski.de/faatiop.htm

Indian (all languages?):
http://www.michaelszczepanski.de/faindien.htm

Indonesian (only Bahasa Indonesia?):
http://www.michaelszczepanski.de/indonesien.htm

Filipino (only for Tagalog, or others as well?):
http://www.michaelszczepanski.de/philipinen.htm

Thai:
http://www.michaelszczepanski.de/fathai.htm

Korean:
http://www.michaelszczepanski.de/fakorea.htm

Japanese:
http://www.michaelszczepanski.de/japan.htm

Chinese:
Mainland: http://www.michaelszczepanski.de/fachina.htm
Elsewhere: http://www.michaelszczepanski.de/fahongkong.htm

Phonemic System:
http://www.michaelszczepanski.de/PMS.htm

International Sign Lingua Franca:
http://www.innerspace.be/vingerspelling/index_off_line_en.htm

This seems like a nice selection for some comparison and research.

Regards,
Reinhard/Ron

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