ETHIOPIA Writing mouthing of words in Ethiopia

[Valerie Sutton]

SignWriting List
February 27, 2006

Eyasu in Ethiopia wrote:
> I thank you for your rewarding encouragement regarding a further  
> research on Ethiopian Sign Language.
>
> I found this topic suitable to my present pilot research Which  
> Stefan and I have been doing. I saw the importance of mouth  
> movement from both the born deaf and hard of hearing p.o.v. I asked  
> whether it has any difference.
>
> Based on my observation , mostly the born deaf when they use finger  
> spelling esp. f! or scientific names, unfamiliar names, etc. they  
> simply sign without any mouth movement.  I asked why and they gave  
> me the reason that their mother tongue is Sign-language. They never  
> heard the sound of the spelling. Similar answer I got from the hard  
> of hearing people.  But when I observe sometimes they show mouth  
> movement.  The reason is obvious that they become deaf most  
> probably after knowing the pronounciation of the spelling. But what  
> both agree is that ''The sign speaks itself.''


--------------------------

Hello Eyasu and Everyone!

Thank you for this valuable information. It is good that you asked  
your Deaf friends about mouth movements in Ethiopian Sign  
Language...Everything you say is very interesting!

There are differences in cultures and the way children are taught in  
school...

As you say, a lot depends on if the person has some hearing or not.  
If they had hearing when they were born, but became Deaf later, then  
they might mouthe words more, than if they never heard  
anything...This seems to be true in other cultures too...

No matter what, SignWriting symbols can be applied to writing any  
mouth movements that the writer thinks is necessary...

So later, if you find some mouth movements that you want to write,  
you can, and Stefan will be a great person to explain how to do  
it...smile...

THANK YOU  to everyone for your wonderful messages about this topic..

Val ;-)


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