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The Mechanics of Fingerspelling: Analyzing Ethiopian Sign Language
- Sign Language Studies
- Gallaudet University Press
- Volume 11, Number 1, Fall 2010
- pp. 5-21
- 10.1353/sls.2010.0004
- Article
- Additional Information
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Ethiopian Sign Language utilizes a fingerspelling system that represents Amharic orthography. Just as each character of the Amharic abugida encodes a consonant-vowel sound pair, each sign in the Ethiopian Sign Language fingerspelling system uses handshape to encode a base consonant, as well as a combination of timing, placement, and orientation to encode a paired vowel. This fingerspelling system is a productive polymorphemic method of naming the written characters of the Amharic language.