Fingerspelling

The finger alphabet ( also referred to as finger language or Daktylologie ) is used to spell out the spelling of a word by means of the fingers. It is used with deaf or hard of hearing, in particular to spell within a sign language communication names and words for which no sign character is still widespread. Optional is finger- spelled to emphasize a word from the spoken language, instead of the question mark sign to use.

The international one-handed finger alphabet

International spread with a degree of uniformity is the one-hand manual alphabet, in principle, the letters are reproduced by the fingers of one hand with the. Mainly the replica with the fingers follow the shape of the lowercase letters. For example, the image of the letter " d" is signaled by the upright index finger while the middle finger or the three other fingers forming a circle with your thumb.

The earliest known publication of this manual alphabet comes from Juan Pablo Bonet from the year 1620., The same alphabet was probably used by the Benedictine monks among them, and used by Father Pedro Ponce de Leon to teach his deaf students in the Spanish language.

National versions of the manual alphabet arise because, for example, for very frequent sounds that are written several letters, own characters are formed, such as the German " sch " for the beta and for the umlauts ä, ö and ü.

The letters of the alphabet are performed with the dominant hand in front of the chest or slightly to the side of the hull.

The descriptions refer to right-handed; left-handers in each case the right instead of the left.

Other forms

In Japan, a finger alphabet character represents a syllable, according to the Japanese hiragana syllabary. The shapes of the alphabet are derived from the American. In the UK, Australia, New Zealand, India and partly in South Africa, the finger alphabet is performed with two hands. The Lormen is a Tastalphabet, can communicate with the German -speaking deaf-blind.