Fingerspelling

Also called Finger spelling, Manual alphabet, BSL alphabet, Dactylology

Spelling a word letter by letter on the hands, using the two-handed British alphabet that anyone can learn in an afternoon.

What it is

Fingerspelling is spelling a word out on the hands, one letter at a time, using a fixed handshape for each letter. Britain uses a two-handed alphabet, which is a difference from American Sign Language and most of the world; Irish and American fingerspelling are one-handed and look nothing like ours.

It is part of British Sign Language, not a substitute for it. Signers fingerspell names, places, technical words, and anything that has no established sign yet, and a good many everyday BSL signs are shortened fingerspellings of the English word. On its own, fingerspelling is a slow way to communicate, and someone who has learned only the alphabet has learned to spell, not to sign.

The same alphabet, adapted onto the listener's hand, is the deafblind manual alphabet, which is why learning it pays twice.

Who it can help

Everyone who uses or is learning BSL, since without it you cannot sign a name. Hearing people who work with Deaf people, for whom it is the fastest way to get a name or a word across when their signing runs out. Deaf children learning to read, because fingerspelling is a direct bridge between a sign and the written English word and there is decent evidence that fluent fingerspellers read better.

It also helps people with no hearing loss at all in specific situations: a person with dysarthria who can spell the first letter of a word to disambiguate it, or a family that wants a quiet way to pass a word across a room. It is not a communication system for someone with a learning disability who cannot spell, and it is not useful to a person who cannot see the hands well, for whom the tactile version exists.

How it works

The right hand (for a right-hander) does the work and the left hand is the base. The five vowels sit on the fingertips of the base hand: touch the thumb for A, the index finger for E, the middle finger for I, the ring finger for O and the little finger for U. The consonants each have a shape made with both hands, and several look like the letter they stand for: C is a curved hand, L an L-shape, X two crossed fingers.

Fluent signers do not spell letter by letter in the way a beginner does. They produce the word as a single movement and the reader takes it in as a shape, which is why a beginner cannot read a fluent signer's spelling and why practising reading is harder and more valuable than practising producing.

Double letters are shown by bouncing the letter or sliding it, and a name is often spelled once and then given a name sign so nobody has to spell it again.

Getting started

Print the alphabet this week and learn the vowels first, because they are the anchor for everything else. Then spell your own name, then the names of the people you live with, then whatever is on the kitchen table. Ten minutes a day for a fortnight is enough for production.

For reading, get someone to spell words at you, slowly at first, and resist the urge to say each letter aloud; try to catch the whole word. Videos of Deaf signers fingerspelling at natural speed are the real test.

If you are learning for a deaf child, keep going into BSL proper through the National Deaf Children's Society. If you are learning for a deafblind person, go to the deafblind manual alphabet next, because it is the same alphabet moved onto their hand.

Where to get help

The British Deaf Association is the authority on the language the alphabet belongs to. The National Deaf Children's Society publishes family resources including the alphabet. Deafblind UK and Sense teach the tactile version. Any Signature Level 1 course covers fingerspelling in the first weeks.