V o I u M F, 14 3. N o, 5, 1 9 y H

LEXIDACTYLOPHOBIA: THE (IRRATIONAL) FEAR OF

ingerspelling is a system of manually representing the graphemes of a spoken language used hy memhers of Deaf communities worldwide. Yet, at least within the North American educational system, fingerspelling appears to be largely discounted in favor of sign usage, despite its high potential for linkage to the orthographical system of English and literacy development. The author describes fingerspelling in connection with how it is used within the American Deaf community, and also describes the development of fingerspelling skills in deaf (and hearing) children. He also describes how deaf adults use fingerspelling to promote literacy development in young deaf children. Strategies for increasing the use of fingerspelUng by teachers and parents of the Deaf are outlined.

A phobia is defined in the field of psychol- this avoidance are many and long ogy as an irrational fear or dread of a par- standing, it occurs at the expense of a DONALD A, GKHSHKIN ticular phenomenon or situation. For the widely used resource for ASL/English purposes of the present article, I have bilingualism within the American Deaf coined the term lexidactylophobia from community that serves as an excellent the Greek root words /t'Ai-Cword), dactyl- bridge between manual signs and writ- Grushkin is an (finger), and phobia (an irrational fear of a ten language. More important, this instructor of American particular phenomenon). My interest is avoidance could have negative reper- , Division not so much in promoting application of cussions for the development of literacy of Special Students, this term to members of the j^enera! popu- Oe Anza Coiiege, in young deaf (and hard of hearing) Cupertino, CA. lation as it is in highlighting a phenom- children. enon relevant to the education of the The issue of whether fingerspelling Deaf: avoidance of the use of is used insufficiently is not new: As fingerspelling by many teachers (as well early as 1871, Edward Miner Gallaudet as parents) of the Deaf In the context of (1871/1997) himself (perhaps in re- various educational settings and commu- sponse to growing criticism of the nication philosophies, among them total manual method by proponents of oral communication, signed English, instruction) lamented that "the abuse mainstreaming, and American Sign Lan- [italics in original! of signs, and by this guage (ASL)/ English bilingual/bicultural [is] meant their excessive use, may programming. Although the reasons for be,,,one of the gravest defects imder

VOLUME t43. No. 5. 1998 AMLi»Jt:AN ANNAIS OF THE DEAI which our national system of teaching •'mouth-hand system") as well as al- ther system will finish at the same the deaf is laboring" (p. 22). He ar- phabetically (Padden, 1996a). time. It is also important to note, as gued that fingerspelling (which he Bragg (1997) traces the develop- Fadden and Le Master (1985) do, that termed dactylology) would provide ment of 'finger alphabets" derived deaf students with a broader range of from counting systems in which num- although fingerspelling has a one- communicative options and knowl- bers were used to represent letters of to-one correspondence with each edge, enabling them to function on a the alphabet (the term Gematria has letter of the alphabet, it is not an more equal level with hearing persons been used to describe this kind of sys- identical representation of print, with whom they might come into con- tem of number-for-letter representa- since the nature of the activity— tact, Gallaudet ad\'ocated that tion), as well as the emergence of sys- executing the hand signals in se- tems in which each letter is indicated quence— disallows the scanning from the moment when the pupil by touching a part of the body that capacity of the reader of the printed gains command of a few simple ex- begins with that letter (A: auris, ear), page, (p. l62) pressions, should he be required to to one-handed systems that can he use [italics in original] them. The dated as far back as 1579 (although In the American Deaf community, teacher should also use them Bragg notes that there is evidence that fingerspelling is highly integrated into through the mediLim of dact>'lology they existed much earlier than that). the language system, perhaps mtjre so or writing, and, as a general rule, Interestingly, Bragg notes that, con- than in other Deaf communities. ne\'er employ signs in the class- trary to popular conception, the one- Padden and Humphries (198H) ob- room, when spelling on the fingers, handed fingerspelling system (frcim serve: or written language, will convey which the French/North American with clearness to the mind of the model is derived) was apparently used Italian Deaf people also use a pupils the ideas desired to be ccjm- by religious clerics, not in order to signed language, but they use municated. (p. 23) communicate in contravention of their mouthing and lipreading more vows of silence, but more likely as prominently than do American Deaf mnemonic devices for public speaking Although I certainly do not advocate people. They mouth names of indi- or to learn religious tenets printed in the virtual elimination of signs in the viduals, places, and other borrowed what were called "abecedariums," classroom, I advocate throughout the Italian vocabulary, whereas Ameri- present article that fingerspelling In contrast to the French/North can Deaf people either fingerspell should play an increased role in the American one-handed model, sign lan- English words or translate them into in,stn.iction of deaf and hard o( hearing guages influenced by British Sign Lan- signs. American Deaf people, ac- students, as it provides a highly visual guage use a t^A'o-handed model which cording to the Italian counterparts, and linguistic link to the acquisition of apparently can be traced to the late "barely move their mouths" and Hnglish vocabulary and syntax, which l600s, when George Dalgarno inde- 'fingerspell rapidly," (p, 120) is, after ail, one of the goals of the pendently developed a two-handed educational system. system in which specific letters are Of course, deaf Americans do not represented by touching a specific fingerspell continuously; Padden place on the nondominant palm, (1991, 1996a) found that fingerspelling What Is Fingerspelling? Dalgarno's system, which was ineffi- use is not distributed evenly among all i^'ingcrspelling is a system of manually cient because of the small size of the grammatical classes. That is, fin- representing the graphemes of the palm, was improved upon through the gerspelling is used predominantly for written language of a particular soci- addition of some iconic handshapes, nouns, which account for 50% of all ety, or in the case under discussion, which enabled users to distinguish use. Other kinds of wtirds likely to be the letters of the alphabet used in writ- between letters, by an unknown au- expressed by fingerspelling include ten English, It is important to note that thor in 1698 who was probably hear- adjectives, verbs, functor words (such languages based on Roman alphabets ing but mute, creating the basis for the as the articles the and co?), and pro- are not the only ones to support a sys- British fingerspelling system in use to- nouns. Outside of these word classes, tem of manually representing the or- day. Despite the differences between it is rare to see a native ASL signer us- thography of the written form of the the two systems, one is neither more ing fingerspelling, especially for con- spoken majority language. They can "efficient" or "faster" than the other; cepts with a signed equivalent. How- also represent words ideographically there is anecdotal evidence in the Deaf ever, there are exceptions: As I explain (e.g., Chinese Sign Language for writ- community that when challenged to later in the present article, ten Chinese characters) and syllabi- fingerspell a given word or phrase si- fingerspelling is substituted for signs at cally (e.g., Danish Sign Language's multaneously, fluent deaf users of ei- times, usually to add emphasis to a

VoLUMK 143, No. 5. 1998 AMERIC:AN ANNALS THE DEAF LEXIDACTYLOPHOBIA statement. Padden and Le Master the A is elided. Also, Lucas and Valli education of deaf and hard of hearing (1985) provide a fairly clear description (1992) state that lexicalized fin- people, it has played a large role in the of the primary uses to which gerspellings often change: The signs development of bilingualism in the fingerspelling is put: may be located differently; different Deaf communities that utilize a handshapes may be used; the palm fingerspelling system. Fingerspelling is typically used for may be oriented differently; move- verbatim representation of English ment may be added; the movement vocabulary, most commonly indi- may be reduplicated; an additional Education and Bilingualism vidual words, sometimes phrases or hand may be put into use. In addition, In the Deaf Cemmunity sentences meant to be exact pre- lexicalized signs can be inflected for The American Deaf community, being sentations of the original written person or location (e.g., I went #BACK situated within the general population version. The more common there; The man and woman got of hearing people, is of necessity a fingerspelled items include per- #BACK-TOGETHER; My letter came bilingual community (Grosjean, 1992; sonal names, place names, names #BACK-TO-ME). Often, lexicalized Padden, 1996b). Within the general of months and holidays, fingerspellings are used for emphasis, U.S. population, it has been estimated untranslated English technical ter- such as when an individual signs #YES that about 8% of Americans possess minology and slang phrases (e.g. A- or #NO.^ There are a number of some degree of hearing loss. Of this P-R-A-X-I-A, N-O W-A-Y). Acro- lexicalized fingerspelled words com- number, about 1% have a severe to nyms and abbreviations are com- monly used by the Deaf, including profound hearing loss (Paul & mon (e.g. N-D North Dakota,' *SALE, #BANK, #yES, #EARLY, and Quigley, 1990). Further, around 90% A-A-D 'American Athletic Associa- #BUSY. of deaf and hard of hearing individuals tion of the Deaf). Some function There are two further observations are bom to parents with normal levels words (prepositions, participles, to be made about lexicalized fin- of hearing (Schein, 1989)- It is small pronouns) are fingerspelled by in- gerspelling, according to Lucas and wonder, then, that in order to commu- dividuals closely transposing En- Valli (1992). The first is that often there nicate with hearing people (who fre- glish, (p. 164) are fingerspelled signs as well as regu- quently have no knowledge of signs lar signs for the same concept, such as or deafness), deaf and hard of hearing One important aspect of the Ameri- CAR and #CAR or BED and #BED. It individuals need to establish a mastery can system of fingerspelling is the de- would appear that lexicalized of the dominant language in their soci- velopment of lexicalized fin- fingerspelling often may be substituted ety (in either its spoken or written gerspelling, which was initially for the signed equivalent in order to forms), which, in America, is English. described by Battison (1978) as "loan add emphasis to a statement, as when Yet, because of their hearing loss, signs." These are fingerspelled words a deaf signer will use *YES instead of most severely to profoundly deaf indi- that become more signlike, often in- YES, or #BUSY instead of BUSY (Max- viduals (who form the "core" of the corporating inflectional aspect. Lucas well, 1988; Padden & Le Master, 1985). Deaf community) have difficulty com- and Valli (1992) note that the process In addition, signs are often produced municating through spoken language of lexicalization occurs easily; in combination with a fingerspelled at both the receptive and productive word, such as LIFE + *STYLE or F-O- levels. For this reason, communication through sign language, whether indi- Just think about how you would O-T + WORK (Lucas & Valli, 1992; Padden, in press). Although Lucas vidually developed "home signs" fingerspeil someone s name if you (Mylander & Goldin-Meadow, 1991) or were intrtxlucing them for the first and Valli are unclear on why these sign and fingerspelling combinations conventionally established and trans- time and then how the form of that mitted linguistic systems such as Ameri- fingerspelling would change if you occur, Padden (in press) observes that there are specific patterns to these can (or any other national) Sign Lan- used the name over and over again guage, is the predominant modality for in a conversation. The changes that combinations based on semantic prop- erties of individual lexical items or most severely to profoundly deaf indi- you observe are examples of viduals. However, these sign lan- lexicalization. (p. 189) grammatical contrasts that are resolved through the use of a fingerspelled guages, which are presented in an en- term. tirely different modality and usually For example, the sign for GO-BACK arise independently of the national (#BACKO is in actuality derived from Fingerspelling has a long history, majority (spoken) language, typically the fingerspelled B-A-C-K. However, both within many Deaf communities bear little if any syntactical or phono- what is seen is a "reduced" form of the of the world and in the general hear- logical relationship to the spoken lan- English word: Only the letters B, K, ing society. However, since fin- guage of the hearing majority. Thus, and sometimes C are actually visible; gerspelling came to be used in the

VOLUME 143, No. 5, 1998 AMERICAN ANNALS OF THE DEAF the problem of educators of the Deaf To represent English morphology, clusively. Such a strategy has been has long been how to Instill competence SEE2 utilizes a number of signed tried in the past in the guise of the in the majority language in their stu- "markers" to indicate inflectional af- Rochester Method or "Visible English" dents. The various approaches em- fixes. In addition, words with multiple (Reich & Bick, 1977), and found to be ployed by educators of the Deaf have meanings but only one citation form of ineffective for education or daily use, had a variety of influences on the bi- a sign (such as pond, lake, or puddle) since the constant motion of the lingualism of members of the Deaf are "initialized," wherein the sign is fingerspelling hand is tiring for the community. given a fingerspelled handshape to signer. Furthermore, a range of less The approach that has been histori- differentiate it from other similar signs than half to two thirds of all the letters cally predominant, and perhaps most and word meanings. However, these to be fingerspelled were actually "popular" among many hearing signed English systems appear not to present and legible, which did not al- people, is oralism, or teaching deaf have produced a full understanding of low students to experience a complete children to acquire the majority lan- English in children exposed to them, model of English (Reich & Bick, 1976, guage through visual and auditory as the children seem to experience a 1977). Because fingerspelling is used means. Certainly, this approach has "blurring" of the boundaries between to represent English graphemes and the advantage of potentially enabling free and bound signed morphemes lexicon, it is a prime example of "lan- the deaf child to acquire and use the (Stokes & Menyuk, 1975), and despite guage contact" (Lucas & Valli, 1992) syntax and phonology of the majority their English-based language model, between ASL and English. Despite its language in a naturalistic manner, still produce signing that is grammati- relationship with English, fin- without the mediating influence of a cally closer to ASL than to English gerspelling has been actively resisted second language or modality. How- (Supalla, 1991). or overlooked by members of the Deaf ever, the efficacy of oralism has been In connection with the issue of ini- community and educators of the Deaf. low, for many reasons, including the tialized signs, Nover (1995) notes that One must wonder why this is so. fact that speech is found within a lim- although these are attempts to indicate One possibility lies in the relative ited decibel and pitch range, which is English morphology, the morphology lack of comfort and fluency some often out of the reach of many indi- of English words is inadequately rep- hearing educators experience with viduals with a hearing loss, even with resented by these initialized signs, fingerspelling, Akamatsu and Stewart arnplification technology. which are perceived as just that: signs, (1989) observed a number of errors in An alternative means of providing not "English," A major difficulty with the fingerspelling of five teachers of access to the spoken language is lip- initialized signs is that while some the Deaf who had learned sign in reading, the art of deciphering the have come to be fairly accepted within adulthood. While one type of error spoken message by watching the the Deaf community, a large propor- consisted of "elision" of letters (F-V-E words formed on the speaker's lips. tion are not. In addition, within the for five, T-P-E for tape), which is simi- Although this method is entirely visual classroom, many initialized signs are lar to the process found in the devel- and theoretically accessible to the pro- developed ad hoc for the purposes of opment of lexlcalized fingerspelling, foundly deaf person, in reality only signing vocabulary for which there is or "loan signs" (Battison, 1978), others about 30% of any given message (in no existing ASL sign. However, these included substitution (e.g., C-S-D-H for English) is entirely visible on the lips ad hoc signs are not used in the Deaf code), mistiming of letter handshapes (Benderly, 1980). This leads to incom- community; a student who had (e.g., T-R-A-D-I-Y for tardy, J-A-E for plete acquisition of the lexicon and learned these temporary signs might jean), and failure to double a letter or structure of the spoken language, as emerge from the classroom using a incorrect doubling of adjacent letters well as a potentially distorted percep- sign that would not be understood by (e.g., C-O-L-I-E for collie, V-A-L-E-E-Y tion of the phonology of the language her peers in the Deaf community, and for valley). Akamatsu and Stewart sug- (Johnson, 1994; Leybaert, 1993). possibly also lacking a full realization gest that teachers might be aware of An alternative to oralism and lip- of the spelling of the word that the their own personal difficulties with reading has been the development of sign represented. fingerspelling, and therefore would be signed English systems that attempt to Within the realm of sign language, more reluctant to use it, although they represent the lexical items and mor- there is only one means through also point out that the communicative phology of English through the hands. which English morphology and gra- intent (to use an English word during Signing Exact English, or SEE2 phology can be tmly and fully repre- discourse or to teach a new word) of (Gustason, Pfetzing, & Zawolkow, sented and accessible to deaf children the teacher played a role in whether 1972), is perhaps the most commonly (and adults): the use of fingerspelling. he or she chose to use fingerspelling. used signed English system in America This is not to suggest that fin- Another possibility for the undemse (Luetke-Stahlman & Milburn, 1996). gerspelling be used extensively or ex- of fingerspelling lies in the creation of

VOLUME 143, No, 5, 1998 AMERIC:AN ANNALS OF THE DEAF LEXIDACTYLOPHOBIA signed Fnglish systems such as SEE2 educators that fingerspelling is some- dominant (hearing) society, which also (Gustason, Pfetzing, & Zawolkow, how more difficult to grasp than signs, serves to disassociate them in some 1972), which employs a high level of especially for young or linguistically way from the Deaf community "initialized" signs. It is possible that delayed students. That is, educators (Padden. 1996a), Thus, the use of the creation and use of initialized signs may argue that young children have fingerspelling is politically charged, as has caused the fingerspelled versions not learned the alphabetic system, and Padden (1996a) states. However, of common words to fall into disuse. are therefore incapable of compre- Padden (1996a, in press) maintains To illustrate, one deaf adult from a hending a lexical item that was that fingerspelling should not be deaf family has informed me that in fingerspelled to them. Likewise, edu- viewed as "English," but rather as "for- the past, vegetable and fruit, which cators of students who have not at- eign vocabulary" borrowed from other now have commonly used initialized tained competence in either ASL or languages, like I'halloween and mon signs, were formerly represented as English may feel that it is better to sign learnerspermit in Canadian French, #V-E-G and F-R-U-I-T. In addition, to these students than to use That is, in these cases, the vocabulary some teachers have expressed the sen- fingerspelling, on the grounds that derives directly from another lan- timent to me that signs are "easier" to these students do not know the guage, yet the morphology and pho- understand or grasp than fin- fingerspelled word or have difficulty nology are modified to conform to the gerspelling, especially for students with spelling themselves, I observed morphological and phonological sys- who have additional learning difficul- an instance of this viewpoint when 1 tems of the base language (French in ties. saw a deaf teacher of students of high this case). In connection with signed English school age with limited language pro- Although English is the language systems, it is fairly well known that ficiency develop an invented sign for being "borrowed from" in the case of these systems are often paired with amphibian rather than fingerspell the sign language, several decades of re- spoken English, in order to maintain word, as is usually done for deaf stu- search beginning with Stokoe (I960) what is commonly known as "Simulta- dents with higher levels of linguistic has capably demonstrated ASL to be a neous Communication" (SC) and re- competence. When it was suggested language with a syntactical, phono- ferred to as "Sign-Supported Speech" that the teacher try fingerspelting the logical, semantic, and pragmatic struc- (SSS) by Johnson, Liddell, and Erting word to them, her response was that ture distinct from the structures of En- (1989), SC/SSS has come under fire some of these students could not even glish. Therefore, although both ASL from a number of fronts since there is spell their names; to use fingerspeliing and deaf signers display a high degree an apparent cognitive inability to pro- with them would be to place an unfair of English-language influence, it can duce language in tvv'o modalities at the burden on their abilities. be confidently maintained that this in- same time, with the result being a Although it might be easy to place fluence does not consign ASL to status "cognitive overload" in which the sig- the "blame" for failure to use as a substrate of English, but is, rather, nal from one modality or the other fingerspelling on hearing educators or indicati\e of an active bilingualism (but usually the signed modality) is past educational methodologies, H, M, within the Deaf community. Conse- eliminated for periods at a time Gallaudet's article (1871/1997) clearly quently, fingerspelling should be (Bernstein. Maxwell, & Matthews. illustrates that this problem is long viewed as "largely foreign vocabulary' 1985: Kluwin, 1981; Marmor & Pettito, standing and may have roots else- used as a resource litalics added] 1979; Strong & Charlson, 1987; where. Further, it is not hearing within the larger resource of ASL," as Swi.sher, 1984; Swisher 8L Thompson, people alone who have resisted the Padden (1996a) asserts (p. 106), since 1985), To fingerspell and speak at the use of fingerspelling; some deaf fingerspelling, and lexicalized fin- same time is equally hard, if not people have done so as well. Within gerspelling in particular, represents a harder, and appears to create a similar the American Deaf community, phonological and morphological "cognitive overload," according to evi- fingerspelling is viewed as "English," change from the print modality to the dence presented by Akamatsu and despite its regular and systematic use kinetic/signed modality. Stewart (1989) as well as Reich and by members of the Deaf community Bick (1976), Teachers who engage in (Padden, 1996a), It is felt by some in SC/SSS might, consciously or not, the community that fingerspelling in- The Acquisition and avoid fingerspelling in order to reduce creases in frequency when the signer the "cognitive overload" engendered Development of is intending to incorporate more En- Fingerspelling by speaking and signing or glish in his or her signing, and that fingerspelling. Several studies indicate that fin- those who do so are part of the "intel- gerspelling in young deaf (and hear- Still another reason for reluctance to lectual elite," attempting to demon- ing) children exposed to sign language use fingerspelling is a perception by strate a marked attachment to the from infancy has a fairly distinct devcl-

VoLUME 143, No, 5. 1998 AMERICAN ANNALS

VOLUME 143, No. 5. t998 AMEIUCAN ANNALS OF iHt DEAF LEXIDACTYLOPHOBIA

Around age 4 years, children are identified jointly by mother and child creased with age from 7 to 17 years, es- also seen to imitate—spontaneously or when the child was nearly 2 years old, pecially with early sign language and with prompting—some fingerspelled in Blumenthal-Kelly's study. fingerspelling input such as children words, as demonstrated by the child in Fingerspelling also begins to appear from deaf households possess. Maxwell's (1988) study. Perhaps in spontaneously and without prompting recognition of the child's emerging at age 4 years, although it is evident readiness for literacy, some parents that the child has not yet fully grasped Fingerspelling to Foster also produce more fingerspelled forms the distinctions between the different Literacy of signed words, asking the child to manual systems (alphabetic and nu- Padden (1990) asserts that imitate the spelling. Although the meric) of signs, such as when the child ''fingerspelling is like practicing, help- child may not imitate the fingerspelled in Maxwell's (1988) study produced S- ing the child form links between the production perfectly, parents are often A-K-E-S-V^3 CANDY V-S-3 when tell- language he uses in his everyday life satisfied with an approximation. To il- ing her parents about a kind of candy. and the characters he must write on a lustrate. Maxwell tells of a father talk- By age 6 years, the initializing prin- page" (p. 12). Quigiey and Frisina ing to his child: ciple appears to be fairly solidified, (I96I) found highly significant correla- which is also the age when children tions between use or knowledge of Her parents began to use some enter school and begin learning the fingerspelling and vocabulary knowl- fingerspelled words in addition to written Fnglish alphabet (Maxwell, edge. Further, Gates and Chase (1976) loan signs and names and other re- 1988). discovered that deaf children (when hearsed spellings.... She might not It is also significant that children reading ability was held equal) dis- understand it, as when her father learn the pragmatic functions of played greater spelling ability than said I WANT A KISS* and she com- fingerspelling at a young age. Padden children with nonnal hearing, a result plained, I DON'T UNDERSTAND. and Le Master (1985) note that as early that may be attributable to a visual More often the word was explained as 2.9 years of age, the child in their orientation toward word recognition, to her and she was asked to pro- study evidenced a clear understanding as well as the use of fingerspelling (al- duce an approximation of the .spell- of the appropriate contexts for which though Gates and Chase do not men- ing on the spot; e.g. her father told fingerspelling or a sign should be tion if the children in their study used her the name of a kitten: NICKl... used. When asked what an object or had been exposed to manual com- then he slowly spelled the name as was, the child would provide a sign, munication). Alice imitated each letter; finally he but when asked the "name" of the However, it is apparent that chil- told her (YOUR)SELF. Alice's effort object, the child would attempt to pro- dren must be taught to recognize the was NJ., UMM K. C. K. I. Y. Her fa- vide a fingerspelled response. By age link between fingerspelHng and writ- ther expressed satisfaction with this 5 years, fingerspelling is used for em- ten language. Although deaf children effort. Interestingly enough, shortly phasis: 'YOU WATCH don t IspokenI may routinely recognize fingerspelled afterwards her father asked her the TAKE MY CANDY, DONT TAKE MY words, they may not recognize these name of the cat and she spelled it CANDY" (Maxwell, 1988). At age 6 same words in print; Hirsh-Pasek and promptly and correctly, (p. 391) years, fingerspelling also comes to be Freyd (1983b) reported that many of used for clarification, according to their subjects (6 to 11 years old) were It should be noted, however, that Maxwell. Padden and Le Master "stunned" to discover that words they many deaf parents will use fin- (1985) state that by the time the child had recognized all their lives through gerspelling with their children, even is nearly ready for school, he or she fingerspelling were the same as words from birth. Blumenthal-Kelly (1995) knows most of the items that should they had failed to decipher in print. be fingerspelled (names of people and observed the parents of a newborn When taught or encouraged to de- infant between the ages of 1 and 6 places, and representations of Fnglish print such as the labels of candy bars). code printed words into fingerspelling, months fingerspelling to their child. In deaf individuals experience an in- addition, the use of fingerspellingin - However, Maxwell notes that even at age 7 years, fingerspelling remains a crease in their vocabulary recognition creased with age, even though the to the level of their fingerspelled vo- child herself had not yet produced any relatively minor aspect of the child's conversational behavior, yet provides a cabulary (Hirsh-Pasek, 1986, 1987). A fingerspelled items. The acquisition of teacher of the Deaf informed me of an fingerspelling is also promoted in con- solid basis for extended growth of use. This finding is corroborated by experience she had had working with junction with learning of the printed a Native American girl at a school for form, such as when letters of the al- Mayberry and Waters (1991). who found that memory for fingerspelled words in- the Deaf in the U.S. Southwest. At this phabet printed on toy blocks were school, the student dormitories were al!

VOLUME 143, No. 5, 1998 AMERICAN ANNALS OF THE OEAI named for regional Native American ample, Schleper (1994) tells of a stu- possesses a special, specific meaning of tribes. This girl, around 8 years old at dent who remembered how to spell a question raised for consideration or the time, in the process of writing a reduce by thinking "RED #ICE, I SUB- solution, usually by an outside source: letter, asked the teacher, "HOW SPELL STITUTE-BY U." #NAVAJO?" The teacher looked at the Just as deaf adults use fingerspelling SAME MATH, KNOW STORY, girl and, with a smile, informed the girl to represent English vocabulary and WRITE, SAY: [role shift]: that she had just spelled the target morphology, deaf children also use "SUPPOSE [you] HAVE 8 APPLE, word. The girl looked surprised, fingerspelling for this purpose, and THEN [you] TOSS-OUT 4 APPLE spelled it again to herself once, and can be explicitly taught to do so. Max- TOSS-OUT 1, HOW-MANY APPLE proceeded to write it correctly on her well (1988) observed the child in her [you] HAVE REMAIN? 4, RIGHT. paper. At the same time, it is impor- study to use fingerspelling to represent SAME 1 PROBLEM [false start] P-R- tant to understand that fingerspelling English function words (the, is, be) and O-B-L-E-M, THAT P-R-O-B-L-E-M does not automatically ensure word bound morphemes i~ed, -ing, -ness) at [points to c]assl EIGURE-OUT, AN- recognition; Ewoldt (1981) observes age 4,5 years. Further, Looney and SWER. QUESTION. PROBLEM that fingerspelling is occasionally used Rose (1979) discovered fingerspelling NEGATIVE? NO. ONLY QUES- as a "holding" strategy in which words to be an effective means (in conjunc- TION that are not immediately understood tion with writing) of clearly represent- fust Hke in Math, you know the story are fingerspelled in lieu of a sign (al- ing regular inflectional suffixes of En- that goes (in written English), "Sup- though with repetition of use within glish words. pose you have 8 apples, then you the context of a story, the appropriate Deaf parents and teachers may use a throw away 4, how many apples do sign often comes to replace the number of strategies for emphasizing you have left?" Four, that's right, fingerspelled word). the connections between fingerspelling fust like the idea ofprohlem. I mean Although at early ages children per- and English print. One such strategy is "problem." A problem is what you ceive fingerspelled words holistically, the "word sandwich" (Blumenthal- need to figure out, to answer. A it is clear that by age 6 years, deaf chil- Kelly, 1995), in which the initial and question. Is a problem a negative dren are able to disaggregate final items of one variety (either signed thing? No, it's just a question. fingerspelling into its component or fingerspelled items) occur immedi- (Padden, 1996b, pp. 91-92) handshapes, and to map these onto ately before and after a medial item of English orthography (Hirsh-Pasek & another variety. For example, a signer The teacher initially began to sign Freyd, 1984). It is also significant that might sign "NUN #^^JN NUN" or "LOST PROBLEM, but when she realized that the developmental pattern of M-I-S-C-A^R-R-I-A-G-E" (Blumenthal- it was the concept oi problem as a sci- fingerspelling recognition identified by Kelly, 1995), Blumenthal-Kelly also entific—not personal—question to be Padden (1991) and Maxwell (1988) further categorizes sandwiched resolved that was being emphasized in correlates highly with the progression phrases as "full" or "half sandwiches, this lesson, the teacher switched to of written language (Ehri, 1991; Ma- depending on whether the first word fingerspelling to distance the lexical son, 1980) from a holistic (or is fingerspelled or signed, followed by item problem from its more commonly logographic) to an analytic (or ortho- a sign or fingerspelling and then an- known meaning. Distancing is also graphic) level of processing. Indeed, other repetition of the initial effected by looking at or pointing at a Hirsh-Pasek and Freyd (1983a, 1983b) fingerspelling or sign (full: i,e., *DO fingerspelled word, in order to set it and others (Friedman & Gillooly, 1975; TODAY #DO; BEEORE #SUN RISE up as alien or unknown, according to Hanson, 1985; Hirsh-Pasek & Freyd, BEEORE), or each variety stands alone Padden (1996b), or merely to empha- 1984; Maxwell, 1986; Quinn, 1981; (half: i.e., BATH #TUB). Sandwiched size its separateness from the sign lexi- Schleper, 1994) have found that deaf phrases are frequently used in the pro- con. Eor example, the same teacher in readers are highly aware of the cess of education, as well as during the preceding example signed: orthographical and morphological pat- daily discourse. terns of printed English words. Deaf One purpose of sandwiching is to WHAT E-U-N-N-E-L-S? F-U-N-N-E-L- readers will frequently retain the spell- show distance, or contrasts between S... [picks up funnel from table] F-U- ings of new words by identifying concepts in ASL and their English coun- N-N-E-L [displays funnel] WHY USE smaller, more familiar words within terparts. Padden (1996b) tells of a sci- IT? the component parts of the larger ence teacher attempting to explain the What are funnels? Here's a fun- word, although these smaller words concept of problem and how the sign nel... For what purpose is this used? may be unrelated to the root mor- PROBLEM is used to refer to a personal (Padden, 1996b, p. 92), phemes of the original word. For ex- difficulty, while the scientific concept

VOLUME 143, No. 5. 1998 ANNALS OF THE DEAF LEXIDACIYLOPHOBIA

Following this excerpt, Fadden (1996b) LaSasso ik Davey, 1987; Paul, 1996) plaining its meaning (linking), and notes that the teacher displayed an ex- and time engaged in reading, or more writing the word on the board and pression of puzzlement, wrinkling her accurately, exposure to print (Ho'warth, pointing to it while fingerspelling A- nose as she fingerspelled ///HHf/. and Wood, Griffiths, & Howarth, 1981; Q-U-A-R-I-U-M" (framing equiva- moved her hand to one .side so as to Limbrick, McNaughton, & Clay, 1992). lences). In order to help students look at it. Padden states that at the Fingerspelling provides a means for learn the spelling of large words, use same time this discourse device seived achieving both goals, to some degree. of the rebuslike technique identified to distance the word, it also reflected Certainly, it allows deaf individuals to by Schleper (1994) is an effective strat- the children's view that things English acquire English vocabulary during egy for children to develop for the are often "foreign and difficult to un- daily conversation, by associating the purpo.se of retaining the spelling of derstand." Whereas this teacher new word and its meaning through the difficult words. While working with a moved her hand to one side while context of the discussion (as hearing class of fourth graders who are classi- looking at it, the same effect could be readers do while reading printed mate- fied as "average readers," I found that accomplished by spelling the word rials, according to Adams, 1990). Al- they remembered instead by signing and then immediately afterward point- ternatively, the meaning of the word "I-N •»- STEAK (holding the K) DELETE- ing with the nondominant hand to the may be provided by its user upon ask- K SUBSTITIITH-WITH D." word that had just been spelled. ing. This is a form of direct vocabulary It may also be important to present Another device Padden (1996b) instruction that has been shown to be fingerspelled words as units, rather identifies is "linking," in which con- beneficial to vocabulary development than as indi\-idual letters, in order to cepts are explained through a combi- in hearing readers (Adams, 1990). In promote the student's recognition of nation of fingerspelling and relation to addition, if fingerspelling is, as Padden orthographic patterns. That is, when personal experience: (1990) states, equivalent to "practic- spelling unfamiliar words to students, ing," then the use of fingerspelling by teachers often will spell the word letter B-A-K-I-N-G S-O-D-A...[while point- deaf children can only serve to rein- by letter as the student looks back and ing to words on overhead projec- force the retention (by kinesthetic and forth between the teacher and his or tion], THAT SAME Ipicks up box of visual means) of the English word be- lier paper. It may be a more useful baking soda and points to "baking ing spelled. That is. rather than merely strategy to spell the word as a whole, soda" on box while mouthing "bak- seeing the word written down on the or at least in several chunks divided by ing .soda"]. SEE THAT BEFOKE, CL: page, or even writing it himself or her- meaning or morphemic principles, in- arm & hammer logo? THINK #ALL, self, the child also gains an opportu- forming the child to wait before look- MAYBE #ALL HAVE [points to box] nity to literally "get a feel" for the word ing down at the paper to write. HOME IN COLD. R-E-F, CL:|puts and how to use It in daily discourse. Padden (1996a) illustrates how this box in fridge], box-ABSORB, SMELL As noted earlier in the present article, can be done: TERRIBLE [points to box] box-AB- there are a number of research studies SORB-over-time, CAN. indicating that deaf individuals are highly sensitive to orthographic pat- We saw a child, age nine years terns inherent in English. This sensi- seven months, ask a teacher how to Noir baking soda... right here on Ihe tivity can he reinforced, especially in spell "rubber." The teacher screen is the same thing as this box conjunction with direct instruction, fingerspelled the word quickly, R- is in my hand. You 're seen it be- through fingerspelling. That is. the U-B-B-E-R. The child copied the fore, the picture of the arm and bi- individual can become aware that cer- word as r-u-b-b-e and began to ceps.^ 1 think all of you. maybe a//of tain patterns cannot exist in English, write the word. The teacher waved you have this at home in your re- such as p-k, but that others can, such at the child, and gave one letter, R. frigerator. It absorbs bad odors in as p-r or s-t-r. The child nodded and wrote down the refrigerator, over time it absorbs "rubber".... The child understood (odors), (pp. 92-93) It is immediately obvious that that the letter R was intended to be fingerspelling can and should be used the last letter of the word, but the to introduce new vocabulary. This can teacher made no explicit reference Putting Theory into be accomplished through any of the to this. (p. 113) Practice techniques identified by Padden Two keys lo the development of lit- (1996b): distancing, linking, and fram- The same fourth-grade class that is eracy are the expansion of vocabulary ing equivalences. For example, the described above learned probably by knowledge (Backman, Bruck, Hebert, teacher could explain a concept such dividing it into P-R-O/B-A-B/L^Y. This ik Seidenberg, 1984; Kelly, 1996; as aquarium by fingerspelling it, ex- division was easy for them to learn.

143. N<.i. 5. 1998 AMLRI(.:AN ANNALS OF THE DEM- ahhoLigh it may not be based on troducing new words such as fingerspelling has potentially negative sound, due to the separation into more aquarium and amphibian through repercussions for literacy, especially semantically meaningful (for these stu- linking techniques such as those de- when one considers that correlations dents) units: pro (as in professional), scribed by Padden (1996b), could have been found between the use and bab (similar to baby) and the suffix -ly. fingerspell the word progressively knowledge of fingerspelling and vo- Although this appears to he a highly faster each time it was used, until it cabulary development. In addition, useful strategy, it also appears that achieved a lexicalized state. Thus, "A- the fact that deaf individuals have teachers need to promote the develop- Q-Ll-A-R-1-U-M" would eventually be been found to be superior spellers ment of this skill in students; Padden reduced through iexicalization to "A- (Quigley & Frisina, 1961; Gates & (1996a) notes that this skill is one Q-U-M" or "A-M-P-H-I-B-I-A-N" to "A- Chase, 1976) may be attributable to "some deaf children struggle to obtain. M-P-H-1-N," Although the students their sensitivity to English ortho- to be able to appropriate fingerspelted would still perceive some of the letters graphical patterns, as well as the prac- words in whtjie form and represent of the full English word, they would tice in spelling inherent in the use of them in writing" (p, 113). only be perceiving several salient ele- fingerspelling. Although there do not One goal of the ASL/English bilin- ments that would provide a clue to the seem to have been any recent studies, gual/bicultural philosophy is the word's spelling, but not the word in its there is a general and anecdotal con- teaching of English grammar and vo- entirety. The students would never- sensus among deaf adults that the cur- cabulary through comparisons with theless be required to draw upon their rent generation of deaf children does ASL, and the use of ASL as the medium memory of the correct spelling of the not spell as proficiently as past genera- of discourse (Johnson, Liddell, ik word in order to write it down for the ti(ms. or even as well as the deaf stu- Erting, 1989). Fingerspelling is an ef- test. This process is similar to what dents of 20 to 30 years ago. fective mechanism for representing happens in hearing individuals, Teachers of the Deaf need to de- tlistinct English morphemes, lexical Adams (1990) cites a study that re- velop their expressive and receptive items, and phrases. That is, instead of vealed that hearing adults utilize the skills in fingerspelling, and to be com- utilizing signed English "markers" perceived phonemes of a spoken fortable as well as fluent in the use of (Gustason, Pfetzing, ik Zawolkow. word (even when the perceived pho- fingerspelling. They also need to un- 1972), teachers can present a "half neme is inconsistent with the phone- derstand how and when to use sandwich" (Blumenthal-Kelly, 1995) of mic structure implied by their imag- fingerspelling appropriately, an area root word and bound morpheme ined spellings) to derive a correctly that teacher training programs may (WORK + I-N-G), Alternatively, the spelled pattern or word. The advan- want to consider in the preparation of entire word or concept under discus- tage of this process is that the deaf stu- these teachers. Teachers must also be sion can be fingerspelled (W-O-R-K-I- dent is taught a word in a way that taught how to u,se instructional strate- N-G), especially when coupled with would be used and understood by the gies involving fingerspelling, such as the device of "distancing" (Padden. larger Deaf community, rather than by the concepts of linking, distancing, 1996b), Other English-based con- means of an invented sign (possibly and framing equivalences. 1 strongly cepts, such as onomatopoeic sounds. initialized) that would only be under- recommend exercises and activities can be conveyed through stood in the classroom, and possibly aimed at promoting the awareness of fingerspelling. I once observed a also without the benefit of having orthographic patterns inherent in En- teacher aide asking a preschool child learned the spelling of the English glish, as well as the demonstration of about 3 years old. "WHAT COW SAY? word itself. "rebuslike" strategies for spelling and WHAT SHEEP SAY?" to which the the encouragement of student-gener- child correctly responded "M-O-O" ated breakdowns of spelling words and "B-A-A," Conclusion assigned to them for the week. Stu- I have suggested throughout the Eingcrspelling is a resource within the dents must also be encouraged to de- present article that fingerspelling be linguistic ,systeni of ASL that provides velop orthographical awareness used in a "naturalistic" manner, ac- a strong link to the printed word and through the ""chunking" of words cording to the norms of the Deaf com- literacy for deaf and hard of hearing spelled to them, or to perceive munity. Some teachers might object children, and to a\'oid it is truly "irra- fingerspelled words as wholes, not in- that deaf children cannot be given tional," The absurdity of this avoidance dividual imlts. The use of lexicalized spelling tests with fingerspelled vo- is especially salient when one considers fingerspelling provides a highly salient cabulary, because the act of that fingerspeiling is a system that is means of perceiving fingerspelled fingerspelling would in itself "give mastered at the receptive and expres- words as wht)les and as ,semantic units, away the answer," However, this is sive levels by children as young as age rather than as abstract vocabulary to be not necessarily so. Teachers, after in- 2 years. The avoidance of learned and then discarded over the

VoLUMt 143, No, 5. 1998 AN ANNALS OF THE 13F.AF LEXIDACTYLOPHOBIA

course of a school year. Finally, it is development of hand preference in children's Howanh, S. P., Wood, D. J., Griffiths, A. J., & early signing. Sign Language Studies, 78, 1- Howarth, C. I. (1981). A comparative study imperative that teachers never under- 14. of the reading lessons of deaf and hearing estimate their students' ability to per- Boyes-Braem. P. (1990). Acquisition of the primary school children. British Journal of handshape in American Sign Language: A Educational Psychology, 51(2). 156-162. ceive or use fingerspelling; they preliminary analysis- In V. Volterra & C. Johnson, R. E. (1994), Possible influences on should bear in mind that, as a teenager Erting (Eds.), From gesture to language in bilingualism in early ASL acquisition. Teach- hearing and deaf children (pp. 107-127). ing English to Deaf and Second- Language might sarcastically comment, "even a New York: Springer. Students, iaZ), 9-17. two year-old can [literally] 'handle' it." Bragg, L. (1997). Visual-kinetic communication Johnson, R. E., Liddell, S. K., & Erting, C. J. in Europe before 1600: A survey of sign lexi- (1989). Unlocking tbe curriculum: Principles cons and finger alphabets prior to the rise of for achieving access in Notes deaf education. Journal of Deaf Studies and (Gallaudet Research Institute Working Paper Deaf Education, Z^), 1-25. No. 89-3). Washington, DC: Gallaudet Uni- 'Lexicalized fingerspelling or loan signs Ehri, L. C, (1991). Development of the ability versity. are conventionally indicated by a to read words. In P. Barr, M. Kamil, P. Kelly. L. P. (1996). The interaction of syntactic Mosenthal, & P. D. Pearson (Eds.), Handbook competence and vocabulary during reading pound (*) sign before the fingerspelled of reading research (Vol. 2, pp. 383-417). by deaf students. Journal of Deaf Studies word Fingerspelled words that have New York: Longman. and Deaf Education, XI). 75-90. not been lexicalized are shown as indi- Ewoldt, C. (1981). A psychollnguistic descrip- Kluwin, T. (1981). The grammaticality of tion of selected deaf children reading in sign manual representations of English in class- vidual letters separated by hyphens. language. Reading Research Quarterly, room settings. American Annals of the Deaf, 7X1), 58-89. 126, 417-421. Friedman, J. B., & Gillooly. W. B. (1975, March), LaSasso, C., & Davey, B. (1987). The relation- ^It is interesting to note that the sign The effect of orthographic structure on the ship between lexical knowledge and reading perception of letter sequences hy deaf and comprehension for prelingually, profoundly NO is itself a lexicalization of N-O, al- hearing children. Paper presented at the hearing-impaired students. Volta Review, 89, though most signers today are un- meeting of the American Educational Re- 211-220. aware of its fingerspelled origins It is search Association, Washington, DC. (ERIC Leybaert, J. (1993). Reading in the deaf: The Document Reproduction Service No. ED 112 roles of phonological codes. In M. Marschark ironic that for emphasis, signers return 572) & M. D, Clark (Eds.), Psychological perspec- to the sign's fingerspelledroots . Gallaudet, E. M. (1997). Is the sign-language tives on deafness (pp. 269-509). Hillsdale, NJ: used to excess in teaching deaf-mutes? Eribaum. American Annals of tbe Deaf, I42Ci'), 21-23. Limbrick, E. A., McNaughton, S., & Clay, M. M. (Original work published 1871) (1992). Time engaged in reading: A critical lexicalized fingerspelling is in- Gates, A. I., & Chase, E.H. (1976). Meth

VOLUME 143, No. 5, 1998 AMERICAN ANNALS OF THE DEAF Washington, IX: Gallaudet University Press. Paul, P. V. (1996). Reading vocabulary knowl- Schleper, D. R. (1994). Does your F want to Y?: Padden, C. A. (1990). Deaf cbildren and lit- edge and deafness. Journal of Deaf Studies How deaf children use invented spelling. eracy: Literacy lessons. (ERIC Document Re- and Deaf Education. /(I), 3-15. Whole Language Umbrella. 61.2). 16-17. production Sen-'ice No. ED 321 069) Paul, P. V., .& Quigley, S. P. (1990). Education Stokes, W, & Menyuk, P. (1975). Aproposalfor Padden. C. A. (1991). The acquisition of and deafness. New York: Longman. tbe investigation of tbe acquisition of Ameri- fingersjielling by deaf children. In P. Siple & Pettito. L A.. & Marentettc-, P. F. (1991). Bab- can Sign Language and signed English hy S. Fischer (Eds,). Theoretical issues in sign lan- bling in the manual mode: Evidence for the deaf and beating children enrolled in inte- guage research: Vol. 2. Psycholo^' (pp. 191- ontogeny of language. Science. 251. 149'i- grated nursery school programs. Unpub- 210). Chicago: University of Chicago Press. 1496. li.shed manuscript, Bcston University. Padden, C, A. (]9%a). Early bilingual lives of Quigley, S. P., & Frisina, D. R. (1961), Institu- Stokoe, W. (I960). Sign language structure deaf children. In I. Parasnis (Ed.). Cultural tionalization and psycho-educational devel- (Studies in Linguistics: Occasional Paper No. and language diversity and tbe Deaf experi- opment of deaf children (CEC Research 8). Buffalo, NY; University of Buffalo Press. ence {pp. 99-116). N"ew York: Cambridge Monograph. Series A. No. 3). Washington, Strong. M,. & Charlson. E. S. (1987). Simulta- University Press. DC: Council for Exceptional Children. neous Communication: Are teachers attempt- Padden, C. A. (1996b). From the cultural to the Quinn, L. (19^1). Reading skills of hearing and ing an impossible taski' American Annals of bicuitural: The modern Deaf community'. In congenitally deaf children. Journal of Experi- tbe Deaf. ;j2. 376-382. I. Parasnis (Ed.), Culttiral and language di- mental Cbild Psychology. jJd). 139-161. Supalla, S. (1991). Manually coded English: The versity and the Deaf experience (pp. 79-98). Reich. P. A.. & Bick, M. (1976). An empirical modality question in signed language devel- New York: Cambridge University Press. investigation of some claims made in suppon opment. In P. Siple & S, Fischer (Eds.), Theo- Padden. C. A. (In press). The ASL lexicon. In- of Visible English. American Annals of the retical issues in sign language researcb: Vol. ternational Review of Sign Linguistics. Deaf 121. ^lyVl. 2. Fsycholog}'{pp. 85-109). Chicago: Univer- Padden, C. A., & Humphries, T, (1988), Deaf in Reich, P. A., ik Bick. M. (1977). How visible is sity' of Chicago Press. America: Voices from a culture. Cambridge, Visible English? Sign Language Studies, 14, Swisher, M. (1984). Signed input of hearing NL\: Harvard University Press. 59-72. mothers to deaf children. Language Learn- Padden, C. A., & Le Master, B. (1985). An al- Schein,J.D. (1989). At home among strangers: ing, 34(2), 69-85, phabet on hand: The acquisition of Exploring the Deaf community in tbe United Swisher. M.. & Thompson, M. (1985). Mothers fingerspelling in deaf children. Sign Lan- States. Washington, DC: Gallaudet University learning Simultaneous Communication; The guage Studies. 47, 161-172. Press. dimensions of the task. American Annals of tbe Deaf, 130. 212-217.

VoLUML 143, No. 5, 1998 AMERICAN ANNALS OF THE