Finger-spelling – the alphabet

Finger-spelling is an important part of British Sign Language and is a visual representation of the written alphabet.  It is often used to spell English words when there is no sign equivalent for a word or to indicate a place or the name of a person.

Mouth patterns are used with finger spelling to make it clearer. So for example, when finger spelling a name it is ‘mouthed’ at the same time.  Some BSL signs consist only of one letter and adding a mouth pattern for the English word they represent clarifies the sign. For example, the sign MOTHER is achieved by fingerspelling the letter M and simultaneously expressing the mouth pattern for the word ‘mother’.

The vowels of the English alphabet (A E I O U) are indicated on each of the five fingers of the ‘dominant’ hand (depending on whether the signer is left-handed or right-handed).

Download Text

A – Z

Watch the fingerspelling videos below and practice fingerspelling the alphabet. We have covered the mouth of the signer just to make the exercise slightly more difficult.

Face-on


Side-on

 

Now see if you can understand the following finger-spelt names.

 

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