Reviewed by: The Sociolinguistics of Ethiopian Sign Language: A Study of Language Use and Attitudes by Eyasu Hailu Tamene Robert Bayley (bio) The Sociolinguistics of Ethiopian Sign Language: A Study of Language Use and Attitudes by Eyasu Hailu Tamene (Washington, DC: Gallaudet University Press, 2017, 175 pp., Sociolinguistics in Deaf Communities Series 23, hardbound, $60.00. ISBN 978-1-944838-06-5) This volume is a welcome addition to the growing number of studies of signing communities around the world (e.g., Cooper and Rashid 2015; McCaskill et al. 2011; Pfau, Steinbach, and Woll 2012; Schembri and Lucas 2015). As is fitting for a pioneering study of Ethiopian Sign Language (EthSL), Tamene focuses on dimensions of language use, language attitudes, and services available to Deaf people throughout the country rather than on the detailed linguistic analysis that has characterized other recent studies of better known sign languages. The result is a volume that provides an overview of the linguistic resources available to Deaf people in Ethiopia and a foundation for future technical work on the linguistics of EthSL, the most commonly used sign language in the country. After a brief introductory chapter providing an overview of the structure of the book, chapter 2 summarizes sign language use and deaf education in Ethiopia. EthSL has a substantial number of users, although estimates vary widely, ranging from 250,000 (according to the World Federation of the Deaf) to 1,000,000 (according to the Ethiopian National Association of the Deaf; Simons and Fennig 2018). According to Tamene, the Ethiopian Deaf community was isolated and neglected until the arrival of missionaries from Sweden and the United States in the 1950s. In addition to preaching, the missionaries founded schools for the deaf, with the first school established in 1963. As a consequence, EthSL exhibits considerable influence from American [End Page 298] Sign Language (ASL). However, the author notes that despite the foreign influence, EthSL originated in Ethiopia. Tamene comments that older Deaf people in Addis Ababa recall regular social gatherings in Piassa, the city’s old town. Currently, although it is not one of the country’s officially recognized languages, EthSL is used as a medium of instruction in schools, in TV programs, and interpreting in parliament. The author notes that there are 290 special classes and twelve schools for Deaf children that use EthSL, located in nine different regions. In addition, although the language has not been as well studied as many of the spoken languages of the country, there is a highly productive program of research in the EthSL and Deaf Cultural Program at Addis Ababa University, with fifty bachelor’s theses completed on a variety of topics. Finally, a number of primers and dictionaries documenting the language have appeared. In the remainder of chapter 2, Tamene discusses efforts at standardization, offers an overview of EthSL use in a variety of domains, and discusses attitudes toward the language held by Deaf people themselves, as well as parents and the broader community. The chapter concludes with a discussion of a crucial question: Is EthSL one language or many? Tamene provides a preliminary analysis of data from four regions that suggest that, despite variation, EthSL is essentially one language. However, he acknowledges that the type of detailed study necessary to establish the parameters of variation has yet to be done. In chapter 3, Tamene outlines the methods of the current study. Overall, participant selection followed the methods used by Lucas, Bayley, and Valli (2001). Participants were recruited in eleven sites and included 110 Deaf signers as well as twenty-two teachers and twenty-two parents. In addition to gathering demographic data, researchers conducted interviews dealing with language use in a wide range of domains, including work, school, family, and so forth, as well as information about participants’ language skills in EthSL and spoken languages. The profiles of the different sites, as well as the discussion of the interview protocols, chapter are particularly valuable. Chapter 4 presents the results of Tamene’s study, including tables summarizing the responses to different interview topics, divided by responses from Deaf participants, parents, and students. Interestingly, the majority of participants who became deaf before the age of five...
Search from 250 M+ research papersSearch from 250 M+ research papers
Open Access
Jul 6, 2020
Giovanni Rossi 
