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Abstract
Ethiopian Sign Language (EthSL) is one of the underresearched languages of Ethiopia although it is used by more than a million members1 of the Deaf community. Not much is known about the language, particularly its use and current status. In addition, its users within the Deaf community have begun addressing the issues of equality, participation, and rights. What is more, few people understand that the use of EthSL in all domains of public life helps the Deaf community to succeed in every aspect of life, especially in Deaf education. This article addresses several important questions: Who is using EthSL? In what environments are they using it? Do various circumstances affect the variety they use? In order to answer these questions, I selected a diversity of Deaf gathering sites throughout Ethiopia to investigate. Interviews were held with three types of subjects: Deaf students, teachers of Deaf children, and the parents of these youngsters. Finally, the information that was elicited on the use of EthSL was analyzed in the hope of answering the aforementioned questions.
More than eighty languages are in use in Ethiopia. Some are major languages with more than a million users; they serve as media of instruction and have the status of official and/or prestigious languages. By contrast, others are linguistically minor, confined to restricted domains, and thus are less prestigious languages. Ethiopian Sign Language (EthSL) is one of the linguistically minor languages, yet it has about a million users.2
The study of the use of EthSL presents several advantages: It aids the development and recognition of the language itself; reinforces the fact that is a real language; and influences the Deaf community by enhancing educational and employment opportunities for its members. This has been true of other sign language communities as well, including the American Deaf community (Lucas 2004, 6).
Although I was unable to find any written information on the history of EthSL before the introduction of Ethiopian Deaf education, many Deaf1 people in Ethiopia believe that American Sign Language (ASL) has influenced EthSL in many ways. The arrival of ASL in Ethiopia coincided with the advent of Deaf education, and the ongoing contact between EthSL and ASL has precipitated a number of changes in EthSL.
With regard to EthSL,...