The Chinese Finger Alphabet and the Chinese Finger Syllabary

Zhou Youguang

Sign Language Studies, Volume 28, Fall 1980, pp. 209-216 (Article)

Published by Gallaudet University Press

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/sls.1980.0004

For additional information about this article

https://muse.jhu.edu/article/507271/summary

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SLS 28(1980), 209-216
@1980, by Linstok Press, Inc.

THE CHINESE FINGER ALPHABET and

THE CHINESE FINGER SYLLABARY

ZHOU Youguang

In the schools for deaf children in Peking today pupils

are learning Chinese characters with the help of the Chinese
Finger Alphabet, and an experiment is now going on with a
new device called the Chinese Finger Syllabary. Here in
brief are descriptions of these two manual aids to education.

The Chinese About ninety years ago, an American

finger alphabet. missionary, Mrs. A. T. Mills, devised
the first system of manual symbols for
Chinese and taught it in her deaf-mute school at Cheefoo
(Yantai), in China's Shandong Province. She used A. M. Bell's
visible speech symbols to denote the sounds of Chinese
characters, and Edmund Lyon's manuals to denote the speech
symbols. The first lesson of Mills' textbook, A Primer to
Deaf-Mutes (1907, revised edition), is shown in Figure 1:

4. X~fTE
JA 45 R! A R AIN

a fV,'- 0

Figure 1 . Lesson One (Mills 1907).

 Sign Language Studies 28

In 1918, the Chinese phonetic symbols in characters

called Zhuyin Zimu were promulgated. Lyon's manuals were
then used to denote Zhuyin Zimu, as in Figure 2:

n r ~

'tr4 t

Y it 91 A

L7

t tip u,

F i g u r e 2 . Early Zhuyin Zimu manuals.

Later, around 1930, the Zhuyin Zimu manuals were some-

what improved by a Shanghai deaf-mute school, as in Figure 3.
 Zhou

_ ~ _ _ _

"Y_ _ __ _ _ <__1

Figure 3 . Later Zhuyin Zimu manuals.

In 1958 the Chinese phonetic alphabet in Romanization

called Hanyu Pinyin (or simply Pinyin) was officially adopted
to replace Zhuyin Zimu. This led to a new Chinese Finger
Alphabet, promulgated in 1963, with 30 finger forms to repre-
sent the 26 Roman letters and the 4 digraphs of Pinyin, as in
Figure 4.
 Sign Language Studies 28

A Bt CU D E

F G H V IJ

K L M Ne O

,PgQRST~

Z ZH CH SH NG

Fig ure 4 . Pinyin finger alphabet.

Compared with the former devices, this new finger

alphabet is simpler and more practicable. The finger forms
Ihandshapes and presentations] are designed according to
four principles. The first principle is to imitate the graphs
of Roman letters; e.g. a complete circle represents the letter
0, and a broken circle represents C. The letters, B, D, E, F,
H, K, L, M, N, P, 5, V. W, X, Y, and Z are imitated less
nicely. The second principle is to borrow the sounds by
Chinese manual systems

acrophony from traditional Chinese finger forms; e.g. the

traditional finger form 'one' /yi/ is used for the letter I,
'five' /wu/ for U, 'seven' /qi/ for Q, 'nine' /jiu/ for J,
'rabbit' /tur/ for T. The third principle is to borrow the
meaning; e.g. thumb-up, meaning 'first' or 'best', for the
letter A. The last or little finger represents the digraph NG,
which always comes last in spelling Chinese syllables. The
fourth principle is variation; e.g. finger forms for Z, C, and
S are slightly varied to represent ZH, CH, and SH. The rarely
used diacritical marks ( - A ) are indicated by a slight
shaking of the hand. The four tone marks (- I v \) are
"written in the air" only when necessary. All finger forms
are made with one hand only, either right or left, but usually
with the right hand.

The Chinese During the fifties, deaf-mute edu-

finger syllabary. cation in China underwent a big reform
by changing silent speech to sound
speech. Formerly most pupils learned to "read" but not to
speak, but now lipreading and pronunciation have become re-
quired training. Since the sixties the Chinese Finger Alphabet
and the Roman letters of Pinyin are used in almost every
deaf-mute school. However, it has been found that the alpha-
betic finger forms have to move and change incessantly [to
fingerspell Chinese speech phonetically while it is being
spoken]. Chinese syllables are composed (in Pinyin spelling)
of from one to four letters, or digraphs; and most Chinese
words have one or two syllables only. The finger forms must
change all the time from one to another-on the average, three
changes to make one syllable. It is not easy for the pupils to
catch the syllables and words. Is it possible then to make
the finger forms needed to spell a syllable stay still long
enough for them to be seen clearly? Yes! To meet this demand
a new device called the Chinese Finger Syllabary has been
worked out.
Every Chinese syllable (except those beginning with a
vowel, like an 'peaceful') can be divided into two parts, the
initial and the final. Initials are consonants. Finals are
vowels or vowels plus endings. For instance, ba 'eight'
can be divided into b and a; kai 'open' into k and ai; tian
'heaven' into t and ian; etc. If the initials are represented
by the right hand and the finals by the left hand, and both
 Sign Language Studies 28

hands are raised up at the same time, syllables can be shown

wholly and steadily.
The Chinese Finger Alphabet has already provided finger
forms for initials (consonants) and simple finals (vowels). It
needs only supplementary finger forms for the compound finals,
and the Chinese Finger Syllabary will come into being.
This is done according to the following principles. First,
by division of labor: with the left hand, the finger form Y
(named ya in Pinyin) will stand for IA; W (named wa) for UA;
R for ER; N for EN; and NG for ENG. Second, by change of
direction to indicate nasal endings (-n, -ng}, the finger forms
A, I, U, IA, and UA pointed to the left stand for AN, IN, UN,
IAN, and UAN; likewise pointed to the right the same forms stand
for ANG, ING, UNG (ONG}, IANG, and UANG, respectively.
Third, by conditional combination: after J, Q, and X, the fin-
ger forms ONG, UAN, and UN become IONG, UAN, and iN
respectively; after B, P, M, and F, the finger form C becomes
UO. Fourth, by special formation: the finger forms A I, EI, AO,
and OU (the so-called four open finals) are formed as shown
in Figure 5. Fifth, by variations: the finger forms AI, EI, and
AO pointing to the right for UAI, UEI (UI), and IAO respectively;
E pointing upward of IE and forward for UE. These principles
make the device easier to remember.
The work of designing the Chinese Finger Syllabary began
in 1974 and experimentation started in the following year. The
designers are the author and Mrs. SHEN Jiaying, both of whom
are also co-designers of the current Chinese Finger Alphabet.
Mrs. SHEN, a teacher to deaf-mutes, has been undertaking the
experimentation in her school, the Fourth Deaf-Mute School
of Peking, with the cooperation of her fellow teachers. Years
of practice have proved that the new device, the Chinese
Finger Syllabary, is a success, but it still remains for the
government to accept it formally.

REFERENCES

XU Jinwen (ZHOU Youguang)

1965 A Primer to Deaf-Mutes and Lyon's Manuals, in
Essays on the Chinese Finger Alphabet (Peking,
Wenzi Gaige Publishing House).
Zhou

yA
,

nD1 91> ,I- Z)

an

un arn
--.
ang

Ie-i iao

oU.
Do Ue
je
Figure 5 . Finger forms of compounds finals.
216 Sign Language Studies 28

SHEN Jiaying
1964 Developments in the Chinese Finger Alphabet,
Wenzi Gaige Monthly, March Issue.

ZHOU Youguang
1964 Characteristics and Usages of the Chinese Finger
Alphabet, Guangming Ribao Daily News, March 4.

HONG Xueli
1965 Ways and Methods of the Reform of Manual Speech,
in Essays on the Chinese Finger Alphabet (Peking,
Wenzi Gaige Publishing House).

ZHOU Youguang is Research Fellow of the Committee for the

Reform of Chinese Written Language and Professor in the
Research Institute of Language and Writing, People's
University of China. His mailing address is Shatan Houjie 55,
Beijing (Peking), People's Republic of China.