Esperanto manual alphabet

Signuno alphabet

An Esperanto manual alphabet is included as part of the Signuno project for manually coded Esperanto. Signuno is based on the signs of Gestuno (International Sign), but adapted to the grammatical system of Esperanto.

Letters

The letters are all to be signed upright with a straight wrist, so for example the G closely resembles D, as in the French manual alphabet. None of the letters involve motion, so J and Z are distinct from other alphabets: J uses the two little fingers, like a [Ukrainian manual alphabet|Cyrillic]] J; Z has the form of an ASL 3, which appears to be unique to Signuno.

Other differences from the American manual alphabet are:

• D maintains a round bowl with the thumb and curled fingers to keep it distinct from G, as also in the French manual alphabet and very conservative American letter forms
• F has the 'okay' handshape with the fingers spread, again as in French
• H has a shape that recalls a capital Latin H (pinkie and index finger), as in the French and Irish manual alphabets
• P, being upright, is distinguished from K by touching the tips of the fingers and thumb together (like a French P without the motion)
• Q, which does not occur in Esperanto, is the shape of an ASL 8 sign and of an Irish K
• T has its international form, as in the Irish manual alphabet and across Asia, rather than the fig sign of ASL.

The diacritic letters Ĉ, Ĝ, Ĥ, Ĵ, Ŝ, Ŭ are sometimes derived from their base letters:

• Ĉ by touching the tips of the fingers and thumb of a C shape together (coincidentally like a Cyrillic Ž)
• Ĝ by switching the extended finger of the G shape from the index finger to the thumb (like a French A or a thumb for hitchhiking)
• Ĥ by extending the thumb of the H shape (like the ASL slang 'I love you' sign)
• Ĵ has the form of a clawed Z (ASL '3' hand), as if it were derived from Z like a Slavic-style letter Ž (which has the same sound as Ĵ)
• Ŝ by opening the hand into a '5' handshape, like SCH in the German manual alphabet
• Ŭ by adding a third finger to U, like a W with the fingers brought together and coincidentally like a Cyrillic Š.

Digits

Unlike in Gestuno, Signuno digits are all made on a single hand. For 1 to 4, the fingers are extended from the index to the pinkie. Thus Signuno '3' looks like an ASL '6'. 5 is the international (and ASL) '5' hand. For 6 to 9, the fingers are extended from the pinkie to the thumb, skipping the middle finger so that 8 is the ASL '8'. They thus have the shapes of the Esperanto letters O (0), G (1), V (2), W (3), – [ASL 4], Ŝ [ASL 5] (5), I (6), J (7), Q [ASL 8] (8), Ĥ (9).

As in ASL, 10, 100 and 1000 are signed as the Roman numerals X, C and M.

For hours and months, there are additional sign for 11 and 12: as the letters Ĝ (11) and L (12).

Gallery

• 
  A
• 
  B
• 
  C
• 
  Ĉ
• 
  D
• 
  E
• 
  F
• 
  G
• 
  Ĝ
• H
  H
• 
  Ĥ
• 
  I
• J
  J
• 
  Ĵ
• 
  K
• 
  L
• 
  M
• 
  N
• 
  O
• P
  P
• 
  Q
• 
  R
• 
  S
• 
  Ŝ
• 
  T
• 
  U
• 
  Ŭ
• 
  V
• 
  W
• 
  X
• 
  Y
• 
  Z
• 
  0
• 
  1
• 
  2
• 
  3
• 
  4
• 
  5
• 
  6
• 7
  7
• 
  9
• 
  10
• 
  11
• 
  12