Language Use in Ethiopian Sign Language

Ethiopian Sign Language (EthSL) is one of the underresearched languages of Ethiopia although it is used by more than a million members 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.