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Reference

australian sign language

Auslan, BSL and NZSL form the BANZSL family and share an alphabet, but their vocabularies have drifted far enough apart to count as separate languages.

Alphabet5

  • ABoth hands

    Hold your non-dominant hand up flat with the fingers spread, then touch its thumb with your other index finger.

    The five vowels run thumb to pinky in order: A, E, I, O, U.

  • EBoth hands

    Hold your non-dominant hand up flat with the fingers spread, then touch its index finger with your other index finger.

    E is finger number 2, counting from the thumb.

  • IBoth hands

    Hold your non-dominant hand up flat with the fingers spread, then touch its middle finger with your other index finger.

    I is finger number 3, counting from the thumb.

  • OBoth hands

    Hold your non-dominant hand up flat with the fingers spread, then touch its ring finger with your other index finger.

    O is finger number 4, counting from the thumb.

  • UBoth hands

    Hold your non-dominant hand up flat with the fingers spread, then touch its pinky with your other index finger.

    U is finger number 5, counting from the thumb.

Numbers5

  • 1

    Index finger straight up.

  • 2

    Index and middle fingers up.

  • 3

    Index, middle and ring fingers up.

  • 4

    All four fingers up, thumb tucked in.

  • 5

    Open hand — all five fingers spread.

what this chart doesn’t cover

Fingerspelling is a small corner of Auslan. Real signing carries grammar in movement, facial expression and the space in front of you — none of which a still handshape can hold. Treat this as a doorway, and learn the rest from Deaf teachers.

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