Eyasu Hailu Tamene sets out to investigate a complex phenomenon of language attitudes in his PhD research. The book provides a valuable contribution to the field of sociolinguistics of sign languages and Deaf studies. The focus of this study is on Ethiopian Sign Language (EthSL) and the Ethiopian Deaf community. A description of the sociolinguistic situation of EthSL is a valuable addition; it sets a benchmark for future linguistic research on EthSL, where very little research has been done.
Following the approach used by Joshua A. Fishman (Advances in language planning, 1974), the author investigates the feelings and attitudes towards the use of EthSL as shared by 155 members of the Ethiopian Deaf community. He offers insights into the current social position of EthSL, eight different domains of EthSL use and five various factors responsible for attitudes towards the use of this language. The analysis presented in the book is based on the evaluation of participants’ responses on a number of attitudinal questions.
The participants of the study constitute a representative sample of the Ethiopian Deaf community, as they originate from eleven places across the country (with the exception of south-eastern Ethiopia). The respondents belong to three different groups: a large group of Deaf participants and two much smaller groups of (mostly hearing) teachers of Deaf students and parents.
The author shows that Deaf participants as well as the teachers have predominantly positive attitudes, while the parents of the Deaf children have much less definitive attitudes and less positive feelings towards the EthSL and its use. The parents are also more hesitant to use EthSL in as many domains as the Deaf participants and the teachers, and they show a more restricted use of EthSL primarily in the home domain. This inter-group difference in attitudes reflects, according to Tamene, the level of awareness and social and educational support of Deaf people in Ethiopia.
Especially noteworthy is the author's finding on the domains of EthSL use among the Deaf participants. The home domain was not found to be particularly popular. Rather, Deaf EthSL signers are found to use sign language more in formal (i.e. education, market) than in informal domains.
While the study did not examine the linguistic aspects of the questionnaires, a very intriguing observation was made: In Gambella, the local sign language differs significantly from EthSL. This might be an example of another ‘village sign language’ undocumented to date.
In the final chapter, the author draws conclusions about the major interrelated factors that influence Deaf people's attitudes towards the use of EthSL. These are onset of deafness, parental deafness, age of sign language introduction, age of school enrolment, and the availability of Deaf social services in the area.
