Turkish Sign Language ( tr, Türk İşaret Dili, TİD) is the language used by the
deaf
Deafness has varying definitions in cultural and medical contexts. In medical contexts, the meaning of deafness is hearing loss that precludes a person from understanding spoken language, an audiological condition. In this context it is written ...
community in
Turkey
Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula ...
. As with other
sign languages
Sign languages (also known as signed languages) are languages that use the visual-manual modality to convey meaning, instead of spoken words. Sign languages are expressed through manual articulation in combination with non-manual markers. Sign l ...
, TİD has a unique grammar that is different from the oral languages used in the region.
TİD uses a two-handed
manual alphabet
Fingerspelling (or dactylology) is the representation of the letters of a writing system, and sometimes numeral systems, using only the hands. These manual alphabets (also known as finger alphabets or hand alphabets) have often been used in deaf ...
which is very different from the two-handed alphabets used in the
BANZSL
British, Australian and New Zealand Sign Language (BANZSL), is the language of which British Sign Language (BSL), Auslan and New Zealand Sign Language (NZSL) may be considered dialects. These three languages may be considered dialects of a single ...
sign languages it also uses the tongue in certain phrases.
Grammar
There is little published information on Turkish Sign Language. Turkish Sign Language exhibits an subject-object-verb order (SOV). There is a rich set of modal verbs which appear in a clause-final position.
Signing communities
According to the
Turkish Statistical Institute
Turkish Statistical Institute (commonly known as TurkStat; tr, Türkiye İstatistik Kurumu or TÜİK) is the Turkish government agency commissioned with producing official statistics on Turkey, its population, resources, economy, society, and cu ...
, there are a total of 89,000 persons (54,000 male, 35,000 female) with
hearing impairment
Hearing loss is a partial or total inability to hear. Hearing loss may be present at birth or acquired at any time afterwards. Hearing loss may occur in one or both ears. In children, hearing problems can affect the ability to acquire spoken la ...
and 55,000 persons (35,000 male, 21,000 female) with speaking disability living in Turkey, based on 2000 census data.
History
TİD is dissimilar from European sign languages. There was a
court sign language of the
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University ...
, which reached its height in the 16th century and 17th centuries and lasted at least until the early 20th. However, there is no record of the signs themselves and no evidence the language was ancestral to modern Turkish Sign Language.
Deaf schools were established in 1902, and until 1953 used TİD alongside the Turkish spoken and written language in education.
[Deringil, S. (2002). İktidarın Sembolleri ve İdeoloji: II. Abdülhamid Dönemi (1876–1909), YKY, İstanbul, 249.] Since 1953 Turkey has adopted an
oralist approach to deaf education.
See also
*
Sign language
Sign languages (also known as signed languages) are languages that use the visual-manual modality to convey meaning, instead of spoken words. Sign languages are expressed through manual articulation in combination with non-manual markers. Sign ...
*
Deafness
Deafness has varying definitions in cultural and medical contexts. In medical contexts, the meaning of deafness is hearing loss that precludes a person from understanding spoken language, an audiological condition. In this context it is written ...
References
External links
Turkish Sign Language(Turkish and English) Website including dictionary and general information, by the
Turkish Academy of Sciences and
Koç University
Koç University ( tr, Koç Üniversitesi) is a non-profit private university in Istanbul, Turkey. It started education in temporary buildings in İstinye in 1993, and moved to its current Rumelifeneri campus near Sarıyer in 2000. Koç University ...
Turkish National Deaf Federationhomepage (Turkish and English).
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Sign languages
Sign language isolates
Languages of Turkey
Disability in Turkey
Sign languages of Turkey