Austrian Sign Language, or ''Österreichische Gebärdensprache'' (ÖGS), is the

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 ...

used by the

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

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—approximately 10,000 people (see Krausneker 2006).

Classification

ÖGS and Hungarian Sign Language seem to be related for historical reasons (First School for the Deaf in Vienna), but forms a cluster with neighboring languages rather than with ÖGS. Although there are no detailed studies of the extent of relatedness, ÖGS shares aspects of its

grammar In linguistics, the grammar of a natural language is its set of structural constraints on speakers' or writers' composition of clauses, phrases, and words. The term can also refer to the study of such constraints, a field that includes doma ...

with

German Sign Language German Sign Language or Deutsche Gebärdensprache (DGS), is the sign language of the deaf community in Germany, Luxembourg and in the German-speaking community of Belgium. It is unclear how many use German Sign Language as their main language; Ga ...

and Swiss Sign Language, while the

vocabulary A vocabulary is a set of familiar words within a person's language. A vocabulary, usually developed with age, serves as a useful and fundamental tool for communication and acquiring knowledge. Acquiring an extensive vocabulary is one of the ...

differs (see Skant et al. 2002); Wittmann (1991) places it in the French Sign Language family).

Research

Linguistic research on ÖGS started in the 1990s and is primarily conducted at the University of Klagenfurt and

University of Graz The University of Graz (german: link=no, Karl-Franzens-Universität Graz, ), located in Graz, Austria, is the largest and oldest university in Styria, as well as the second-largest and second-oldest university in Austria. History The univers ...

. The Alpen-Adria-Universität Klagenfurt (AAU) worked on the "Deaf learning" project (September 1, 2015 – August 31, 2018) financed under

Erasmus+ Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus (; ; English: Erasmus of Rotterdam or Erasmus;''Erasmus'' was his baptismal name, given after Erasmus of Formiae. ''Desiderius'' was an adopted additional name, which he used from 1496. The ''Roterodamus'' was a s ...

as a cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices, strategic Partnerships for adult education aimed at deaf adults with Austrian Sign Language as their first natural language and the German written language as their second language with the aim of raising the level of literacy. The program was expanded by Eramus+ after its completion to promote achieving higher social, educational and financial positions through better access to the written language proficiency with the "Deaf language awareness" project (September 1, 2018 – July 7, 2021) by developing online courses for independent learning in ÖGS and written German text.

Legal aspects

After a 15-year effort by the Deaf community, ÖGS was legally recognized by the

Austrian Parliament The Austrian Parliament (german: Österreichisches Parlament) is the bicameral federal legislature of the Austrian Republic. It consists of two chambers – the National Council and the Federal Council. In specific cases, both houses convene ...

on September 1, 2005.

Fingerspelling

ÖGS possess hundred of signs, of which 26 signs represent single letters similar to the basic written

German alphabet German orthography is the orthography used in writing the German language, which is largely phonemic. However, it shows many instances of spellings that are historic or analogous to other spellings rather than phonemic. The pronunciation of alm ...

, 3 signs represent letter-diacritic combinations ( Ä/ä, Ö/ö, Ü/ü) using the umlaut and 1 sign represents the German "sch" (trigraph). As an initiative from the

European Social Fund The European Social Fund Plus (ESF+) is one of the European Structural and Investment Funds (ESIFs), which are dedicated to improving social cohesion and economic well-being across the regions of the Union. The funds are redistributive financ ...

and Equalizent, an online video dictionary was created to teach the

Fingerspelling 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 ...

and the most common signs with the help of a 3D-Avatar called SiMAX from Sign Time.

Associations

The Austrian Deaf community is represented by the Austrian Federation of the Deaf (the ''Österreichischer Gehörlosenbund''). There is one nationwide association for professional interpreters of ÖGS.OeGSDV - Oesterreichischer Gebaerdensprach-DolmetscherInnen-Verband
/ref>

References

External links

*https://web.archive.org/web/20150910051553/http://sign-it.at/ - video dictionary of ÖGS signs *http://www.gebaerdenwelt.at/ - daily news in ÖGS {{Authority control French Sign Language family Languages of Austria Deaf culture in Austria