Austrian Sign Language (, 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 elements, no ...

used by the

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

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 HSL 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, grammar is the set of rules for how a natural language is structured, as demonstrated by its speakers or writers. Grammar rules may concern the use of clauses, phrases, and words. The term may also refer to the study of such rul ...

with

German Sign Language German Sign Language (, 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; Gallaudet University estimate ...

and Swiss Sign Language, while the

vocabulary A vocabulary (also known as a lexicon) is a set of words, typically the set in a language or the set known to an individual. The word ''vocabulary'' originated from the Latin , meaning "a word, name". It forms an essential component of languag ...

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

French Sign Language family The French Sign Language (LSF, from ) or Francosign family is a language family of sign languages which includes French Sign Language and American Sign Language. The LSF family descends from Old French Sign Language (VLSF), which developed among ...

Research

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

University of Klagenfurt The University of Klagenfurt ( or ''Alpen-Adria-Universität Klagenfurt'', AAU) is a federal Austrian research university and the largest research and higher education institution in the States of Austria, state of Carinthia. It has its campus in ...

and

University of Graz The University of Graz (, formerly: ''Karl-Franzens-Universität Graz'') is a public university, public research university located in Graz, Austria. It is the largest and oldest university in Styria, as well as the second-largest and second-old ...

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

Erasmus+ Erasmus+ is the European Commission's programme for education, training, youth, and sport for the 2021–2027 period, succeeding the previous programme (2014–2020). As an integrated programme, Erasmus+ offers more opportunities for the mobi ...

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 () is the bicameral federal legislature of Austria. It consists of two chambers – the National Council and the Federal Council. In specific cases, both houses convene as the Federal Assembly. The legislature meets i ...

on September 1, 2005.

Fingerspelling

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

German alphabet The modern German alphabet consists of the twenty-six letters of the ISO basic Latin alphabet: German uses letter-diacritic combinations (Ä, Ä/ä, Ö, Ö/ö, Ü, Ü/ü) using the Umlaut (diacritic), umlaut and one ligature (ß, ẞ/ß (ca ...

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

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
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References

* Krausneker, Verena (2006) taubstumm bis gebärdensprachig. Die Österreichische Gebärdensprachgemeinschaft aus soziolinguistischer Perspektive. Klagenfurt, Drav

* ÖGLB, Österreichischer Gehörlosenbund (2003) ÖGS-Basisgebärden. Basisvokabular der Österreichischen Gebärdensprache. Wien * ÖGLB, Österreichischer Gehörlosenbund (2004) Mein Tor zur Welt der Gehörlosen. Wie

* ÖGLB, Österreichischer Gehörlosenbund (2004) Mein Fingeralphabet.Das Finger-ABC für Kinder. Wien * ÖGLB, Österreichischer Gehörlosenbund (2004) Mein erstes Gebärdenbuch. Österreichische Gebärdensprache für Kinder. Wien * ÖGLB, Österreichischer Gehörlosenbund (2004) Erstes Gebärdenbuch für Jugendliche. Wien * ÖGLB, Österreichischer Gehörlosenbund (2004) Zweites Gebärdenbuch für Jugendliche. Wien * ÖGLB, Österreichischer Gehörlosenbund (2005) 1. Diskriminierungsbericht der österreichischen Gebärdensprachgemeinschaft. Wien * ÖGLB, Österreichischer Gehörlosenbund (2005) Medizinisches Handbuch ÖGS. Wien. * ÖGLB, Österreichischer Gehörlosenbund (2006) 2. Diskriminierungsbericht der österreichischen Gebärdensprachgemeinschaft. Wien * Skant, Andrea, Franz Dotter, Elisabeth Bergmeister, Marlene Hilzensauer, Manuela Hobel, Klaudia Krammer, Ingeborg Okorn, Christian Orasche, Reinhold Ortner & Natalie Unterberger (2002) Grammatik der Österreichischen Gebärdensprache. Veröffentlichungen des Forschungszentrum für Gebärdensprache und Hörgeschädigtenkommunikation der Universität Klagenfurt: Band 4: 200

(Publikationen und Produkte)

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