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| Russian Sign Language | |
|---|---|
| русский жестовый язык russkiy zhestovyi yazyk | |
| Native to | Russia,Tajikistan,Belarus,Kazakhstan,Kyrgyzstan[1] |
| Region | Russia[2] |
| Signers | 120,000 in Russia (2010 census)[3] |
French Sign
| |
| Dialects |
|
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | Either:rsl – Russian Sign Languagevsi – Moldovan Sign Language[citation needed] |
| Glottolog | russ1270 |
Russian Sign Language (RSL) is thesign language used by the Deaf community in Russia, with what is possibly additional presence in Belarus and Tajikistan.[citation needed] It belongs to theFrench Sign Language family.
RSL is anatural language with a grammar that differs from spoken or writtenRussian language.Signed Russian is an artificial form of communication used in schools and differs from RSL in strictly following Russian grammar.
Although RSL is legally recognized in Russia, it does not enjoy state support and there is a lack of skilled RSL interpreters in the country.
In 1806, the first Russian deaf school was founded near St. Petersburg. It is believed that RSL belongs to theFrench sign language family due to the fact that the first two sign language teachers were from France and Austria.[4] Beyond a speaker base in Israel,[2] researchers do not know for sure if RSL is used outside of Russia; it may also be used in Ukraine, Belarus or Tajikistan.[5]
Much of the early research on RSL was done byGalina Zaitseva,[5] who wrote her 1969 PhD thesis on spatial relationships in Russian Sign Language, and in 1992 devised the now standard term for Russian Sign Language "Russkii Zhestovyi Yazyk" (Russian: Русский Жестовый Язык).
Most deaf people in Russia are born to hearing families and therefore are not provided the opportunity to acquire a native-like command of RSL. Bilingualism between RSL and written or spoken Russian is very common.[6]
Signed Russian differs from RSL in that it is an artificial form of communication which closely follows Russian word order and adds Russian grammatical features not found in RSL. Sign Russian has a higher social status than RSL because of its association with literacy and higher education. This higher status is due to educational policies, such the near-exclusive use of Signed Russian at deaf schools by teachers.[6] Many Deaf RSL users see their language as a jargon without grammar.[5] These social factors have caused RSL to be significantly influenced by Russian in its vocabulary and some syntactic structures as well.[6]
There appears to be a relatively significant amount of regional variation in RSL comparable to regional variants ofPolish Sign Language orEstonian Sign Language. One study reported lexical similarity between two Russian signers at around 70–80%.[7]
The basic word orders in RSL appears to beSVO andSOV. A 2012 study found that thatsubject came before thepredicate 95% of the time. Additionally, theobject was placed before the verb 74-81% of the time. In situations where the subject and objectcan switch places, SVO word order is preferred; the same can be said for sentences withanimate objects.Topicalization, marked either by lowered eyebrows and a head nod or just raised eyebrows, introduces previously mentioned information.[8] Although RSL lacksdeterminers, pointing signs can act likedemonstratives to markdefiniteness.[6] Lexical signs may also be doubled in the sentence to add emphasis or to foreground something (see below).[6]
MEET
IX
POSS
FRIEND
MEET
MEET IX POSS FRIEND MEET
He met his friend.
Verbs may take one, two or noarguments at all in RSL. There are also severalalternations that change the argument structure in predictable ways. Examples of this includeimpersonal,reciprocal andcausative constructions. In this respect RSL istypologically similar to other languages.[9]
Classifier predicates are highlyiconic verbal signs in which thehandshape represents an object and the movement expresses how the object moves.[10] RSL classifier predicates use SOV word order[4] and do not seem to be intrinsically associated with particular argument structures.[10]
Whereastense is markedanalytically or lexically,[11]aspectual distinctions are markedmorphologically. Examples of the latter include repeating the sign to indicatehabituality, slow movement fordurativity, and a single quick movement for completivity.[4]
Adjectives and temporaladverbials along withnegative, tense markers all come after the base of the sign. Question words tend to come at the end of the sentence. The plural may be marked either by doubling the sign or by signing MNOGO 'many' or RAZNYJ 'various' after the base sign. Adual meaning of the noun can be expressed by signing the predicate with both hands.[11] Naturally masculine signs are signed at the upper part of the face whereas feminine ones are signed on the lower part of the face.[11][4]
Similar to other sign languages, RSL makes extensive use offacial expressions for grammatical purposes and signs are either performed with one or both hands. An example of the former include a headshake, furrowed eyebrows and wrinkled nose for negation. This form of negation must include the manual sign NOT, but the facial element may spread to other parts of the sentence.[6]
A 2019 study identified 116handshapes in a corpus of more than 5000 images, 23 of which werephonologically distinct.[4]
The current legal status of RSL is as follows:
There are several problems concerning the study and application of sign language in Russia, which Valery Nikitich Rukhledev, President of theAll-Russian Society of the Deaf[13] cited:
However, there is hope that the situation can change. On 4 April 2009, at the Russian Council on The Disabled, President Dmitry Medvedev discussed the issue of the status of sign language in Russia. In his closing remarks, the President of the Russian Federation expressed his opinion:[13]
"There is indeed, a distinct lack of sign language translators. This level of need necessitates changes. There are considerations and proposals for implementation to resolve the need of training sign language interpreters to provide translation services. But I agree with what has been said: it is necessary to reconsider the preparation of the interpreters at the Ministry of Education Institutions and universities. These teachers should be prepared in virtually every federal district, because we have a huge country and it is impossible to imagine having all sign language interpreters trained in Moscow, for example, and this is the only way we can solve this problem. I am glad that the State Duma supported the initiatives of the President, so we will continue to work in the same unity, in which we have previously worked to resolve this issue."
In addition to the languages that emerged and developed in Israel, at least two languages were brought by immigrants and are still used in Israel today: Russian Sign Language (Yoel 2007) brought by immigrants from the former Soviet Union in the 1990s...
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