Austrian Sign Language, or Österreichische Gebärdensprache (ÖGS), is the sign language used by the AustrianDeaf 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.[2] Although there are no detailed studies of the extent of relatedness, ÖGS shares aspects of its grammar with German Sign Language and Swiss Sign Language, while the vocabulary differs (see Skant et al. 2002); [3] 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[4] and University of Graz.[5] The Alpen-Adria-Universität Klagenfurt (AAU) worked on the "Deaf learning" project[6] (September 1, 2015 – August 31, 2018) financed under Erasmus+ 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"[7] project (September 1, 2018 – July 7, 2021) by developing online courses for independent learning in ÖGS and written German text.[8]
ÖGS possess hundred of signs, of which 26 signs represent single letters similar to the basic written German alphabet, 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 in Austria[9] and Equalizent,[10] an online video dictionary was created to teach the Fingerspelling and the most common signs with the help of a 3D-Avatar called SiMAX [11] from Sign Time.
Associations
The Austrian Deaf community is represented by the Austrian Federation of the Deaf (the Österreichischer Gehörlosenbund).[12]
There is one nationwide association for professional interpreters of ÖGS.[13]
Krausneker, Verena (2006) taubstumm bis gebärdensprachig. Die Österreichische Gebärdensprachgemeinschaft aus soziolinguistischer Perspektive. Klagenfurt, Drava [1]
ÖGLB, Österreichischer Gehörlosenbund (2003) ÖGS-Basisgebärden. Basisvokabular der Österreichischen Gebärdensprache. Wien
ÖGLB, Österreichischer Gehörlosenbund (2004) Mein Tor zur Welt der Gehörlosen. Wien [2]
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 (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: 2002 [3] (Publikationen und Produkte)
^a Sign-language names reflect the region of origin. Natural sign languages are not related to the spoken language used in the same region. For example, French Sign Language originated in France, but is not related to French. Conversely, ASL and BSL both originated in English-speaking countries but are not related to each other; ASL however is related to French Sign Language.
^b Denotes the number (if known) of languages within the family. No further information is given on these languages.
