This is contact sign language

Language is one of the most complex phenomena in human society. He is constantly developing: borrowing new words, changing grammatical forms or completely gets rid of expressions he doesn’t need. Sign language is also familiar with all these processes. The study of gestures became an independent science not so long ago, but it is even more interesting to observe how new system communication is born “online”, right before our eyes.

1.

Sign languages ​​received official recognition in the middle of the last century, when American linguists began systematically studying the language of the deaf. However, the history of the formation of sign languages ​​is naturally older than several decades. There is even a hypothesis that at first people communicated using gestures, and only then began to use their voices.

Humanity's earliest attempts at communication (still wordless) indicate that sign language arose from involuntary, instinctive movements. Actually, this is why the origin of some gestures is quite easy to trace, and the simplest laws for expressing any concept are still used today. For example, such a property as iconicity - gestures in their form often resemble the objects they depict. The gesture “house” is similar to a house, the gesture “cat” is like a cat (in sounding languages, iconicity is also present, but only within the framework of onomatopoeia and sound signals). In some cases, based on the same iconicity, gestures influenced the first forms of writing: pictography, ideography. Thus, in one of the African tribes, the symbol ≠, meaning “child, child,” arose as a reflection of an existing gesture (a finger placed on the lips - “not able to speak, silent”).

Of course, the communicative efficiency of modern sign languages ​​cannot be compared with the gesticulation of primitive societies. These are no longer explanations at the level of “I am Tarzan, and you are Jane.” Gestures became more complex, became more standardized, less iconic, and became discrete.

"Granny", "old", "Moscow"

2.

The beginning of the systematization and development of sign languages ​​can be considered the 18th century, when the first schools for children with hearing impairments appeared in Europe.

Linguist Vadim Kimmelman explained how this educational system developed: “Sign languages ​​arise when there are communities that use them. If a deaf child was born to hearing parents, he had no other people with whom he could communicate using signs, and accordingly, sign language did not arise. When schools for the deaf were created in Europe at the end of the 18th century, they brought together the first generation of children with hearing impairment. Children began to communicate with each other, and after several generations, sign language appeared in different places: in France, in Germany, in Holland. In Russia, the first school for the deaf was founded at the beginning of the 19th century.

There is another way sign language appeared. It is associated with isolated communities in which there is a high percentage of deaf people (due to genetic deafness or, say, due to frequent cases of meningitis). Then school is not necessary, because the number of deaf people is sufficient for the hearing part of society to begin to learn sign language. In this way, so-called village sign languages ​​develop.”

However, despite the fact that sign languages ​​appeared quite often and everywhere, they were not studied in detail, and they were denied their own grammar. Sign language was not considered true even by the native speakers themselves. And the 1929 Encyclopædia Britannica calls it “pictures drawn in the air.”

"Brother"

3.

Perhaps sign language would have been perceived for a long time as pantomime or a kind of gestural cipher if William Stokey, a young linguist and historian of the Middle Ages, had not come to work at Gallaudet College (Washington State) in the late fifties of the 20th century. In sign language, Stokey discovered a whole linguistic world, exceptional and unusual. He was the first to look closely at this structure, analyze gestures, and decompose them into elements. In 1960, Stokey published The Structure of Sign Language, and in 1965, together with his colleagues, he published the Dictionary of American Sign Language.

From this moment we can talk about the emergence of a new scientific direction in linguistics. One of the main goals of American researchers was to show that sign languages ​​are independent, they have their own grammar, etymology, polysemy, slang and morphology. Their characters are at the same levels as for spoken languages ​​- from phonetic to syntactic.

"City" (on three different languages: Russian, American and French)

4.

What does a gesture consist of? According to the basic theory, a gesture can be divided into four components: hand configuration, movement, localization (location of execution), and hand orientation. Plus, the non-manual component is taken into account: facial expression and lip movement. For example, the “woman” gesture is described as follows: the configuration of the hand is an open palm, the movement is touching, the place of execution is the right side of the chin. The gesture “man” will differ from “woman” only in the place of execution. And, for example, the gestures “grandmother”, “old” and “Moscow” are similar in everything except the shape of the hand. By the way, such pairs that differ in only one component in the same position are called minimal. They also exist in spoken languages. For example, couples cancer-rock, thread-whining,sheep- ship, etc.

It also happens that a concept exists, but a gesture for it has not yet been invented. Then the dactyl alphabet is used (“dactyl” from Greek - “finger”) - that is, gestures corresponding to the letters of the verbal language. “Dactylology is used primarily to designate personal names. In addition, if a new term is introduced, for example, “hadron collider,” then at first, due to the lack of a gesture, this concept will also be spelled out,” explains Vadim Kimmelman.

"Drone"

5.

Morphological processes are actively developing in sign languages. One of the ways to form a new word in spoken languages ​​is addition. A compound word consists of two or more words, but the concept always conveys one ( blackboard, in passing, launch vehicle). This also occurs in the language of the deaf. For example, quite often in Russian sign language the “man” gesture is added to indicate a profession. It turns out that “fisherman” means “fish” and “person”, “teacher” means “teach” and “person”. Or there are cases where gestures have become so fused that they can no longer be separated. Thus, the gesture “brother” comes from the already known “man” and the gesture “relative”.

Part of the vocabulary in a language consists of borrowings. It happens that new gestures come from other sign languages. For example, country names are often borrowed from self-names. Previously, the concept of “Holland” in Russian sign language was expressed through the touch of a hand to the stomach. This designation arose due to the consonance of “Holland” with the word “hungry”. But now they have begun to use a gesture that the Dutch themselves depict - it seems to imitate the brim of a hat. Borrowings from the spoken language are also possible. The concept of “apartment” in Russian sign language is denoted by the letters “k” and “v”. That is, the whole word is not dactyl, but only the first two letters.

Another typical phenomenon for sign languages ​​is polysemy (multiple meanings). In Russian sign language, the concepts of “brown” and “coffee” are depicted in the same way, and the gesture “green” looks the same as “young”. But the articulation behind each concept remains its own.

"Brown", "coffee"

6.

There are also things in sign language that you won’t find in spoken language. For example, a special order of gestures when describing space, such as “the ball rolled under the table.” Here the members of the sentence are arranged according to the “background-figure-relationship” scheme. This means that first comes a large object, in relation to which one is localizing, then a small object, which is localized, and, finally, a relation. That is, it turns out: table - ball - under the table. What is unusual is that this order is characteristic of all sign languages.

Or such a phenomenon as simultaneity. Because sign language uses two hands, they sometimes show different gestures. More precisely, it happens that first the hand shows a gesture, and then freezes at the final point and is held, and at this time the other hand shows the following gestures. This is used, for example, in the context of a story about some subject. We show it first, and then we hold it and talk about it. This, indeed, cannot happen in sound languages, because there is only one articulatory apparatus.

Another example, a particular one, illustrates one of the differences between Russian sign language and Russian spoken language. In the first, the negative particle “not” is placed at the end of the sentence, and not before the member that is being negated, as is customary in the Russian language. In other words, to say “I don’t dance,” you need to construct a sentence like this: “I don’t dance.” For Russian hearing people, this order is indeed unusual, but the Germans, for example, would not see anything special in it.

In general, the development of sign language structure is best known from the Nicaraguan deaf language. It appeared, as they say, before our eyes, in the eighties of the twentieth century. There had previously been no common sign language in Nicaragua, but in 1977, when the first school for the deaf was created, scientists immediately began to document how grammar developed and rules were established over two or three generations. Children communicated with the older generation, adopted and changed the language of adults, and created rules that did not exist before. And most sign languages ​​went through this natural path of language creation. .

"Woman","man"

7.

It is already clear that in different countries ah - your own language of the deaf. There are now about 130 sign languages. And along with sounding ones, sign language has its own genealogical classification into families and groups. But, since the gestural communication system developed quickly and spontaneously, it turned out to be very difficult to reliably trace the degrees of kinship. Research has shown that the historical connections between sign languages ​​are explained by, among other things, global politics and the export of education. Thus, the historical legacy of the Habsburg Empire led to a close connection between the sign languages ​​of Germany, Austria and Hungary. The Japanese occupation of Taiwan resulted from the emergence of new dialects in Taiwanese Sign Language, similar to the sign language of the Japanese. The export of educational systems, often by people with a religious and missionary agenda, also had its influence in many ways. And above all, this is the French system of education for the deaf, which has spread to many countries in Europe and North America. A similar relationship exists between the Swedish and Portuguese sign languages ​​following the establishment of a school in Lisbon by deaf Swedish teachers in 1824. And Irish monks who taught schools for deaf children abroad influenced the sign languages ​​of South Africa, India and Australia.

We know that the Russian language belongs to the Indo-European family, the East Slavic group. But Russian Sign is presumably classified as part of the French family, which also includes American, Dutch, Flemish, Brazilian and other sign languages. The originality and specificity of each is naturally preserved.

However, there is such a thing as International Sign Language. It's something like Esperanto, an artificially developed sign system. But in reality, when deaf people from different countries meet at conferences or events, an international system of communication is created on the fly. Gestures are selected that, firstly, are similar in different sign languages. And secondly, they are the most iconic. However, one cannot be completely sure that International Sign Language will always accurately convey what the speaker intended. But for face to face communication, when it is possible to ask the interlocutor again or clarify an unclear gesture, it is quite convenient.

"Science" (in three different languages: Russian, American and French)

8.

Sign language is a language in the full sense of the word, with the same capabilities that are characteristic spoken language. Using sign language you can talk about poetry, cosmology, the structure of the world, the past and the future. The only question that remains is to what extent its rules and norms are enshrined in written sources. There are several dictionaries for Russian Sign Language, but none of them are complete or linguistically meaningful. The grammar is almost not described. They began to systematically study Russian sign only about ten years ago.

"I don't dance"

Maria Islamova

New for 2015 – release of a CD for teaching Russian sign language "Let's get acquainted!". These are specially designed videos for hearing people who want to learn about Deaf culture and language.

The course was developed by specialists Center for Education of the Deaf and Sign Language named after Zaitseva.

Brief information about the deaf and hard of hearing.
- 100 most used gestures
- Video clips about the rules of communication with the deaf.
- Common phrases/dialogues used in communication.

The release of the disc became possible thanks to the VOG project “Let’s Preserve and Recognize the Diversity of the Russian Sign Language”, financial support was partially provided by the Russkiy Mir Foundation.

Chapter THIS IS IMPORTANT contains gestures:
I
YOU
DEAF
HEARING
TRANSFER
HELP
LOVE
YES
NO
CAN
IT IS FORBIDDEN
HELLO
GOODBYE
THANK YOU

Chapter QUESTIONS contains gestures:
WHO?
WHAT?
WHERE?
WHERE?
FOR WHAT?
WHY?
WHERE?
WHICH?
WHOSE?
HOW?
WHEN?

Chapter WHO - WHAT contains gestures:
WOMAN
MAN
HUMAN
MOTHER
DAD
HUSBAND (WIFE)
FRIEND
DOCTOR
CAT
DOG
ADDRESS
PHONE (MOBILE)
INTERNET
CITY
BUS
CAR
METRO
TRAM
TROLLEYBUS
MINISTRUTKA
TAXI
AIRPLANE
TRAIN
AIRPORT
RAILWAY STATION
SHOP
MARKET
BANK
HOSPITAL
POLICE
SCHOOL
JOB

Chapter WHAT DO WE DO? contains gestures:
EAT
WAS
WAS NOT
WILL
WILL NOT BE
UNDERSTAND
DON'T UNDERSTAND
KNOW
DON'T KNOW
SPEAK
WRITE
WANT
DON'T WANT
REMEMBER
DO
REPLY
ASK

Chapter HOW – WHAT? contains gestures:
FINE
BADLY
FINE
HURT
SLOWLY
FAST
FEW
MANY
COLD
HOT
DANGEROUS
BEAUTIFUL
DELICIOUS
SMART
KIND
CALM

Chapter WHEN? contains gestures:
TODAY
YESTERDAY
TOMORROW
MORNING
DAY
EVENING
NIGHT
WEEK
MONTH
YEAR

Chapter DACTYLOLOGY contains symbols of letters of the Russian alphabet.

Chapter NUMERALS contains designations of numbers.

Chapter LET'S TALK
I love you.
What is your name?
How old are you?
Are you studying or working?
Where do you work?
I need a job.
I live in Russia.
Give me your address.
Send me an email.
I'll send you an SMS.
Let's go for a walk.
It is dangerous to ride a bicycle here.
Do you have a car?
I have a driver's license.
Do you want tea or coffee?
Be careful, the milk is hot.
I have a deaf son.
This is good kindergarten for deaf children.
Do you have deaf teachers?
Parents of deaf children should know sign language.
My daughter is hard of hearing, she has a hearing aid, but she does not need a cochlear implant!
Good translators are needed everywhere.
I want to watch movies with subtitles.
There are many talented deaf artists and actors in Russia.
I need a translator.
Should you call a doctor?
Are you thirsty?
I love children.
Let's go play.

Chapter THIS IS NEEDED contains phrases in sign language:
I am deaf.
I am hard of hearing.
I can't hear.
I know some signs.
Do you know sign language? – I don’t know gestures very well, but I know dactylology.
Can I help you?
Do you need an interpreter?
Where do you live?
Where are you from?
Where is the bus stop?
The metro station is close.
I'm thirsty.
Where is the toilet?

This section provides rules for communicating with deaf people and simple dialogues in sign language.

RULES FOR COMMUNICATION WITH THE DEAF AND HARD OF HEARING PEOPLE

Rules for communicating with people with hearing impairments:
- look the interlocutor in the face, do not turn away during the conversation.
- do not raise your voice, but clearly articulate.
- use the services of a sign language interpreter.
- transmit information in writing by any means.

The main ways to attract the attention of the deaf and hard of hearing:
- pat on the shoulder.
- hand waving.
- knock on the table.

The disc also contains the brochure “What would you like to know about the deaf”, published by the Central Board of the All-Russian Society of the Deaf? International Day of the Deaf. It briefly summarizes general information about deaf people and how to communicate with them. The brochure is written primarily in a question-and-answer format, making it very easy to read.

Lena Gromova, one of the authors of our site, has a unique profession: she is a sign language translator. Today Lena will describe her working day in the genre of photo report. This is not just a chronicle of events, but, in fact, a short guide for those accompanying them: Lena talks about the specifics of perception in the deaf-blind, the features of their support and the types of translation.

This time my working day turned out to be unusual, because deaf-blind people don’t often have excursions. But first things first.

I will miss the morning, waking up, hours, toothbrushes, my coffee and feeding my children and husband. I think it’s like everyone else’s here. Moreover, I always don’t have enough time to get ready in the morning.

I run through the yards to the metro. The entrance closest to us is under renovation until the new year. Now the walk to the metro takes five minutes longer, and getting there is more difficult. I’m mentally preparing myself for the fact that the metro is now a madhouse. It's 8:15 am.

It's me. Fresh as the morning rose. Well, almost like a rose :)

I'm standing at a traffic light. Today I’m wearing sneakers and trousers, because it’s inconvenient to work in a skirt.

In general, the looser and more comfortable the clothing, the simpler it is. The bag should be worn over your shoulder, or even better, a backpack behind your back. After all, with deaf-blind people, your hands should be free.

I'm on the subway. I need to go to Tretyakovskaya: everyone meets there in front of the escalator. It’s a blessing that I have a direct route, without transfers!

On the subway I usually read something useful, because there are no distractions and I can concentrate. I've been reading Apraushev for a week now. He is a pedagogical genius. Any of his books on typhlo-surdopedagogy can be used to raise any child. Apraushev even has a trained cat at home. I recommend everyone to read it - the smartest books.

I'm on Tretyakovskaya. Everything is already assembled. They were waiting for me and another woman. I stood next to Natasha for about three minutes while she chatted (Natasha is deaf-blind, but speaks with a voice). On the phrase “Where is our Lena?” I touched her hand. “You la-la, I’m standing there, waiting, I’m already bored for 10 minutes :)” They laughed at how Natasha is a chatterbox.

But in fact, she didn’t see me and felt me ​​only when I touched her. Hands replace both eyes and ears for deaf-blind people; hands are their only connection with the world.

We kissed, hugged, and went upstairs. Opposite the metro is a traditional meeting place: a bus arrives here, not far from the Yakimanka Center for Social Responsibility.

Yep, here's the rest. Deaf people, if they get together, always stand across the road - in a way that suits them. This is their “national peculiarity” :)

Here is our “commander in chief” and translator. We say hello, discuss who has arrived and where the bus is.

I use “we” all the time because, for the duration of this excursion, we are “Siamese twins.” I don’t let go of Natasha’s hand unnecessarily. Contact must be constant. In order not to worry, she must feel that I am nearby. A deaf-blind person in the city is practically helpless: he will not find his way home, his communication with people is difficult, not to mention all sorts of obstacles on the roads. To prevent a deaf-blind person from getting injured, he needs to be warned about what we usually don’t notice when walking. There are special signals for this.

The bus came quickly. We loaded up and drove along Ordynka towards the Kremlin. On the way, we listened to a mini-lecture about the temples flashing past us. I don’t have time to translate everything, although they told it very slowly.

But this is the peculiarity of dactyl speech: I speak letters, and Natasha reads letters. Sometimes I use gestures. But I’m not always sure that Natasha knows these gestures. Therefore, I filter the information, leaving the most interesting facts. Natasha understands this and likes it.

There is additional sign translation on the bus. The fact is that we have many married couples in which one of the spouses is deaf, and the other is also blind. The deaf person “listens” to the sign tour and then interprets for the husband or wife. This results in a multi-stage translation: voice → sign language → tactile sign language or fingerprinting.

Profits on Okhotny Ryad. This is how we talk.

And here is Natasha. So cute :)

Near the grave Unknown Soldier was funny incident. Everyone knows that there is a guard there, and to the left, to the side, there is another soldier. So, I found out why he was needed there: he has a whistle, and he whistles on it if someone does something wrong. He whistled at us twice. The first time - for a bag placed on the parapet. And the second time - on a deaf woman who stood on this parapet to photograph everyone. He, poor thing, whistled for a long time: she couldn’t hear at all. We pull her by the hem, they say, jump off, otherwise they will arrest her, but she kicks back and doesn’t want to. Have fun with the deaf, you won’t get bored :)

While we were waiting for the changing of the guard, we decided to take a group photo.

Natasha checks who has arrived.

Natasha found who she was looking for: they are communicating. This woman has a deaf-blind husband, she helps him. He gets very tired.

Changing of the guard. I tell them what their uniform is, what color it is, what they do, what they set up rain shelters for the soldiers. By the way, in the background is the same soldier with a whistle.

This is us, the “sweet couple”. Everyone thinks about us that we are mother and daughter. They say they are similar. Maybe :)

After the Alexander Garden we went to St. Basil's Cathedral. It must be said that for the deaf-blind, paving stones are a real challenge. There is no stability on such stones, so deaf-blind people get very tired. In addition, deafblindness has many concomitant diseases, plus age makes itself felt. In general, city streets are not designed for such disabled people.

We are standing in front of the cathedral. As always, a photo for memory. Natasha let me take photos of everyone, but she herself refused.

I caught Natasha and persuaded her to take a photo together :)

Here is our guide to the cathedral. Next to her is a translator. At that moment, Natasha was taken away from me under the pretext of rest. But I think it's because of the translation. Judging by Natasha's face, they told her with an Orthodox slant. Some people like it, some don't. But deaf-blind people often have no choice: what is is what is. There is so little information and communication that they welcome any opportunity. I take advantage of the moment and photograph what interests me. At the same time, of course, I’m resting. My fingers are no longer working well and are getting tangled.

I tried to capture all types of translation for the deaf-blind.

This grandfather has cataracts. He's deaf. There is residual vision and they translate it using gestures, but close to the face.

This is a contact sign language.

This woman has Usher syndrome, and she still has some vision, that is, she sees something, but just a little. Contact sign language is used for translation, plus she helps herself with her eyes.

Fingerprint in hand and some gestures.

Very severe myopia and, it seems, Usher syndrome, but not sure.

Everyone was taken to the cathedral.

On the way, the guide remembered that she had pictures of the ancient Kremlin. Those who could see something began to study them.

For the deaf-blind, hands replace vision. Where we could touch, we tried to touch. This is important for deaf-blind people.

The cathedral has very high and steep stairs with virtually no railings. It’s not easy even for sighted people.

Everyone groaned, but climbed. No one is left behind :)

Natasha is tired: she has sore joints, so all this climbing, of course, is not for her.

We rest and wait for the guide.

The Chambers are amazingly interesting, but again those terribly steep stairs. They've worn us out. It was also hot and cramped there: the ancient rooms were made small to retain heat. Natasha is on her last legs and is no longer listening to the translation. After a particularly steep and narrow secret staircase, she “broke down” and asked to go home. Well, what can we do? Let’s go, don’t die on this excursion.

He complains to the translator about the stairs and the Romanovs, they say, healthy legs The family had them, since they made such stupid stairs.

P.S. Here are all the photos in a slideshow.

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