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

Sign language

A sign language is a language which, instead of acoustically conveyed sound patterns, uses visually transmitted sign patterns to convey meaning—simultaneously combining hand shapes, orientation and movement of the hands, arms or body, and facial expressions to fluidly express a speaker's...

 used by the Austria

Austria

Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...

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

Classification

ÖGS and Hungarian Sign Language

Hungarian Sign Language

Hungarian Sign Language is the sign language of Deaf people in Hungary. There is historical evidence that Hungarian and Austrian Sign Language are related, but there is no linguistic research and proof for the matter, yet....

 seem to be related for historical reasons (First School for the Deaf in Vienna) but there is no linguistic research on the matter and therefore no proof, yet. Although there are no detailed studies of the extent of relatedness, ÖGS shares aspects of its grammar

Grammar

In linguistics, grammar is the set of structural rules that govern the composition of clauses, phrases, and words in any given natural language. The term refers also to the study of such rules, and this field includes morphology, syntax, and phonology, often complemented by phonetics, semantics,...

 with German Sign Language

German Sign Language

German Sign Language or Deutsche Gebärdensprache is the sign language of the Deaf community in Germany. It is often abbreviated as DGS. It is unclear how many use German Sign Language as their main language; Gallaudet University estimated 50,000 in 1986.The language has evolved through use in deaf...

 and Swiss Sign Language, while the vocabulary

Vocabulary

A person's vocabulary is the set of words within a language that are familiar to that person. A vocabulary usually develops with age, and serves as a useful and fundamental tool for communication and acquiring knowledge...

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

French Sign Language family

The French Sign Language family is a proposed language family of sign languages which includes French Sign Language and American Sign Language, among others....

.

Similarities to American Sign Language (ASL)

The word for love is the same, palms open crossed over chest.
The sign for agree is "same" in ASL, similar to agree although ÖGS does not touch the head first.

Researchs

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

University of Klagenfurt

The University of Klagenfurt was founded in 1960 in Klagenfurt, Austria. It began as a College of Educational Studies . Since October 2004 the official German name is Alpen-Adria-Universität Klagenfurt in order to stress the intercultural connections between the Alpine regions and the Adriatic Sea...

 and University of Graz

University of Graz

The University of Graz , a university located in Graz, Austria, is the second-largest and second-oldest university in Austria....

.

After a nearly 15 year long struggle by the Deaf community, ÖGS was finally legally recognized

Legal recognition of sign languages

The legal recognition of sign languages is one of the major concerns of the international Deaf community. There is no standard way in which such a recognition can be formally or legally extended; every country has its own interpretation...

 by the Austrian Parliament on September 1, 2005.

Associations

The Austrian Deaf community is represented by the Austrian Association of the Deaf (the Österreichischer Gehörlosenbund).

There is one nationwide association for professional interpreters of ÖGS.

External links

• http://www.sign-it.at/ - video dictionary of ÖGS signs
• http://www.gebaerdenwelt.at/ - daily news in ÖGS

Further reading

• Krausneker, Verena (2006) taubstumm bis gebärdensprachig. Die Österreichische Gebärdensprachgemeinschaft aus soziolinguistischer Perspektive. Klagenfurt, Drava http://www.drava.at

• ÖGLB, Österreichischer Gehörlosenbund (2003) ÖGS-Basisgebärden. Basisvokabular der Österreichischen Gebärdensprache. Wien

• ÖGLB, Österreichischer Gehörlosenbund (2004) Mein Tor zur Welt der Gehörlosen. Wien http://www.oeglb.at/shop

• 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: 2002 http://www.uni-klu.ac.at/groups/spw/gs (Publikationen und Produkte)