Russian Sign Language
A language of Russian Federation (Europe)
| Population | No estimate available. |
| Region | Moscow and St. Petersburg are major centers. Widespread with significant dialect variation. Also in Bulgaria. |
| Dialects | Reportedly historical connections to sign languages in Austria and France, but connections not obvious from extensive wordlist comparison (Bickford 2005). Very similar to sign languages in Ukraine and Moldova. Internal dialect variation appears significant but still needs further survey. |
| Classification | Deaf sign language |
| Language use | Deaf associations and athletic clubs. Signed interpretation required in court and used at important public events. Many sign language classes for hearing people. Organization for sign language teachers. Hundreds of residential schools for deaf in the former USSR (Andersson 1981); some vocational schools, mainly oralist. |
| Language development | Primary schools for deaf children since 1878. Films. TV. Videos. Dictionary. |
| Comments | First school for the deaf was opened at Pavlovsk near St. Petersburg in 1806. There is a manual system for spelling. |
Also spoken in:
Bulgaria
| Language name | Russian Sign Language |
| Comments | Originated 1806. |
Ethnologue: Web |
Ethnologue: Print |
Bibliography |
Publications Catalog |
Software |
Email Updates
Who we are |
Shopping cart |
Site search |
Site map |
Home
Terms of Use | Privacy Policy | External links
Copyright © 2012 SIL International (formerly known as the Summer Institute of Linguistics)
