The Serbian sign language

Abstract

Sign language is the natural linguistic expression of deaf individuals. The Serbian Sign Language (SSL) is a visual language involving gestures that are used by deaf individuals in Serbia. SSL is their first (primary) language while spoken Serbian language is their second language. For deaf children and adult deaf individuals sign language is a natural means of expression, comparable with the expressive potential of spoken language and it enables them cognitive, communicative and creative experiences. Early dual half-linguism of deaf children (knowledge of both sign language and spoken/written language) is of invaluable importance for their development. With the adoption of sign language, problems with limited reception of messages and limitations in communication are eliminated. That is a language that utilizes manual symbols to express ideas and concepts. Also, it encompasses finger-spelling. It is well known today that sign languages have structure, which in its complexity can be compared with the structure of spoken and written language. In different parts of the world varying sign languages are used and mutually they are not understood, although there are internationally accepted signs that are used in many sign languages. Different signs are used, as well as different rules for their formation (different sequence of signs) and different sentence structure. The Serbian Sign Language (SSL) is used by deaf individuals in Serbia as a means of everyday conversation, for expressing wishes and personal will, for intellectual discussions, to express jokes, for combining abstract expressions and for expressing personal style. In Serbia there is a high level of understanding amongst deaf individuals within the scope of the SSL, although there is the possibility of regional variations of certain gestures and the manner of their expression. It is known in linguistics that the method used to gather data on a language can be versatile. It can be asked of native speech to be translated or for an account that is equivalent to the given task to be composed in another language. This procedure of elicitation has its advantages because certain occurrences within a language can be targeted for study; however there is also the disadvantage in that it is necessary to know beforehand the occurrences which exist so that appropriate questions may be raised in relation to them. Otherwise native speakers often tend to 'translate - word by word', thus additional testing is needed of such occurrences in fluent spontaneous speech. In our case, for the initial standardization of the language from the aspect of grammar, in the first phase we had to gather material relating to the Serbian Sign Language by elicitation from accounts in sign language. Aware of all the problems and deficiencies which can emerge in such a proceeding, we nevertheless believed, on the basis of initial research of other non- standardized languages, that that was a necessary first step in our attempt to describe the Serbian Sign Language. Our informants were bilingual individuals who were equally familiar with the Serbian language and the Serbian Sign Language (as a native first and native second language), informants to whom sign language is the primary language of communication (deaf and hard of hearing individuals).

Znakovni jezik je prirodni jezički izraz gluvih lica. Srpski znakovni jezik (SZJ) je vizuelni jezik gestova koji koriste gluve osobe u Srbiji. SZJ je njihov prvi (primarni) jezik dok je govorni srpski jezik njihov drugi jezik. Za gluvu decu i odrasle gluve osobe znakovni jezik je prirodno sredstvo izražavanja, uporedivo s izražajnim potencijalom govornog jezika i omogućava im kognitivna, komunikativna i kreativna iskustva. Rana dvostruka polujezičnost gluve dece (poznavanje znakovnog jezika i govornog/pisanog jezika) od neprocenjive je važnosti za njihov razvoj. Usvajanjem znakovnog jezika otklanjaju se problemi ograničenog primanja poruka i ograničene komunikacije. To je jezik koji koristi manuelne simbole da izrazi ideje i koncepte. Takođe, u sebe uključuje i prstnu azbuku (fingerspeling). Danas se zna da znakovni jezici imaju strukturu koja se po svojoj složenosti može porediti sa strukturom govornog i pisanog jezika. U različitim delovima sveta koriste se različiti znakovni jezici i oni međusobno nisu razumljivi, iako postoje međunarodno prihvaćeni znaci koji se koriste u mnogim znakovnim jezicima. Koriste se različiti znakovi i različita pravila za njihovo građenje (različit redosled znakova) kao i različita struktura rečenice. Srpski znakovni jezik (SZJ) gluvim osobama u Srbiji služi kao sredstvo za svakodnevnu konverzaciju, za iskazivanje želja i lične volje, za intelektualne rasprave, za izražavanje šala, za kombinaciju apstraktnih izraza, za izražavanje ličnog stila. U Srbiji postoji visok stepen razumevanja među gluvim osobama u okviru SZJ, iako postoji i mogućnost regionalnih varijacija pojedinih gestova i načina izražavanja. Poznato je u lingvistici da način prikupljanja podataka o nekom jeziku može biti raznovrstan. Može se od izvornih govora tražiti da prevedu ili sačine iskaz koji je ekvivalentan zadatom iskazu na drugom jeziku. Ovakav postupak elicitacijom ima svoje prednosti jer se mogu ciljano istražiti određene pojave u jeziku, ali je i nedostatak u tome što je potrebno unapred znati koje sve pojave postoje da bi se za njih postavila odgovarajuća pitanja. Osim toga izvorni govornici često nastoje da 'prevode' reč po reč', te je potrebno dodatno proveravanje takvih pojava u fluentnom spontanom govoru. U našem slučaju, za početnu standardizaciju jezika u pogledu gramatike, morali smo u ovoj osnovnoj fazi , sakupiti materijal srpskog znakovnog jezika putem elicitacije iskaza na znakovnom jeziku. Svesni svih problema i nedostataka koji takav pristup može da ima, ipak smo smatrali, i na osnovu početnih istraživanja drugih nestandardizovanih jezika, da je to nužan prvi korak u nastojanu da se opiše srpski znakovni jezik. Naši informanti su bili bilingvali kojima je srpski jezik i srpski znakovni jezik jednako poznat (kao maternji prvi i maternji drugi jezik), informanti kojima je znakovni jezik primarni jezik komunikacije (gluve i nagluve osobe).