Sign Language: Eastern Europe

Eastern Europe is home to a number of different sign languages. Their origins date back to the first schools for the Deaf, but there are significant differences between them. For space reasons, it is impossible to discuss all of them in this article. Therefore, in what follows we focus mainly on Polish Sign Language (polski język migowy; hereafter, PJM) as an example.

PJM has its roots in 1817 and in the Institute for the Deaf in Warsaw (then part of the Russian Empire), and belongs to the French family of sign languages unlike many other sign languages of Eastern Europe, which belong to the family of Russian sign languages. It is worth noting that PJM does not come from the German family of sign languages as is stated in many Internet sources (e.g., Wikipedia).

[Page 797]A common feature of the development of Eastern European sign languages was the emergence of signed systems (Signed Polish, Signed Russian, etc.) that, on one hand, were the products of widespread oralism in this area, and, on the other, of the need to provide access to information for the Deaf. The process of having sign language recognized and the fight of the Deaf for their rights, including their recognition as a linguistic and cultural minority, is ongoing. Sign language is recognized in Slovakia and the Czech Republic. Since 2011, Poland has had a law regulating the use of sign language in contacts with public administration. In Russia, sign language is only recognized as a means of interpersonal communication for the deaf people.

Like other sign languages around the world, the sign languages of the countries of Eastern Europe also contain many regionalisms and language variants. The variations in sign words are usually associated with the sign language used in the school for the Deaf in a given area. Another important factor in language differences, particularly in the case of Russia, is related to the significant distances between Deaf centers in a country as well as influences on Eastern European languages, especially those of the former Soviet republics.

Today, the deaf in the countries of Eastern Europe are fighting for their rights, particularly for bilingual education, equal access to public information as well as guaranteeing for sign language interpreters.

According to the educational laws of the individual countries of Eastern Europe, the language of instruction is the national language used in a given country. It is worth noting the success of 19th century attempts to provide general and practical education in sign language (particularly in Warsaw and Pavlovsky). However, historical events (the October Revolution in Russia, the First and Second World Wars, post-war communism) stopped and prevented the development of education in sign language. It was only in the 1980s that the trend of making manual education (based on signed systems) emerged. Since the beginning of the 1990s in Eastern Europe, there has been a steadily growing awareness of signed languages with increasing intensity and an increasingly large number of research centers conducting studies on sign language.

The remaining part of this article is devoted to the history and current state of the linguistic analysis of PJM. The earliest work on signed communication in Poland was Józef Hollak and Teofil Jagodziński’s (1879) dictionary of PJM. More than 500 pages, the two hearing priests and educators of the Deaf described over ten thousand signs. Although they are not accompanied by illustrations, the entries are quite detailed and usually give a clear picture of the articulation and use of the signs they refer to. The volume also contains a brief outline of the basics of PJM grammar. From today’s perspective, the work seems surprisingly advanced and scientifically mature, as it clearly distinguishes the grammar of PJM from the grammar of Polish. Unlike most publications that appeared in the 20th century, Hollak and Jagodziński’s dictionary paid much attention to the role of nonmanuals. The dictionary is an invaluable source of data on the etymology and historical development of PJM signs.

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