German Sign Language

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German Sign Language

Spoken in

Germany
Luxembourg
Belgium
speaker approx. 80,000 deaf people, 120,000 hearing / hard of hearing
Linguistic
classification
Official status
Official language in -
Language codes
ISO 639 -1

-

ISO 639 -2

so-called

ISO 639-3

gsg

The letters "DGS" for "German Sign Language" in the German finger alphabet . This is the common name of the language.

The German Sign Language (abbreviated DGS ) is the visual-manual language in which deaf and hard of hearing people in Germany , Belgium and Luxembourg communicate with each other and with the hearing.

The DGS is used continuously or occasionally by around 200,000 people. In contrast, the sign languages in Austria ( ÖGS ) and German-speaking Switzerland ( DSGS ), which belong to the family of French sign languages, are not related to the DGS.

The words of language are called signs .

General

DGS is an independent language. The grammar is fundamentally different from that of spoken German ; z. B. adverbial determinations of time are usually signed at the beginning of a sentence, verbs both after the subject and at the end of the sentence.

Example sentence in German sign language: “The cat runs to a tree, climbs up the tree and sits down in the tree. Suddenly a dog comes and runs towards the tree. The cat quickly runs down the tree and runs away. "

There is also a separate system of spoken language accompanying signs (LBG), also called "signed German", which follows the grammar of the German language in whole or in part, but is perceived as "wrong" by many DGS users - in comparison it would be something like German words with English sentence structure would be used.

Like other sign languages, DGS is a visual language. Thoughts and facts are mainly expressed with the hands. The language signs formed with the hands are called gestures. In addition, posture and facial expressions play a major role, especially when coding grammatical content (e.g. when forming conditional sentences ). Signs differ from one another in terms of the shape of the hand, the hand position, the place of execution and the direction of movement. A striking difference to spoken languages ​​is that sign languages ​​run spatially: people and places can be placed in a conversation, so to speak, in the air, and the meaning changes depending on the direction of movement of signs between these "spatial points". The finger alphabet is used as an aid for spelling proper names or vocabulary whose signs one or both of the interlocutors do not (yet) know .

The adherents of oralism suppressed the sign language of deaf children for more than 175 years because it was believed to hinder the learning of spoken language, which deaf children can hardly hear or cannot hear. In some schools, children who were caught using their hands for communication were hit with a stick on their hands or were punished with a ban on playing and deprivation of dessert. They were taught to be ashamed of the use of the gestures. Parents were encouraged to communicate with children only in spoken language. In some schools, signing was and is still only tolerated, but teachers do not use this language in class. The aversion to sign language has diminished these days. Sign language is now recognized as an independent language in Germany , which among other things means that deaf people have the right to call in sign language interpreters for official matters. The political recognition of the DGS in Germany took place in Hesse in 1998 with a motion for a resolution, the legal recognition finally in 2002 with the Disability Equality Act (§ 6 and § 9 BGG). Their use in administrative proceedings is regulated by the Communication Aid Ordinance, which came into force in July 2002 .

Due to this past, the DGS is not yet standardized nationwide. There are regional dialects. Often the sign language grammar is mixed up with the grammar of the German language; the result is a mixture of DGS and signed German.

There are dictionaries with photos and CD-ROMs of signs and extensive internet offers with video information in German sign language: Federal Employment Agency - Training. In order to be able to put the DGS in writing, various notation systems such as HamNoSys or SignWriting were created.

According to Henri Wittmann's 1991 classification, the DGS is one of the relatively small sign language family of German sign languages , which includes the Israeli sign language alongside the DGS . Teachers and students of the Israelitische Taubstummenanstalt Berlin-Weißensee fled to Israel during the Nazi era, opened schools there and continued to use German sign language. Through the influence of immigrants from other nations, a pidgin language emerged from which today's Israeli sign language emerged.

Features of the DGS

A sign language interpreter translates at a conference in DGS - German Sign Language

Compared to American Sign Language (ASL), DGS is more oral . Signs are often accompanied by lip movements that correspond to the spoken term, for example, when "mother" is signed, the lips also simulate "mother" without a sound. However, this is not a compulsory part of the DGS, but a side effect of the often orally oriented schooling in Germany. In contrast, in American Sign Language (ASL), elements and sequences of the finger alphabet are woven into the style of the signed information much more frequently than is customary in DGS, for example.

The grammar of the German sign language

The grammar of German sign language can be described with the help of the conventional linguistic categories phonology , morphology , morphosyntax and syntax .

Phonology

Signs consist of elements of the distinctive feature classes hand shape, hand position (hand orientation), place of execution and movement. If an element of one of these classes changes, a sign with a completely different meaning can arise. Two signs that only differ in one element are called a minimal pair . The DGS knows 32 hand shapes, there are six basic hand shapes that are included in all sign languages.

Two-handed gestures are gestures that must be performed with both hands. Their formation is subject to strong phonotactic restrictions such as the rule of symmetry (if both hands move at the same time, they have the same hand shape) and the rule of dominance (if both hands have different hand shapes, only the dominant hand is moved, while the non-dominant hand remains passive) .

Unflexed sign words in German sign language have a maximum of two syllables. Syllables consist of two syllable positions known as Hold (H) and Movement (M). The syllable position Hold includes the hand shape together with the hand orientation (this combination is called the hand configuration) at a specific execution point. A path movement (movement from one place of execution to another) does not take place here. In contrast, with the syllable position Movement, the hand configuration is moved. In addition, a secondary movement (internal hand movement such as wiggling the fingers) can take place. The syllable positions can therefore be combined to form the following syllable types: M (minimum syllable), HM, MH, HMH (maximum syllable). At HM, for example, the hand configuration of the movement is moving away from where the hold is being performed. The minimum syllable M can consist of segments with the following specifications: path movement, path movement with secondary movement or secondary movement without path movement. The syllable type H (segment without path movement and without secondary movement) is excluded for phonotactic reasons.

An elementary component of sign language words are non-manual lexical markings that are associated with a large number of signs. This includes movements of the eyes, mouth and face ( facial expressions ) as well as head and upper body. Mouth movements are known as mouth gestures.

morphology

The word formation processes composition and derivation belong to the morphology .

A compound is a word made up of at least two free morphemes ( e.g. elevator , dictionary ). In DGS, a maximum of two free morphemes are involved in this process. The individual word components are reduced in such a way that a compound word with a maximum of two syllables is created (rule of abbreviation).

When Derivation a free morpheme is combined at least a bound morpheme with at least (eg. Virtue way , un-lucky-lich ). In the DGS, signs are derived by adding a movement or by changing movement. A particularly productive process of derivation is negation by adding a so-called alpha movement, such as negating the signs for right , know , have to , believe . The formation of complex signs with a numerical word (THREE, THREE-O'CLOCK, IN-THREE-DAYS, THREE-HOURS, THREE-EURO) can also be counted towards derivation. The term incorporation is often found here .

Morphosyntax

DGS is a synthetic language ( inflected - agglutinating ) and, for typological reasons, morphosyntactically much richer than the Indo-European languages . In addition to the markings for congruence , we find a very differentiated verbal aspect , classification , number and mode . There is no tense or genus flexion in DGS.

Inflection classes

DGS has three classes of inflection: verbs that are congruent to the person, verbs that are congruent with respect to place, and verbs that are weakly congruent.

Verbs that are congruent to persons include verbs with object congruence and subject-object congruence. In subject-object congruence verbs, the verb gesture begins with the subject and ends with the object . In this way, spatial points are assigned to the speakers in the sign room. Verbs that only match the object, on the other hand, do not locate the subject. Personal congruence verbs are, for example, the signs for give , lend , give . The signs for asking , informing and telling also belong to this class, but in some dialects of the DGS they are only used in an object-congruent manner. Place-congruent verbs are verbs that congruce with one or more places in the sentence. Through the beginning and / or end of the sign, locations in the sentence are assigned clear spatial points in the sign space. This class includes local verbs such as sit , stand , lie and directional local verbs such as put , stand , lay , drive . Weakly congruent verbs (also known as simple verbs) are verbs that often have no visible congruence mark. These verbs include verb signs that are body-bound. However, a large number of these verbs can, under certain circumstances, be given congruence features , e.g. to express dual , timpani or plural . These include verbs that meet the following conditions:

  • they are not tied to the body and performed with simple, non-alternating movement,
  • they are carried out body-bound on the non-dominant hand,
  • they are body-bound with a direction of movement on the sagittal plane forwards or backwards.

Verbs without congruence information with animate object require an unbound congruence marker. This is a case of differential object marking .

aspect

DGS has a rich aspect paradigm . A distinction must be made between the temporal aspect, the aspect of the manner and the type of action .

The temporal aspect relates to the temporal structure of events. So far, five types of temporal aspect have been discovered in DGS:

  • Durative: expression of continuous, long-lasting events (the student thinks for a long time); Formation: depending on the syllable structure of the basic form of the verb sign, either freezing, stretching or reduplication of the word stem
  • Iterative: expression of repeated events (the child keeps screaming.); Formation: Reduplication of the entire sign with a short pause
  • Habitual: expression of habitually repeated events (the neighbor tends to clean the stairs every Saturday); Formation: Reduplication of the entire sign with a longer pause
  • Perfect: printout of completed events (the student has read through the book); Formation: depending on the verb class, either manually with the PERF sign, through increased articulation speed with an abrupt end or non-manually by nodding the head. The perfect in DGS is not functionally identical to the German perfect .
  • Progressive: expression of the course of events (the student is reading the book); Education: Slowing down and stretching verb signs, often with a gentle sign ending

The aspect of manner essentially expresses the state in which the doer finds himself during an action (The man is happily baking cakes. The woman is angrily reading a letter). In German, adverbs or adverbials are usually used to express the manner (the man bakes cakes with childlike joy. The woman reads a letter full of anger). In DGS, on the other hand, this aspect is not expressed through adverbs or adverbials, but through mimic marking of the verb, i.e. through verbal inflection . The "adverbial facial expressions" are part of the syntactic facial expressions because, in contrast to the lexical facial expressions, they are not stored with the verb in the mental lexicon, but can be productively combined with any verb.

The type of action in DGS characterizes the type and speed of execution of an action or an event , e.g. driving in serpentine lines , staggering , reading slowly . It also belongs to verbal inflection , but in contrast to the aspect of manner, it is expressed manually by changing the type of movement and / or speed of movement. In some cases, the aspect of the manner requires an additional marking for action type, as in The child listlessly writes an essay , whereby the speed of execution of the sign for writing is reduced to the non-manual marking for listless

Classifiers

The DGS classifiers essentially express the physical properties of living beings and objects. There are two types of classifiers in DGS: nominal classifiers and verbal classifiers.

Nominal classifiers are free morphemes with an adjectival function. They are used to describe the size, shape and decor of objects. They are therefore also referred to as size and shape specifiers or SASS for short. SASS classifiers usually contain at least two pieces of information: BOOK SASS: DICK-LARGE, GLAS SASS: ROUND-NARROW. A subgroup of the SASS classifiers are the body classifiers, which are used to describe the appearance of living beings, such as the length of hair, the shape of a beard, but also the pattern of clothing or - in animals - the fur.

Verbal classifiers are morphemes attached to a verb . A distinction is made between subject classifiers and object classifiers. Verbs with subject classifiers (also called class classifiers) congruent with the subject of the sentence. The verb is executed with a particular hand shape out of a finite set of hand shapes that represent inherent properties of the subject noun . The subject-classifying verbs include local verbs like the signs for stand , lie and directional verbs like the signs for drive , go , climb . Verbs with object classifiers (also called handle or handling classifiers) congruent with the direct object of the sentence. Here, too, the verb is executed with a specific hand shape from a finite set of hand shapes that represent inherent properties of the object noun. The object-classifying verbs include the sign for to give as well as directional local verbs such as the signs for set , place , place , drive .

Example:

  • drive as a subject-classifying verb: the car drives down the mountain.
  • drive as an object-classifying verb: the chauffeur drives the car down the hill.

Both classifiers have a subgroup. The class classifiers include the body part classifiers with which the body part of a living being is coded using a certain hand shape, for example the dog wags its tail. The elephant stomps through the china shop.

The subspecies of Handleklassifikatoren are the Instrumentalklassifikatoren with which the instrument used for an activity is expressed cut with scissors , cut with a bread knife , drinking through a straw .

number

Like the classifiers, the number can be divided into two groups, the nominal number and the verbal number.

With the nominal number, the number information is contained in the noun phrase , either

There are restrictions on the reduplication of nouns and SASS classifiers. Signs are reduplicated that are not bound to the body and are carried out with a simple movement (e.g. not in a circle). Signs that are bound to the body and / or are performed with complex movement are not duplicated. The phonotactic restrictions of the reduplication only apply to number inflection, but not to aspect marking.

In verbal number, the number is expressed through the verb. All verbs with bound or unbound congruence morphemes express plural by assigning referents either several spatial points or a set of spatial points through reduplication.

  • Person-congruent verbs assign plural to the indirect object and the subject .
  • Place-congruent verbs assign plural place arguments .
  • Weakly congruent verbs can assign plural objects to objects as well as place arguments under the above conditions.
  • Classifying verbs assign plural to direct objects.

In addition to the plural , dual and timpani can also be expressed in DGS, depending on the inflection class and classification .

mode

Mode or modality in the DGS is used for expression

  • an intention, obligation or desire (deontic modality)
  • the evaluation of a statement by the speaker / signer (sign language user) with regard to its probability (epistemic modality)
  • the attitude of the speaker / signer to an action / event (speaker attitude)

To express the deontic modality, DGS uses the same means as the German spoken language, namely modal verbs like want , must , should , may with essentially the same meanings. An exception here is a sign for must or should , which can only be used to express the obligation to do something on behalf of another person (I have to go shopping. My partner told me to.). As soon as the necessity for the action comes from one's own insight or can be attributed to external circumstances, this gesture cannot be used. Either a different sign for must is used, which is similar to the sign for accept and be patient , or the verb (in this case to go ) is marked manually by execution speed and often also by facial expressions (I have to go shopping. My fridge is yawning empty. ).

To express the epistemic modality, the German spoken language uses, among other things, (epistemic) sentence adverbs ( the postman was probably already there. ) Or (epistemic) modal verbs ( the postman must have already been there. ). Adverbs of sentences are also available for expressing speaker attitudes ( (un) fortunately , hopefully , absolutely , kindly ). In DGS, both modalities (modes) are not expressed manually, that is, through facial expressions and head and body posture. In contrast to the aspect of the manner, the entire sentence is not marked manually to express the modes. Adverbs of sentences can also be used. Epistemic modal verbs do not exist in DGS, deontic modal verbs cannot be used in the epistemic reading.

negation

For negation , the DGS uses three means: syntactic, and lexical morphological negation.

Syntactic negation is not marked manually by shaking the head. The following can be marked:

  • the verb
  • the verb with its objects

A negative marking of the entire sentence (including the subject ) is ungrammatic. The range (scope) of the marking decides on the reading: A marking of the verb only negates the verb, while the other constituents are not negated (Peter does not buy the book, he borrows it). Marking the verb and its objects negates either the entire predicate or only the objects (Peter does not buy a book, he borrows a CD. Peter does not buy a book, but a CD).

Morphological negation takes place with certain signs with the help of a derivative affix ( not can , not allowed , impossible ). In some cases, signs can also form a compound word with the sign for not ( unjust , not like , not hope ).

Lexical negation is expressed with negation adverbs and indefinite pronouns ( not , nobody , nowhere , none ). The negation with the sign for not is marked and emphasizes the negation, while the syntactic negation represents the unmarked case.

syntax

Sentence structure

Unmarked sentences

The unmarked word order in the DGS is subject-object-verb .

subject object verb
[PRON] 2 JOB SEARCH
"you" "Job" "search"
You are looking for a job.


subject object verb
[PRON] 1 LOAF 1 GEB- 2 [cl: bread]
"I" "Loaf" "I-give-you (-something-bread-shaped)"
I'll give you some bread.

In sentences with verb strings, modal verbs and the like usually come after the main verb.

subject object "Main verb" "Modal verb"
[PRON] 2 JOB SEARCH MUST-
"you" "Job" "search" "have to"
You have to look for a job.
subject "Main verb" "Modal verb"
[PRON] 1 CYCLING CANNOT
"I" "to go biking" "can not"
I can't ride a bike.
subject "Main verb" "Modal verb"
[PRON] 1 COME OVER- ATTEMPT-
"I" "come" "to attempt"
I try to come.
subject object "Main verb" "Modal verb"
[PRON] 1 FLAT Plastering NO-LUST-HAB-
"I" "Flat" "clean" "don't feel like it"
I don't feel like cleaning the apartment.

If an indirect object appears in the sentence, it is placed in front of the direct object in unmarked sentences.

subject indirect O. direct O. verb
[PRON] 1 [POSS] 1 FATHER LOAF 1 GEB- 3 [cl: bread]
"I" "my father" "Loaf" "I-give-him (-something-bread-shaped)"
I give this / some bread to my father.

Times ( tomorrow , next week ) are at the beginning of the sentence (as a discourse topic).

time indication subject indirect O. direct O. verb
YESTERDAY WIFE 3 [POSS] 1 SISTER 4 BOOK 3 GEB- 4 [cl: book]
"yesterday" "Woman" "my sister" "Book" "they-give-her (-something-book-shaped)"
Yesterday a woman gave my sister a book.

Sentence adverbs often appear at the beginning of a sentence.

Sentence adverb subject object verb
HOPE [PRON] 3 DOG PURCHASE-
"hopefully" "he she" "Dog" "to buy"
Hopefully he / she will buy a dog.

Adverbs of the verb, on the other hand, that can only be expressed manually (see aspect of manner), follow the verb as an extra sentence.

subject VERB ADVERBIAL SET
[POSS] 1 BOSS DANCE-, BEAUTIFUL
"my chef" "to dance" "beautiful"
My boss dances (and it's) nice.

Location information tends to be placed at the beginning of the sentence (after the time information).

time place subject object verb
YESTERDAY UNIVERSITY [LOCO] A [PRON] 1 MAN NICE GET TO KNOW
"yesterday" "University there" "I" "Man nice" "to get to know"
I met a nice man at university yesterday.

This follows the figure-ground principle, according to which smaller, more flexible speakers (figures) tend to stand after larger, more stable speakers (ground).

reason figure verb
FOREST A HOUSE STAND- in-A [cl: house]
"Forest" "House" "House-shaped-standing-there"
There is a house in the woods.

Question words usually appear at the end of a sentence after the verb.

subject "Main verb" "Modal verb" Question word
[PRON] 2 ORDER- WISH- WHAT
"you" "to order" "to wish" "What"
What would you like to order?
subject object "Main verb" "Modal verb" Question word
[PRON] 2 DGS LEARNING WISH- WHY
"you" "DGS" "learn" "to wish" "Why"
Why do you want to learn DGS?
subject object "Main verb" "Modal verb" Question word
[PRON] 2 SOCIAL SCIENCE STUDY BEGINNING- WHEN
"you" "Social sciences" "to study" "to begin" "when"
How long have you been studying social sciences?

Some signs with a negative meaning also tend to be at the end of a sentence.

subject object verb negation
[PRON] 1 [POSS] 2 LOVERS (R) GET TO KNOW NOT YET
"I" "your beloved)" "to get to know" "not yet"
I have not yet met your boyfriend / husband / wife.
subject "Main verb" "Modal verb" negation
[PRON] 1 ESS WISH- NOTHING
"I" "eat" "to wish" "Nothing"
I do not want to eat anything.

If the negative is not emphasized, it can also be in the expected position.

subject object "Main verb" "Modal verb"
[PRON] 1 NOTHING ESS WISH-
"I" "Nothing" "eat" "to wish"
I do not want to eat anything.

Determinators (articles, demonstrative pronouns , quantifiers, relative pronouns ) follow the noun.

noun Determinative
BOOK [DEM] A
"Book" "this"
the book / this book

Their function is to locate speakers in the sign space (allocation of spatial points). If spatial points are assigned using congruence verbs, determiners can always be deleted if they do not fulfill any other function (e.g. display of ownership, pluralization ). There is no difference between definite and indefinite articles.

Attributive adjectives immediately follow the noun.

noun adjective
BOOK NEW
"Book" "New"
a new book / the new book

The copula be there is not in DGS. Predicative adjectives are usually separated from the noun by a determinative .

noun Determinative adjective
BOOK [DEM] A NEW
"Book" "this" "New"
This book is new.

Possessive pronouns stand between the owner and the possession.

owner Possessive possession
MAN 3 [POSS] 3 AUTOMOBILE
"Man" "be" "Automobile"
the man's car

Here is an example of a longer but simple, unmarked sentence.

time place subject indirect O. direct O. "Main verb" "Modal verb" Question word
LAST WEEK [POSS] 1 FATHER 3 [POSS] 3 HOUSE [LOK] A [PRON] 2 [POSS] 1 NUT 4 MONEY 2 GEB- 4 WISH- WHY
"last week" "my father his house there" "you" "my mother" "Money" "you-give-her" "to wish" "Why"
Why did you want to give money to my mother at my father's house last week?
Marked sentences

Parts of sentences (with the exception of verbs) can be topicalized (moved to the beginning of the sentence). Parts of the sentence that are not in their unmarked position are marked with facial expressions.

Topic (object) subject verb
Eyebrows high Shaking the head
WOMAN [DEM] A [PRON] 1 MÖG-
"Woman this" "I" "dislike"
I don't like this woman.

Often a topic has no other role in the sentence. In this case it is a restriction that explains the scope of the meaning of the rest of the sentence. Compare the following three sentences.

subject object verb
[PRON] 1 ITALY LOVE-
"I" "Italian)" "love"
I love Italy.
Topic subject object verb
Eyebrows high
COUNTRY [PRON] 1 ITALY LOVE-
"Country" "I" "Italian)" "love"
My favorite country is Italy.
Topic subject object verb
Eyebrows high
EAT [PRON] 1 ITALY LOVE-
"Eat" "I" "Italian)" "love"
My favorite food is Italian.

Record types

The word order in question and command sentences does not differ from that in statements . For decision-making questions , the entire sentence is not marked manually with raised eyebrows and a head tilted slightly forward. If the subject is a personal pronoun , this is usually repeated at the end of the sentence (subject copy). For W questions (also: constituent questions, supplementary questions) there are a number of W question words in DGS (e.g. who , what , where , when , why ). W-question words are at the beginning or at the end of a sentence. In unmarked cases, the entire set of questions is marked by raised eyebrows. German Wie questions with a predicative adjective ( How long is your hair? ) Are not expressed as W questions, but as decision-making questions. W-questions can under certain circumstances require non-manual marking such as decision-making questions, e.g. to express courtesy, rhetorical questions or examination questions. Imperative sentences (instruction sentences) are marked by increased execution speed. Depending on the type of speech act (request, request, command), a non-manual marking is added to the manual.

Compound sentences

A multitude of sentence-connecting conjunctions are not expressed manually in DGS, such as the conditional if ... (then) , the comparative as ( the ... the ), the temporal as and during . The non-manual markings require strict serialization.

  • Conditional clauses : Antecedent ( if sentence)> consequence ( then sentence). The antecedent is marked by raised eyebrows, the consequence by a nod over the verb. Conditional sentences in the unrealis are additionally marked by mouth gestures / facial expressions.
  • Sentences of comparison : Basis of comparison> Comparison
    • Equality is expressed by the sign exactly like or - when comparing dimensions in space (height, width, depth, length) - by the sign space.
      PETER 1 BÄRD, GOOD, MARIA 2 2 EXACTLY AS 1 .
    • Comparatives and superlatives are expressed, among other things, by SASS classifiers, by the sign space, by verb marking for action type, by the sign SCHLAG ( surpass ) or by the signs MORE or MORE.
      PETER 1 BÄRD, GOOD, MARIA 2 2 STRIKE 1 .
    • Elatives are the most common forms of comparison. In contrast to the equality statements, the comparatives and superlatives, they are signed without a basis for comparison and are therefore not compound sentences in the actual sense.
  • Temporal clauses:
    • Prematurity / posteriority: Temporal Adjunktsatz > (BEFORE / AFTER)> law . The temporal adjunct clause is marked with raised eyebrows like topicalized clauses. The (optional) conjunctions BEFORE / AFTER can be inside or outside the marking. This results in a difference in the information structure of the sentence.
    • Simultaneity: Temporal adjunct clause> main clause. Two simultaneous actions are marked by posture, the temporal adjunct clause with a slight inclination to one side, the main clause with a slight inclination to the opposite side.
  • Relative clauses : The relative clause immediately follows the reference noun and is followed by a relative determinator. Relative clauses in DGS are generally restrictive. Usually noun phrases with relative connections are topicalized.
  • that- sentences ( sentence structure ): matrix sentence> constituent sentence (clause). The matrix sentence is separated from its constituent sentence by a short pause. No distinction is made here between (German) inflected that- sentences or infinitive sentences (I think I know him vs. I think I know him). In DGS, all verbs in sentences and compound sentences are always inflected.

German sign language in barrier-free websites

In order to make websites accessible to deaf and hard of hearing people in particular, film sequences with German sign language can be offered. Explanations in sign language are required for the homepage of a website of a public body. The BITV 2.0 specifies framework conditions for this: The performer should be depicted without shadows with easily recognizable facial expressions in front of a static background. The dark, monochrome clothing, the hands and the background should be in contrast to each other. The film sequence should not be less than 320 × 240 pixels and 25 frames per second and should be downloadable as a file. It is to be identified by the logo for the German sign language.

See also

literature

  • Daniela Happ, Marc-Oliver Vorköper: German Sign Language: A textbook and workbook . Fachhochschulverlag, Frankfurt am Main 2006, ISBN 3-936065-76-4
  • Helen Leuninger: Sign languages: structure, acquisition, use . Buske, Hamburg 2005, ISBN 3-87548-353-7
  • Chrissostomos Papaspyrou, Alexander von Meyenn, Michaela Matthaei, Bettina Herrmann: Grammar of German Sign Language from the perspective of deaf experts . Incl. a CD-ROM. Signum Verlag, Seedorf 2008, ISBN 978-3-936675-21-4

Tutorials

Web links

Commons : German Sign Language  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Archived copy ( Memento of the original from January 21, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.gouvernement.lu
  2. ^ Fabian Bross & Daniel Hole: Scope-taking strategies in German Sign Language . In: Glossa. A Journal of General Linguistics, 2 (1): 76. 1-30
  3. ↑ The international differences in sign language - an interview with university lecturer Liona Paulus. In: adhibeo. The science blog of the Fresenius University of Applied Sciences. December 14, 2017, accessed on November 11, 2019 (German).
  4. ↑ Chapter 18: Emerging sign languages . In: Oxford Handbook of Deaf Studies, Language, and Education (PDF), Volume vol. 2, Oxford University Press , New York 2010, ISBN 978-0-19-539003-2 , OCLC 779907637 .
  5. ↑ Bross, F. (2020): Object marking in German Sign Language (Deutsche Gebärdenssprache): Differential object marking and object shift in the visual modality . In: Glossa. A Journal of General Linguistics, 5 (1), 63.
  6. ↑ Official link from Appendix 2, Part 1, Number 4 of the BITV 2.0: http://www.dgs-filme.de/GWHomepage/dgslogo_ls.htm