Sign Language of Turkey

[Ulrike Zeshan]

Dear all,

for our research purposes we call the sign language 'T ÿÿ k Isaret Dili'
(abbreviation TID). I think a Turkish abbreviation is preferable to an
English-based one both for practical reasons (this abbreviation does
not conflict with other English-based ones) and because we are in
Turkey after all.

The signers call their language SIGN or TURKEY SIGN (note that the sign
for SIGN here is different from the sign for SIGN in other countries!)
The sign (SPOKEN-)LANGUAGE is only used to refer to spoken languages,
not sign languages.

Note that there is a difference in Turkish between 'T ÿÿ k' and 'T ÿÿ kce'.
The latter refers to the Turkish language while the former refers to
anything 'Turkish, in/of Turkey, belonging to the Turks' (right,
Engin?). Using T ÿÿ k rather than T ÿÿ kce reflects the fact that TID is
independent from spoken Turkish, so that while it belongs to Turkey and
the Turks (T ÿÿ k), it is independent of the Turkish spoken language.

Ulrike Zeshan



--- Inge Zwitserlood <inge.zwitserlood at LET.UU.NL> wrote:
> Question: Since the Deaf in Turkey call their language  ð  saret dili,
> why is
> the abbreviation not USD? This would not be in the way of any sign
> language
> for which SL is used in the abbreviation.
> Best,
> Inge Zwitserlood


=====
Dr. Ulrike Zeshan
Research Centre for Linguistic Typology
Institute for Advanced Study
La Trobe University VIC 3086, Australia
ph.: +61-3-94673084, fax: +61-3-94673053
e-mail: u.zeshan at latrobe.edu.au, ulrike_zeshan at yahoo.com

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