Estonian Sign Language

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Estonian Sign Language
ESL
Native to	Estonia
Native speakers	(no estimate available) 4,500 users, deaf and hearing (1998)^[1]
Language family	influenced by Russian Sign
Language codes
ISO 639-3	`eso`

Estonian Sign Language (ESL, Estonian: Eesti viipekeel) is the national sign language of Estonia. In 1998 there were about 4,500 signers out of a deaf population of 2000 and a hearing-impaired population ten times that number. It is widespread in the cities of Tallinn and Pärnu among deaf ethnic Estonians; deaf Russian Estonians in Tallinn use Russian Sign Language, Russians outside Tallinn tend to use a Russian–Estonian Sign Language pidgin, or may be bilingual. In its formative stages, Estonian Sign Language was influenced by Russian and Finnish Sign Language; for example, the ESL sign for 'butterfly' developed from the Finnish sign for 'bird'. There are several dialects, the most archaic of which is the Pärnu variety.

Like other sign languages, ESL is influenced by the local oral language. For instance, some signs are based on fingerspelling the first letter of an Estonian word, as in the sign for restoran 'restaurant'.

Instruction for parents of deaf children is available in Tallinn. Teaching and research began in 1990 at Tartu University.

Sign language

By region^[a]

Sign languages by region

Australia	Australia: Auslan, Warlpiri, Australian Aboriginal Hawaii New Zealand Solomon Islands: Rennellese

Asia	Chinese Philippine Indonesia: Indonesian, Kata Kolok (Benkala, Balinese) Indo-Pakistani Israel: Al-Sayyid Bedouin, Israeli Japanese Korean Malaysia: Malaysian, Penang, Selangor Mongolian Nepal: Ghandruk, Jhankot, Jumla, Nepalese Persian Saudi Arabia: Saudi Singapore Sri Lankan Taiwanese Thailand: Ban Khor, Thai Vietnamese

Africa	Algerian Ghana: Adamorobe Kenyan Mali: Tebul Nigeria: Bura, Hausa Senegal: Mbour Somalia & Djibouti: Somali South African Tanzanian Ugandan Zambian

Europe	Armenian Austrian Belgium: Flemish, French Belgian British Croatian Danish Dutch Estonian Finnish France: Lyons, French German Greek Hungarian Icelandic Irish Italian Kosovar Lithuanian Macedonian Northern Ireland Norwegian Polish Portuguese Russian Slovenian Spain: Catalan, Spanish, Valencian Swedish Swiss Turkish

North America	Canada: Maritime, Providence Island, Quebec, Inuit Mexico: Mayan, Mexican, Tijuana United States: American, Plains Indian, Plateau

South America	Argentine Bolivian Brasil: Brazilian, Ka'apor Chilean Colombian Ecuadorian Guatemalan: Guatemalan, Mayan Honduras Nicaraguan Paraguayan Peruvian Salvadoran Uruguayan Venezuelan

International	BANZSL International Sign (Gestuno) Makaton Monastic

Language families^[a]

Australian Aboriginal (List)
British (List)
Danish (List)
French (List)
German (List)
Japanese (List)
Kenyan (List)
Swedish (List)
Arab (List)
Isolates (List)

American Sign Language

Extinct sign languages

Martha's Vineyard
Old French
Old Kent
Rennellese (nearly)
Maritime (nearly)
Hawaiʻi (nearly)

Linguistics

Fingerspelling

Writing

Language contact

Media

Films (list)
Television programs (list)

Persons

Organisations

Miscellaneous

^a Sign-language names reflect the region of origin. Natural sign languages are not related to the spoken language used in the same region. For example, French Sign Language originated in France, but is not related to French.

External links

References

↑ Estonian Sign Language reference at Ethnologue (17th ed., 2013)

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