The article is written in the tradition of Brent Berlin and Paul Kay’s theory of basic color terms. According to this theory there is a universal inventory of eleven basic color categories from which the basic color terms of any given language are always drawn. The number of basic color terms varies from 2 to 11 and in a language having a fully developed color system there are eleven basic color terms: white, black, red, green, yellow, blue, brown, purple, pink, orange and gray . The studies about basic color terms in sign languages show that lexicalization of basic color terms in sign languages follows the same pattern found in spoken languages. The current study is the first close study on the color terminology in Estonian Sign Language. The survey was carried out in summer 2005 and consisted of three tasks, following Davies and Corbett’s field method: the list task, the City University color vision test and the color-naming task. Fifty ESL users from different parts of Estonia were interviewed for the study. The collected data shows that the BCT hierarchy is clearly displayed in Estonian Sign Language and it may be concluded that Estonian Sign Language is a Stage VII language and has nine basic color terms: black , white , red , yellow , green , blue , gray , brown and pink / purple .
In this paper we compare five Finno-Ugric languages – Estonian, Finnish, Hungarian, Udmurt and Komi-Zyrian – and the Estonian Sign Language (unclassified) in different aspects: established basic colour terms, the proportion of basic colour terms and different colour terms in the collected word-corpora, the cognitive salience index values in the list task and the number of dominant colour tiles in the colour naming task. The data was collected, using the field method of Davies and Corbett, from all languages under consideration, providing a distinctive foundation for linguistic comparison. We argue that Finno-Ugric languages seem to possess relatively large colour vocabularies, especially due to their rich variety of word-formation types, e.g. the composition of compound words. All of the languages under consideration have developed to Stage VI or VII, possessing 7 to 11 lexicalised basic colour terms. The cognitive salience index helps to distinguish primary and secondary basic colour terms, showing certain comprehensive patterns which are similar to Russian and English.
Abstract. Estonian Sign Language (ESL) is the native language for approximately 1,500 Estonian Deaf people. Like other sign languages, ESL has no written form. In the history of ESL research, different transcription systems have been used. The system introduced here is the amended version of the transcription system first presented in 2006. The structure of the transcription system follows the example of W. Stokoe's notation system and its expansions. Phonemes of Estonian Sign Language are introduced and symbols for 36 hand forms, 27 locations, and 20 different movements are presented. All symbols are easy to use with any computer program. For the detailed transcription of the signs, symbols for the palm and finger orientation as well as the relationship between the two hands are given. The general algorithm proposed here for sign transcription follows the structure of HamNoSys, notating hand form first, followed by internal movement of the hand, palm and finger orientation, location and movement.
Estonian Sign Language (EVK) is a small language used by approximately 1,400-1,500 deaf people in Estonia, inhabited by 1.3 million people. EVK research only started in late 1980s and since 1994 EVK has also been used as a primary language in deaf education. Starting from 2007 EVK is a legally recognised language in Estonia, enacted by the Language Act, which defines EVK as an independent language and signed Estonian as a mode of the Estonian language (Wheatley and Pabsch 2012: 55). Considering historical relationships, it may be assumed that EVK has probably been influenced by German and Russian traditions in deaf education and by Russian Sign Language, which, in turn, on the basis of historical knowledge, is believed to be connected to French Sign Language (LSF) and ASL (Zeshan 2005: 559). The evolution of EVK is related to the establishment of the first deaf school in 1866 in Vändra, Estonia. Although, following the German tradition, oral teaching method was used in the school, signing in student communication was also supported. Therefore, bringing together deaf students from all over Estonia and giving them the possibility to communicate created a perfect environment for EVK to develop. During the Soviet era (1940-1991) deaf education was mostly influenced by the Russian tradition, and communication between deaf communities in Estonia and Russia, as well as other member states of the Soviet Union was strongly supported by mutual visits and cooperation. Together with the increase of the Russian population in Estonia in general, also the number of Russian deaf people living in Estonia increased. Although currently most of the Russian deaf children living in Estonia attend Estonian schools, it is estimated that based on the total number of Russian population in Estonia (340 000 people in 2012), there are approximately 300-400 Russian deaf people living in Estonia, being part of the Estonian deaf community but using also Russian SL. A comparison of the EVK lexicon with the Russian SL lexicon, according to Swadesh's 200-word list, shows that 61% of the signs are identical in these
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