Iradi Sign Language

Iradi Sign Language (Iradi: Irad ishara tili, ISL) is the sign language of the deaf community of Irad, with about 4,000 signers.^[1]

History

ISL began in the girls' school for the deaf that the women's branch of the Order of St. Janyl the Hermit opened in Iyık Janyl in 1926. The sisters built a vocabulary of signs from church gestures: the sign for "God" is the sign of the cross, and the sign for "Janyl" is a hand drawing the elechek headdress. The school was closed in 1937 and reopened in Talas in 1949 as the state Deaf Boarding School No. 7, which taught Russian Sign Language and Cyrillic finger-spelling, so older signers mix the two. Since 1993 the school has taught ISL with Latin finger-spelling.^[1]

Public use

The interpreter Damira Mamyt (born 1970), a hearing child of deaf parents, became a familiar face in 2020, when she signed beside Lieutenant Governor Aidar Maksat at his daily briefings during the COVID-19 pandemic. IradOne has signed OneNews at Eight since 2021.^[2]

The Deaf Society of Irad (1993) asks for ISL to be recognized in the Language and Education Reform Act; the Mejlis has not taken up the request.^[2]

References

1. ^ Deaf Society of Irad (2018). Our Hands: A History of Iradi Sign Language. Talas.
2. ^ Talas Herald (2021). 'The briefing's other face: Damira Mamyt.' Talas.