Ukrainian Sign Language
PrintPrimary tabs
A language of Ukraine
54,500 (2008 WFD). Approximately 0.1% of total population. Other estimates: 43,000 registered Ukrainian nationals with hearing impairments (2015 Ukrainian Society of the Deaf); 223,000 deaf (2016 IMB).
Scattered.
5 (Developing). Recognized language (2005, Law No. 2961–IV (06.10.2005)), for use in education (2008 WFD).
High intelligibility with Russian SL [rsl]; distinguished primarily on sociolinguistic factors and some dialectal differences. Relatively high lexical similarity to sign languages in Moldova [vsi] and Russia [rsl] (Bickford 2005); signs in Ukraine tend to be more similar to older signs in Russia (2020 N. Andrianova).
One-handed fingerspelling (Cyrillic script).
Vigorous. Used by all. Some also use Ukrainian [ukr], primarily written.
Dictionary. Agency: Ukrainian Society of the Deaf (USD, UTOG).
Sometimes called ‘Russian Sign Language’, to which it is closely related but diverging (2020 N. Andrianova). 39 preschools and 61 secondary schools for the deaf, most of which emphasize oral proficiency in Ukrainian (2015 Ukrainian Society of the Deaf), although some teach Ukrainian SL (2020 A. Fairchild). 152 deaf students in universities (2010 Kyiv Post). Sign language interpretation in a few universities and some television news sources (2020 A. Fairchild). Deaf associations, athletic organizations. Christian.