Ottoman Sign Language
| Ottoman Sign Language | |
|---|---|
| Seraglio Sign Language | |
| Harem Sign Language | |
| Native to | Turkey |
| Region | Istanbul |
| Era | c. 16th–18th centuries |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | None (mis) |
Ottoman Sign Language, also known as Seraglio Sign Language or Harem Sign Language, was a deaf sign language of the Ottoman court in Istanbul. Nothing is known of it directly, but it is reported that it could communicate ideas of any complexity.
In 16th and 17th centuries, deaf pages, doormen, and executioners were valued for their ability to communicate silently, for their inability to overhear sensitive information at secret negotiations, and for the difficulty outsiders had in communicating with them or bribing them. At court, silence was at a premium, and several sultans preferred that sign language be used in their presence; they were able to jest with them in a way that would be unseemlily familiar in Turkish. Osman II (r. 1618–1622) was perhaps the first sultan to learn to sign, and many of the hearing of his court followed his lead. At their height, there may have been several hundred deaf courtiers at any one time.
It is not known whether Ottoman Sign Language was ancestral to modern Turkish Sign Language, as no signs were recorded.[1]
References
- ^ Turkish Sign Language (TİD) General Info, Dr. Aslı Özyürek, Koç University website, accessed 2011-10-06
External links
- M. Miles, 2000, Signing in the Seraglio: mutes, dwarfs and jestures at the Ottoman Court 1500–1700 Reprinted from "Disability and Society"
Bibliography
- Nicholas Mirzoeff, 1995, "Framed: the deaf in the harem". In Terry, Jennifer, and Jacqueline Urla, Deviant bodies: critical perspectives on difference in science and popular culture. Indiana University Press, p.49–77.
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