Austrian Sign Language (, ÃÂGS) is the sign language used by the Austrian Deaf communityâÂÂapproximately 10,000 people (see Krausneker 2006).
ÃÂGS and Hungarian Sign Language seem to be related for historical reasons (First School for the Deaf in Vienna), but HSL forms a cluster with neighboring languages rather than with ÃÂGS. Although there are no detailed studies of the extent of relatedness, ÃÂGS shares aspects of its grammar with German Sign Language and Swiss Sign Language, while the vocabulary differs (see Skant et al. 2002); Wittmann (1991) places it in the French Sign Language family).
Linguistic research on ÃÂGS started in the 1990s and is primarily conducted at the University of Klagenfurt and University of Graz. The Alpen-Adria-Universität Klagenfurt (AAU) worked on the "Deaf learning" project (September 1, 2015 â August 31, 2018) financed under Erasmus+ as a cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices, strategic Partnerships for adult education aimed at deaf adults with Austrian Sign Language as their first natural language and the German written language as their second language with the aim of raising the level of literacy. The program was expanded by Eramus+ after its completion to promote achieving higher social, educational and financial positions through better access to the written language proficiency with the "Deaf language awareness" project (September 1, 2018 â July 7, 2021) by developing online courses for independent learning in ÃÂGS and written German text.
After a 15-year effort by the Deaf community, ÃÂGS was legally recognized by the Austrian Parliament on September 1, 2005.
ÃÂGS possess hundred of signs, of which 26 signs represent single letters similar to the basic written German alphabet, 3 signs represent letter-diacritic combinations (ÃÂ/ä, ÃÂ/ö, ÃÂ/ü) using the umlaut and 1 sign represents the German "sch" (trigraph).
The Austrian Deaf community is represented by the Austrian Federation of the Deaf (the ÃÂsterreichischer Gehörlosenbund).
There is one nationwide association for professional interpreters of ÃÂGS.