Turkish Sign Language Analysis: Communication and Grammar

Communication can be defined as conveying a message between source and target, transferring information from an individual to other people, and exchanging all types of meaning such as knowledge, idea and emotion. Verbal communication based on hearing and speaking is predominantly used among people. However, it is seen that the hearing-impaired individuals either cannot use this communication system or can use it in a limited way as a result of having hearing loss. Hearing-impaired individuals use the techniques such as sign language, writing method and lip-reading which are different from verbal communication in order to meet their communication needs. They mostly use sign language consists of signs, finger alphabet, gestures and facial expressions among themselves. They establish communication with hearing people by writing, this method is not generally preferred since it is slow. In this study, the topics of “the communication methods used in Turkish Sign Language (TSL)” and “TSL grammar” are taken into consideration. The topics of signs, finger alphabet, saying with mouth movements, gestures and facial expressions were examined as the methods used in communication. The topics of sign derivation, signs consist of counterpart signs, synonym and antonym signs, compound signs, affixes used in TSL and syntax were examined as grammatical issues and examples related to these were demonstrated on 3D model