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REGINA TOOM stonia is situated on the south coast of the Baltic Sea, and has a territory of 45,000 square kilometers. The population is 1.5 million, 60 percent of whom are indigenous Estonians. The number of deaf people is over 1,400, and 20 percent of them were born deaf. It is estimated that 10,000 people directly and continuously interact with deaf people, although the number of people who use and understand Estonian Sign Language (ESL), on at least an elementary level, is approximately 2,000. The first purposeful investigation of ESL was a jOint undertaking by Tartu University and the Estonian Union of the Deaf (EUD), who also financed the project in 1988. Currently, there is only one full-time researcher, the author of this report. This situation is a direct consequence of the language policy that has prevailed in the Soviet Union for decades (and that was actively implemented in Estonia also). The leading incentive of the language policy is to promote the Russian language and lessen attention to the national minorities and the development of their languages. As a result, many languages of the national minorities have become extinct or are on the verge of extinction . Because the remaining languages are also threatened, the republics have been forced to amend their constitutions to defend their languages. For example, the languages of the Baltic republics of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania were declared languages and a law was adopted to defend them. Against this nonsupportive background it is not surprising that many linguists do not recognize sign languages at all. Unfortunately, even the central body of the deaf in Estonia, the EUD, has not agreed upon a policy to defend and develop ESL. Despite all efforts to curtail its existence, ESL doubtlessly exists. However, researchers have not yet managed to establish exactly and reliably its history and development. Some data reveal that ESL began to be used only at the beginning of this century. But there are also data that show that the starting point of ESL may be traced to the nineteenth or possibly the eighteenth century. Although we lack reliable data about the end of the last century and about earlier periods, it appears that ESL developed in an unorganized way among the people. It is quite probable that in Estonian schools for the deaf, the first of which was established in 1866, ESL was neither taught nor allowed to be used. A significant impact on the development of ESL is being made by the body of interpreters who use it. In Estonia there are six officially recognized interpreters employed by the EUD. All six are female, most of them being hearing children of deaf parents; their education in the use of ESL has been achieved through self-instruction. Two of 380 THE DEAF WAY ~ The Study of Sign Language in Society them have attended short courses at the Russian Union of the Deaf in Moscow, but the training was on an elementary level and based on Russian Sign Language, which differs considerably from ESL. Although our interpreters have tried to make ESL more uniform, substantial differences are still apparent in their use of the language. Also of great importance are their levels of education. Among the six interpreters, only one has received higher education, two have a secondary (eleven years) education, two have eight years of schooling, and one has less than eight years of schooling. The problem of interpreters' training is also important for the reason that in Estonia they do more than interpret. They are needed to assist deaf people with business management and in communicating with courts, doctors, the military, schools, employment, etc. Although interpreters are expected to fulfill the role of secretary or consultant, their varying levels of competence often result in inadequate advice or wrong interpretations , which create misunderstandings and conflicts. This situation is further aggravated because although we have six full-time interpreters, they are distributed among three regions, each one assigned to a fixed service area. A deaf person ideally can choose between the two interpreters in the region, but often he or she lacks any choice. On the basis of our present knowledge it can be asserted that in Estonia two sign languages have been developed: Estonian Sign Language and Estonian Pidgin Sign Language. The former is a specific sign language with regularities and grammar. The majority of its users are hereditarily deaf people. At this time it cannot be determined whether Estonian Sign Language...

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