Slovenski znakovni jezik skozi čas
Slovenian sign language through time

Summary/Abstract: The paper traces the historical development of sign language in relation to teaching the deaf in the educational process. The first people to have used sign language in teaching deaf children and communicating with them in Slovenia were the teachers Vid Rižnar and Valentin Stanič. However, such teaching died out immediately after the decision was taken to ban sign language in institutes for the deaf throughout Europe. This resulted in the predominance of the assumption that sign language is an “inferior” or “false” language of the deaf as compared to the spoken language, which marked an entire generation of the deaf and led to a significant decline in the extent of the development and use of sign language. Despite the prohibition and stigmatisation, the deaf community persisted in using sign language, although marginally. Sign language was no longer established as the first and official language of the deaf, serving only as a means of communication. The article goes on to examine the development of Slovenian sign language in the education of the deaf and its importance for the deaf community. Until now, there have been reservations about the use of this language in the public and private lives of deaf people who are identified as users of sign language regardless of their use of speech with the help of hearing aids. We believe that the history of use and the development of sign language have not been explored sufficiently and that the Slovenian public is not sufficiently aware of the use of sign language as a very important linguistic right for the deaf individual as part of fundamental human rights.

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