Romanian Sign Language, or „limbaj mimico-gestual” as the Romanian Law defines it. No matter how we call it, and despite the fact that there are some regional differences in signs and the way of using them, the Romanian Sign Language is only one. More precisely, it is a full language, having its own structure, vocabulary, grammar rules and so on, and it is the language used by the Romanian Deaf communities.
There are different types of hearing impaired people. Some people can`t hear at all, others are able to hear more or less. The degree of the hearing loss, the moment of the hearing loss (from birth, during childhood or as an adult) as well as the environment where one lives (together with hearing people and/or with other Deaf persons) influences one`s language as well as the associated cultural elements.
For most Romanian Deaf people, Romanian Sign Language is their mother tongue, and not Romanian, as one might think. The degree of understanding and the ability to use spoken Romanian differs a lot from one Deaf person to another. Some Deaf people have limited or reduced abilities of using Romanian (writing, reading, lip reading, speaking), while other Deaf people have advanced or proficient Romanian abilities. Thus, from a cultural point of view, we refer to the members of this community as „Deaf” or „hearing impaired persons”, the term „deaf-mute” being both incorrect and offensive.
Sign language is mainly composed of signs (performed with one or both hands), non-manual features (facial expressions, lip, head or shoulders movement) and the rules for using and combining all these (the equivalent of grammar and syntax rules). In the same time, Sign Language is strongly connected to the culture, conventions and norms of the community that uses it.
Even though it appeared in Romania and is used here, Romanian Sign Language and the Romanian language have very few things in common. Besides the fact that there is no 100% correspondence between words and signs, the word/sign order and the grammar differ greatly. However, what the two languages have in common is the alphabet. For each letter of the Romanian alphabet there is a corresponding sign, thus making it possible to visually spell Romanian words. This method is not a sign language per se and does not guarantee the understanding because it is not a form of communication, but merely a tool for spelling words from other languages.
Romanian Sign Language is the mother tongue for many Deaf people – and sometimes for their hearing children. It represents a very strong cultural element within the community, one that brings the feeling of pride, identity and community belonging. This is the reason why the members of this community call themselves „Deaf” (focusing on cultural belonging), the term of „hearing impaired” (that focuses on the medical status) being a far more general one.
