Miles, M. 2009-06. "Deaf People, Sign Language and Communication, in Ottoman and Modern Turkey: Observations and Excerpts from 1300 to 2009. From sources in English, French, German, Greek, Italian, Latin and Turkish, with introduction and some annotation." Internet publication URL: www.independentliving.org/miles200907.html Sources and texts are introduced and quoted, identifying deaf men and women through more than 700 years of Turkish history, and sign language through 500 years, continuing to the present. DEAF PEOPLE, SIGN LANGUAGE & COMMUNICATION, IN OTTOMAN & MODERN TURKEY: Observations and Excerpts from 1300 to 2009. From sources in English, French, German, Greek, Italian, Latin and Turkish, with introduction and some annotation. M Miles. West Midlands, UK. E-mail: [email protected] Revised Version 5.02 [July 2009] CONTENTS OVERVIEW & GUIDE Quick Tour ONLINE GRAPHICS 1.0 INTRODUCTION 1.1 Some Strong Cautions 1.2 'Deaf'? 'Mute'? 1.3 Sign Language History and Scepticism 1.4 Deaf people (640 - 1928), Names and Dates 1.5 Appreciation 2.0 TECHNICAL NOTES ON QUOTATIONS 2.1 Notes on translation, transliteration 2.2 *Respecting Copyright* 3.0 EARLIER POINTS (c. 1250 BC to 1295 CE) 4.0 'OTTOMAN' DEAF & MUTE QUOTATIONS and NOTES 4.1 1300 - 1469 4.2 1470s - 1590s 4.3 1600 - 1699 4.4 1700 - 1910s 4.5 Turkish Republic 1920s - 2003 4.6 Recent Work, in date order 5.0 REFERENCES: (BY AUTHOR, ALPHABETICALLY) OVERVIEW and GUIDE This collection offers many sources and textual excerpts, with some annotation and discussion, identifying deaf men and women through more than 700 years of Turkish history, and sign language through 500 years, up to the present. Most of the excerpts are situated in the regions of Istanbul and Edirne between 1300 and the 1920s, when 'deaf- mute' people worked at the court of the Ottoman sultans. In the past 150 years some other cities of the Ottoman Empire, and of modern Turkey, come into focus. Evidence appears for deaf servants developing a Sign Language probably from the late 15th century onward, and teaching it to younger deaf people, and also to some hearing people. Sign language is seen becoming established in some households, harems and working places of successive sultans, viziers and minor court officials. Deaf people who had retired from service and were living in the cities and towns also returned for social contact with the deaf people currently serving the Ottoman court. The most recent half century has seen more significant development of formal education for deaf children, and the beginnings of a rediscovery and official recognition of the value of sign language. The strengths, weaknesses and contradictions of different kinds of evidence are scrutinised and discussed, and some popular myths are seen to lack any solid basis. *Some Ways To Use This Collection* People with a 'Visual' Priority, who want to see some pictures, images, colour and costumes, can start straight away by hitting the links in the Online Graphics, which are grouped all together. The rest of the material is all textual, in several languages. Historical Researchers may wish to study first the Introduction and the Technical Notes, to check the likely quality of the texts presented. They may be interested mainly in texts from a particular historical period: sections 3.0 and 4.0 appear approximately in date order, so they can find items in the period of choice. Or they may wish to go straight to the References, to see whether there are any new sources there. Some Deaf people and Sign Linguists, also Teachers of many subjects, may like a Quick Tour around some of the 'best bits' on deaf people and sign language. Then they can decide whether to go back and start at the beginning, or read the surrounding context of a particular historical period. To pick out the 'best bits' is not at all easy, because people have their own preferences about where to start, when looking at a jigsaw puzzle; and these pieces are in several languages and spaced out across 500 years. Everyone is likely to construct a different picture. One quick tour around the big picture can be made with the following links: Quick Tour 1470s, Koçu; 1559, Lorichs; 1599, Dallam; 1608, Bon; 1630s, Evliya; 1660s, Bobovius; [1750s?], Peirce; 1789, Dikici; 1829, Slade; 1870s, Gaden; 1909-10, Silent Worker (two similar items); Roe, 1917 1930s-1950s, Gök; 2003, Yüksel. 2 Women... are represented much less often than men in the texts and illustrations offered in this collection, though they are sometimes seen in the background. This is a common problem with historical records across the world. Women do appear in the links shown above to 1660s Bobovius, [1750s?], Peirce, 1789, Dikici. In the modern era, several of the early foreign teachers of deaf children were women (see below e.g. 1914, Greene; 1915, Gage, 1951-1953, Girgin. One modern reference, 2003, Yüksel shows deaf women and men serving in Turkey's National Assembly in the 21st century. Adventurers into Deep History may wish to plunge in to the evidence for deaf people among the Hittites around 1250 BC, in the central region of Turkey. Some Online Graphics of the Ottoman 'Deaf Mutes' Please take care with the graphic illustrations that are found at the following links. Most of them have some copyright restriction on their use. They can be viewed by clicking on the links. But do not copy any pictures onto your blog, or your website, without first checking the legal position! 1. Some illustrations of deaf people in full uniform, at the Ottoman court: http://www.baarnhielm.net/~gorbaa/draktbok/eng/35.htm 'Imperial mute', from Ralamb Costume Book, no. 35 http://digitalgallery.nypl.org/ Search for: 1239191 Dilsis (picture can be enlarged) http://www.baarnhielm.net/~gorbaa/draktbok/eng/94.htm Deaf messenger. Ralamb Costume Book, no. 94 http://www.potaforum.com/showthread.php?t=19206 "Saray dili, dilsiz dili..." A deaf mute man in costume. From Gallica, e.g. number 19 in a set of 21 palace photos: http://gallica.bnf.fr/ Select 'Advanced search' For 'Text', enter: Muet de Palais Select Document type: Image Search through to No. 19 of "Costumes Turcs" Enlarge to "Full Screen" 2. The deaf school building, Istanbul, in the 1890s. http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/cph.3b28781 (Click to enlarge) 3. Some images of deaf-mute people in Turkey at various times may be found by search of Google "Images". Some books also have pictures or drawings of costumes and their users. For example Emin Cenkmen (1948) Osmanli Sarayi ve Kiyafetleri, Türkiye Yayinevi, pp. 117, 208-215, 298, (see also end-page with corrections), compiles information (in Turkish) from various sources, and drawings of ornamental court costumes and equipment worn by 'bizeban' and 'dilsiz' and also dwarfs, among the 3 members of the Seferli Oda. Similarly, see Baykal (1953, pp. 24 {caption}, 26 {ftn. 5}, 50, 62-65). 1.0 INTRODUCTION Evidence is shown below of deaf and/or 'mute' people in Ottoman and modern Turkish history, with a major focus on the employment of trained deaf(-mute) people at the Ottoman court probably from the 1470s onward, certainly from the mid-16th century. Specific evidence is given for the development of a complex system of signed communication (which may be called 'Ottoman Sign Language'), which was formally taught by experienced deaf users to younger deaf people, at a specific location in the Topkapi Palace, as well as being less formally 'handed on' in everyday use. That language was also learnt and used by some hearing courtiers and some Sultans, in the vicinity of Istanbul, Edirne, and some other major seats of government, through a period of four to five hundred years. Sign languages of deaf people also had some use in other major cities of the Ottoman empire. There is evidence for the adoption of the Ottoman Sign Language by hearing users because of its practical usefulness, and the perpetuation of the Ottoman Sign Language over several centuries. At present, no historical parallel is known, anywhere in the world, for a sign language continuing through five hundred years or more (Zeshan 2006). Yet the continuation of Ottoman Sign Language might actually reflect some of the ill-defined and incremental home- and street- level processes that are much more widespread, in the 'handing-on' of signed communication to the next generation, wherever there have been large urban or suburban populations among whom were significant numbers of people born deaf or who lost their hearing early in life. One reason for producing this collection is that an earlier journal article (Miles 2000a) that is also open online, "Signing in the Seraglio", concentrated on the period between 1500 and 1700, and may inadvertently have given the impression that the Ottoman Sign Language was confined to that period, and was used only in the palaces at Istanbul. That impression is incorrect, as will be seen in the texts shown below. A further reason is that deaf people and sign linguists would like to know whether Ottoman Sign Language (OSL) was the historical forerunner of 'Türk Isaret Dili' (Turkish Sign Language) as used now. This collection cannot provide a final answer to that, but it will certainly provide background material on which interested people may make up their minds. The compiler's own view, as the evidence began to accumulate year upon year, is that the question may now be reversed: can anyone show evidence that TID/TSL is not a direct descendant of OSL? Ottoman SL can now be shown to have had an impact beyond the confines of a few royal palaces, and it was a language with a lot of prestige attached.