Rusakovich I. - Linguistic analysis of the belarusian sign language in the context of improvement of educational policy and system

Contact: Rusakovich Irina, PhD of pedagogy, Associate professor of correction and development technologies department, Institute of inclusive education of Belarusian State Pedagogical University, Candidate of pedagogical sciences, associate professor, Minsk, Belarus. Scientific interests: Sign language as a means of teaching, educating and developing of children with hearing impairment; linguistic analysis of sign language; verbal and sign bilingualism (bilingualism); technologies for sign language training of hearing and deaf schoolchildren and students; intercultural communication of microsociation of deaf students and macrosocium of hearing students;
professional and personal self-realisation of persons with hearing impairment.

The linguistic system of sign language is a subject of scientific research in many countries of the world. This is a young and promising branch of linguistics, philology, sociology, neurolinguistics, psychology of the deaf and correctional pedagogy. It is proved that sign language is a complete linguistic system. At the same time, the grammar of sign language, as an area in which the specificity of
each language is most clearly, is among the little studied. A categorical analysis of sign language linguistics in the context of protolanguage – verbal language – sign language is of interest for study. A description of its objective laws, the study of the kinetic (visual-spatial) substance of a sign from the standpoint of traditional linguistics is not possible. It should be approached taking into account the developments of structural linguistics (Yu.D. Apresyan, D. Morris, V. Stokku and others) and new data from the
scientific study of sign language as a sign system (A. Kibrik, V.I. Kimmelman, M. Jokinen, O. Saks and others).
New opportunities for studying sign language as a linguistic system are opening up in connection with the presentation of sign languages in the international educational project "Spread the Sign" (and Belarus’s participation in it since 2016). Belarusian sign language has all the characteristics of a complete sign system. It has a visual-spatial nature, features of vocabulary and grammar, the specifics of the construction of the utterance, etymology and universal signs. Belarusian sign language reflects the ability to "grammatize space", materializes in the gesture-logical thinking of its users. Understanding the linguistic features of sign language and its differences from verbal (sound) facilitates the path to mastering verbal speech in deaf students. Mastery of sign language by teachers provides a conscious and competent application of its correctional and educational potential, as well as productive communication
with deaf participants in the educational process.

Key words: national sign language; linguistic features; education; hearing and deaf students.