Croatian Sign Language (, HZJDiane Brentari, Sign Languages, Cambridge University Press, 2010. (p.xix)Herbert L. Colston, Albert N. Katz; Figurative language comprehension, Routledge, 2005. (p.316)) is a sign language of the deaf community in Croatia.Croatian Sign Language, EthnologueZakon o uporabi znakovnog jezika u Bosnia i Hercegovini It has in the past been regarded as a dialect of Yugoslav Sign Language, although the dialectical diversity of the former Yugoslavia has not been assessed.Bickford, J. Albert (2005) The Signed Languages of Eastern Europe, archived on Wayback Machine, 5 March 2016
The first school for the deaf in Croatia was formed in Zagreb in 1885.Croatia profile , The European Union of the Deaf The Sign Language and Deaf Culture conference was held in Zagreb, Croatia from May 3–5, 2001.Cynthia J. Kellett Bidoli, Elana Ochse; English in International Deaf Communication, Peter Lang, 2008. (p.347) In 2004, a project to establish a grammar of HZJ was started by researchers at Purdue University and the University of Zagreb.A Basic Grammar of Croatian Sign Language
By law Croatian Radiotelevision is to promote the translation of programs into HZJ. Major centres of education in HZJ are found in Zagreb, Split, Rijeka, and Osijek.
Organizations for the deaf in Croatia include the Croatian Association of Deafblind Persons DODIR, which was established in 1994.
The basic word order in HZJ is subject–verb–object (SVO), as it is in spoken Croatian.Information status and word order in Croatian Sign Language, Clinical Linguistics & Phonetics, November–December 2007; 21(11–12): 1007–1017. A two-handed manual alphabet is in widespread use; a one-handed alphabet based on the international manual alphabet, though less commonly used, has official status.
References
External links Dictionary of Croatian Sign Language Croatian Deaf Portal. Croatian Association of Deafblind People Dodir. Croatian Association of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing. Possession and existence in three sign languages