The Estonian Deaf Community.

Interest in research on Estonian Sign Language, or eesti viipekeel (EVK), has been increasing. Studies have been conducted on different aspects of EVK, such as ways of expressing time (Trükmann 2006) and color terms (Hollman and Sutrop 2007, Hollman 2008). Moreover, EVK has lately received more attention in legislation. The language obtained an official status in 2007, which the Deaf community greatly appreciated. Therefore, an overview of the Estonian Deaf community and EVK should be given in order to identify the areas that have been studied and those that have not received much attention. The main aspects of the Deaf community covered in this article are as follows: history, members, and Deaf associations. The distinguishing features of the language used by the Deaf community are also described, and Deaf children's educational options in Estonia are explained. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]