Paper long abstract:

ABSTRACT. I will present Georgian Lorm alphabet, which I elaborated a few months ego in collaboration with my European colleagues. Writing systems used for Deaf-blind people are mostly based on Latin alphabet or arbitrary symbols, although the method of tracing or 'print-on-palm' is also used. One of the most successful systems for communication with Deaf-blind people is the Lorm tactile alphabet, which is widely used in many European countries with certain adaptations. The first Georgian tactical alphabet - GeoLorm was created for Deaf-Blind people living in Georgia. Along with other tactile communication systems GeoLorm is vital for local Deaf-blind people. It is based on the international Lorm alphabet. At the same time, this alphabet refers to the Georgian language material and is connected with some well-known themes: ts - tseri 'the thumb', n - nek'i - 'little finger', sh - shua titti 'the middle finger', j - jvari 'cross', ts' - ts're 'circle'. Some symmetries are also protected in Geo-Lorm between the voiced fricatives z - j, voiced stops b - g - d, voiceless aspirated p - k, affricates dz - ch'. The ten rules for tactile communication were also elaborated. To conduct detailed neurocognitive studies are planned for the near future, as I believe that these types of alphabets should be tested with methods of neurocognitive linguistics in order to determine how successful the communication system is.

Keywords: Deaf-blind, Tactile alphabet, Lorm, Sign languages, Computer linguistics.