Why the FZG was founded
At the time of the founding of the FZG in 1982, not only was there little to no academic research on the local Swiss languages, but the whole idea that sign language is a 'real' language was quite foreign. Almost all of the Swiss German institutions that had to do with the schooling or further education of deaf children or training of teachers for these schools were opposed to the use of sign language. An exclusively 'oral' approach reigned, which involved teaching the deaf child to speak and lipread German and did not tolerate signing in the classroom, as the ideology of the day was this would deflect the child from learning the spoken language. Even the regional deaf association, in its initial efforts at the time to support a signed form of communication, spoke of 'signing' but not of 'sign language'. The private nonprofit FZG was thus founded to begin research on sign language, research which was not possible at official, existing institutions or organizations.
Support of the FZG
The first larger project was funded by a Swiss Science Foundation grant (Schweizerischer Nationalfonds, SNF) to the FZG (Boyes Braem 1995). Subsequent larger projects, particularly those funded by the SNF have been carried out in collaboration with the Heilpädagogische Seminar in Zürich (now Interkantonale Hochschule für Heilpädagogik /HfH in Zürich) as well as with the Swiss Deaf Association (SGB-FSS). In 2011, the FZG began a collaboration with the Institute for Computer Linguistics at the University of Zürich and since 2012 has been 'associate member' of the Zurich Competency Center for Linguistics (Zürcher Kompetenzzentrum Linguistik, ZüKL) of the University of Zürich.
One of the very first smaller research studies done by the FZG (comparing dialects of DSGS) was financed by an association of biologists in Basel. However, there were fortunately also several other persons who were enthusiatic about and willing to support the idea of researching sign language. Several formed an association in 1983, expressly to support the new FZG. Several years later, the association changed its name to offer broader support to sign language research in general and became known as the 'Verein zur Unterstützung der Gebärdensprache' (Association for the Support of Sign Language), in short, VUGS.
Other smaller research studies have been entirely funded by the FZG (for example, on dialects in Swiss German Sign Language, on gestures used by orchestra conductors, on rhythmic temporal patters in the signing of DSGS, and on 'politeness' in sign languages).
Several projects have been carried out in collaboration with or helpful advice from research colleagues at other European institutions, especially François Grosjean (University of Neuchatel), Virginia Volterra (Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche /CNR), Rome) Siegmund Prillwitz (Hamburg University), and Gudula List (Cologne).
We are also grateful for support that has been provided by the Max Bircher Foundation and the Stanley Thomas Johnson Foundation.
In addition to this institutional support, the FZG has received financial and moral support from individual donors, many of whom have preferred to remain anonymous.