List of sign languages

There are perhaps three hundred sign languages in use around the world today. The number is not known with any confidence; new sign languages emerge frequently through creolization and de novo (and occasionally through language planning). In some countries, such as Sri Lanka and Tanzania, each school for the deaf may have a separate language, known only to its students and sometimes denied by the school; on the other hand, countries may share sign languages, although sometimes under different names (Croatian and Serbian, Indian and Pakistani). Deaf sign languages also arise outside educational institutions, especially in village communities with high levels of congenital deafness, but there are significant sign languages developed for the hearing as well, such as the speech-taboo languages used in aboriginal Australia. Scholars are doing field surveys to identify the world's sign languages.[1][2][3][4]

The following list is grouped into three sections :

  • Deaf sign languages, which are the preferred languages of Deaf communities around the world; these include village sign languages, shared with the hearing community, and Deaf-community sign languages
  • Auxiliary sign languages, which are not native languages but sign systems of varying complexity, used alongside spoken languages. Simple gestures are not included, as they do not constitute language.
  • Signed modes of spoken languages, also known as manually coded languages, which are bridges between signed and spoken languages

The list of deaf sign languages is sorted regionally and alphabetically, and such groupings should not be taken to imply any genetic relationships between these languages (see List of language families).[5]

Sign language list

Africa

There are at least 25 sign languages in Africa, according to researcher Nobutaka Kamei.[6][7][8] Some have distributions that are completely independent of those of African spoken languages. At least 13 foreign sign languages, mainly from Europe and America, have been introduced to at least 27 African nations; some of the 23 sign languages documented by Kamei have originated with or been influenced by them.

LanguageOrigin[9]Notes
Adamorobe Sign Languagevillage sign(ADS) (Ghana)
Algerian Sign LanguageFrench
Bamako Sign Languagelocal deaf communityused by adult men. Threatened by ASL.
Berbey Sign LanguagefamilyDogon region, Mali
Bouakako Sign LanguagevillageIvory Coast
Bura Sign Languagevillagein Nigeria
Burkina Sign Languagelocal[10]Ouagadougou (Langue des Signes Mossi)
Chadian Sign LanguageASL:Nigerian?
Douentza Sign Languagelocal? village?Dogon region, Mali
Eritrean Sign Languagecreole
Eswatini Sign LanguageIrish, British, & local
Ethiopian sign languages1 million signers of an unknown number of languages
Francophone African Sign LanguageASL & spoken FrenchThe development of ASL in Francophone West Africa
Gambian Sign LanguageASL
Ghanaian Sign LanguageASL(GSE)
Guinean Sign LanguageASL
Guinea-Bissau Sign Languagelocalincipient/basic
Hausa Sign Languagelocal"Maganar Hannu" (HSL) – Northern Nigeria (Kano State)
Kenyan Sign Languagelocal?(KSL or LAK)
Lesotho Sign LanguageBANZL
Libyan Sign LanguageArab?
Malagasy Sign LanguageFrench:Danish:Norwegian(or "Madagascan Sign Language") May be a dialect of Norwegian SL
Maroua Sign LanguagelocalCameroon
Mauritian Sign Languageisolate
Moroccan Sign LanguageASL
Mozambican Sign Language
Mbour Sign LanguagelocalM'Bour, Senegal
Namibian Sign LanguagePaget-Gorman
Nanabin Sign Languagevillagea deaf family in Nanabin, Ghana
Nigerian Sign LanguageASL
Rwandan Sign Language
Sao Tome and Principe Sign Languagerural
Sierra Leonean Sign LanguageASL
Somali Sign LanguageKenyan SL
South African Sign LanguageIrish & British(SASL)
Sudanese sign languagesvillage & local?Government proposal to unify local languages
Tanzanian sign languageslocal(seven independent languages, one for each deaf school in Tanzania, with little mutual influence)
Tebul Sign Languagevillage(Tebul Ure SL) Mopti, Mali (village of Tebul Ure)
Tunisian Sign LanguageFrench:Italian
Ugandan Sign Languagelocal?(USL)
Yoruba Sign Languagelocal(YSL)
Zambian Sign Language(ZASL)
Zimbabwean sign languages"sign language" is an official language

Americas

LanguageOriginNotes
American Sign LanguageUnited States and CanadaASL is also officially recognized as a language in Canada due to the passage of Bill C-81, the Accessible Canada Act. Black American Sign Language is a dialect of ASL.
Argentine Sign LanguageSpain and Italy(Lengua de Señas Argentina – LSA)
Bay Islands Sign LanguagevillageHonduras. Deaf-blind. French Harbour Sign Language
Bolivian Sign LanguageASL/Andean"Lenguaje de Señas Bolivianas" (LSB)
Brazilian Sign LanguageFrenchLibras (Lingua Brasileira de Sinais)[11]
Recognized legally as a means of communication among the Brazilian Deaf community.[12]
Bribri Sign Languagevillage?
Brunca Sign Languagevillage?
Carhuahuaran Sign LanguagefamilyPeru
Chatino Sign Languagefamily
Chilean Sign LanguageFrench?Lenguaje de Señas Chileno (LSCH)
Colombian Sign LanguageAndean(CSN) / Lengua de Señas Colombiana (LSC)
Costa Rican Sign Languageat least four languages in Costa Rica (Woodward 1991)
Old Costa Rican Sign Language
Cuban Sign Language
Dominican Sign LanguageASL
Ecuadorian Sign LanguageAndean
Greenlandic Sign LanguageDanish"Kalaallisut Ussersuutit" (DTS)
Guatemalan Sign Language
Guyanese Sign Language ?
Haitian Sign LanguageASL
Honduras Sign LanguageMexican?"Lengua de señas hondureña" (LESHO)
Inmaculada Sign LanguagePeruvianLima, Peru. Inmaculada is a school for the deaf. (see ref under Sivia SL)
Inuit Sign Languagevillage"Inuit Uqausiqatigiit Uukturausiq Uqajuittunut (General Inuit Sign Language for deaf)" also known as Inuiuuk (ᐃᓄᐃᐆᒃ)
There may be more than one. The indigenous languages is an isolate.
Jamaican Sign LanguageASL(JSL)
Jamaican Country Sign Languagelocal(JCSL)
Kajana Sign LanguagevillageKajana Gebarentaal
Keresan Sign Languagevillage(KPISL)
Macushi Sign Language ?Brazil [no data]
Marajo Sign Languagehome sign?Brazil
Maritime Sign LanguageBritish
Maxakali Sign Languagehome sign?if not home sign, at least a young language. Brazil
Mayan Sign Languagevillage
Mexican Sign LanguageFrench"Lengua de señas mexicana" (LSM)
Navajo Sign Language
Nicaraguan Sign Languagelocal"Idioma de señas nicaragüense" (ISN)
Old Cayman Sign Languagevillagegave rise to Providence Island SL?
Panamanian Sign LanguageASL, some Salvadoran influence"Lengua de señas panameñas"
Paraguayan Sign Languagerelated to Uruguayan, Old-French Sign Language"Lengua de Señas Paraguaya" (LSPy)
Papiu Yanomama Sign Language ?Brazil [no data]
Peruvian Sign LanguageAndean[13]"Lengua de señas peruana"
Plains Sign Languagehistorically a trade pidgin distinct from national normsnational forms maintained by some Plains nations
Puerto Rican Sign LanguageASL"Lengua de señas puertorriqueña"
Providence Island Sign Languagevillage
Quebec Sign LanguageFrench-ASL mix"Langue des Signes Québécoise" (LSQ)
Salvadoran Sign Languageisolate
Sivia Sign LanguagevillagePeru
South Rupununi Sign Languagevillage?Guyana
Terena Sign LanguagevillageBrazil
Trinidad and Tobago Sign Languageisolate?ASL taught in schools; most deaf bilingual
Uruguayan Sign LanguageOld French Sign Language"Lengua de Señas Uruguaya"
Ka'apor Sign Languagevillage(a.k.a. Urubu Sign Language, although this name is pejorative)
Venezuelan Sign Languageisolate"Lengua de señas venezolana" (LSV)

Asia-Pacific

LanguageOriginNotes
Afghan Sign Languageindig, or ASL creole?
Alipur Sign Languagevillage
Amami Oshima Sign Languagevillage or idioglossiaJapan
AuslanBritish(Australian Sign Language)
Ban Khor Sign Languagevillage(Plaa Pag is a dialect)
Bhutanese Sign Language ?
Burmese sign languageASLmay be two languages
Cambodian Sign Language= mixed LSF, BSL, ASL, various dialects within
Chinese Sign LanguageChinese"中國手語" (ZGS)
Enga Sign LanguagevillagePNG
Filipino Sign Languagemixed ASL, various dialects(FSL) or Philippine Sign Language (Filipino: Wikang pasenyas ng mga Pilipino).
Ghandruk Sign Languagevillage(Nepal)
Hawaiʻi Sign Language ?
Hong Kong Sign LanguageShanghai Sign Language"香港手語" (HKSL). Derives from the southern dialect of CSL.
Huay Hai Sign Languagevillage(Thailand) [no data]
Indo-Pakistani Sign LanguageIndianconflicting reports on whether Indian and Pakistani SL are one language or two.
Jakarta Sign LanguageASL:Malaysian?:Indonesiana variety of Indonesian Sign Language
Japanese Sign LanguageJapanese"Nihon Shuwa (日本手話)" (JSL)
Jhankot Sign Languagevillage(Nepal)
Jumla Sign Languagevillage(Nepal)
Kailge Sign Languagevillage, perhaps related to SSSLPNG
Kata Kolokvillage(a.k.a. Bali Sign Language, Benkala Sign Language)
Laotian Sign Language(related to Vietnamese languages; may be more than one SL)
Korean Sign Language (KSDSL)Japanese"한국수어 (or 한국수화)" / "Hanguk Soo-hwa"

Korean standard sign language – manually coded spoken Korean

Macau Sign Language"澳門手語"
Malaysian Sign LanguageASL"Bahasa Isyarat Malaysia" (BIM)
Maunabudhuk–Bodhe Sign LanguagevillageNepal
Mehek Sign Languagehome sign? incipient?PNG
Miyakubo Sign LanguagevillageJapan
Mongolian Sign Language ?"Монгол дохионы хэл"
Mount Avejaha Sign LanguagevillagePNG
Na Sai Sign Languagevillage(Thailand) [no data]
Naga Sign Languagevillage?(India) last reported in 1921
Nepali Sign LanguageIndianIndigenous sign language with inputs from Indian Sign Language, American Sign Language, International Sign, and others
New Zealand Sign LanguageBritish(NZSL)
Old Bangkok Sign Languagelocal (or village?)
Old Chiangmai Sign Languagelocal (or village?)
Papua New Guinean Sign LanguageBritish
Penang Sign Languagelocal(Malaysia)
Rennellese Sign Languagehome sign, not a full language(Solomon Islands)
Rossel Island Sign Language villagePNG
Samoan Sign LanguageAuslan
Selangor Sign LanguageASL?(Malaysia)
Sinasina Sign Languagevillage?PNG, not clear if developed
Singapore Sign LanguagelocalA blend of ASL, SEE2, SSL and locally-developed signs.
Solomon Islands Sign Language
Sri Lankan sign languageslocal(14 deaf schools with different languages)
Taiwanese Sign LanguageJapanese臺灣手語 / Taiwan Ziran Shouyu
Tibetan Sign Languagelocal
Thai Sign LanguageASL(TSL) "แบบสะกดนิ้วมือไทย" (incl. Hai Yai)
Vietnamese sign languageslocal(Hanoi Sign Language, Ho Chi Minh Sign Language, Haiphong Sign Language; some may be related to some of the Thai languages)
Wanib Sign LanguagevillagePNG
Yogyakarta Sign LanguageASL:Malaysian?:Indonesiana variety of Indonesian Sign Language
Yolŋu Sign Languagelocal

Europe

LanguageOriginNotes
Albanian Sign Language"Gjuha e Shenjave Shqipe"
Armenian Sign Languageisolate
Azerbaijani Sign LanguageFrench:Austro-Hungarian"Azərbaycan işarət dili" (AİD)
Austrian Sign LanguageFrench:Austro-Hungarian"Österreichische Gebärdensprache" (ÖGS)
British Sign LanguageBritish(BSL)
Bulgarian Sign LanguageFrench:Austro-Hungarian:Russian
Catalan Sign LanguageCatalan(or "Catalonian Sign Language") "Llengua de Signes Catalana" (LSC)
Croatian Sign LanguageFrench:Austro-Hungarian:Yugoslav(Croslan) "Hrvatski Znakovni Jezik" (HZJ)[14]
Czech Sign LanguageFrench:Austro-Hungarian"Český znakový jazyk" (ČZJ)
Cypriot Sign LanguageASL×GSL"Κυπριακή Νοηματική Γλώσσα" (CSL) [15]
Danish Sign LanguageFrench"Dansk Tegnsprog" (DTS)
Dutch Sign LanguageFrench"Nederlandse Gebarentaal" (NGT)
Estonian Sign Language"Eesti viipekeel"
Finnish Sign LanguageSwedish"Suomalainen viittomakieli" (SVK)
Finland-Swedish Sign LanguageSwedish"finlandssvenskt teckenspråk" (Swedish) or "suomenruotsalainen viittomakieli" (Finnish). A single Swedish school in Finland, now closed.
Flemish Sign LanguageBelgian"Vlaamse Gebarentaal" (VGT)
French Sign Language"Langues des Signes Française" (LSF)
Georgian Sign Language ?
German Sign LanguageGerman"Deutsche Gebärdensprache" (DGS)
Greek Sign LanguageFrench-ASL mix"Ελληνική Νοηματική Γλώσσα" (GSL)
Hungarian Sign Language"Magyar jelnyelv"
Icelandic Sign LanguageFrench:Danish"Íslenskt Táknmál"
Irish Sign LanguageFrench"Teanga Chomharthaíochta na hÉireann" (ISL/ISG and TCÉ)
Italian Sign LanguageFrench"Lingua dei Segni Italiana" (LIS)
Kosovar Sign LanguageFrench:Austro-Hungarian:Yugoslav"Gjuha e Shenjave Kosovare" (GjShK)
Latvian Sign LanguageFrench"Latviešu zīmju valoda"
Lithuanian Sign Language"Lietuvių gestų kalba"
Macedonian Sign LanguageFrench:Austro-Hungarian:YugoslavМакедонски знаковен јазик / Makedonski znakoven jazik
Maltese Sign Language"Lingwi tas-Sinjali Maltin" (LSM)
Northern Ireland Sign LanguageBritish (mixed)
Norwegian Sign LanguageFrench:Danish"Tegnspråk" (NSL)
Polish Sign LanguageOld-French, German"Polski Język Migowy" (PJM)
Portuguese Sign LanguageSwedish"Língua Gestual Portuguesa" (LGP)
Romanian Sign LanguageFrench"Limbaj Mimico-Gestual Românesc" (LMG)
Russian Sign LanguageFrench:Austro-Hungarian"Russkiy zhestovyi yazyk" / русский жестовый язык
Slovakian Sign Language"Slovenský posunkový jazyk"
Slovenian Sign LanguageFrench:Austro-Hungarian:Yugoslav"Slovenski znakovni jezik" (SZJ)
Spanish Sign Languageisolate"Lengua de signos española" (LSE)
Swedish Sign LanguageSwedish"Svenskt teckenspråk" (STS)
Swiss-French Sign LanguageFrench?"Langage Gestuelle"
Swiss-German Sign LanguageFrench?"Deutschschweizer Gebärdensprache" (DSGS)
Swiss-Italian Sign LanguageFrench?
Turkish Sign LanguageIsolate"Türk İşaret Dili" (TİD)
Ukrainian Sign LanguageFrench"Українська жестова мова (УЖМ)"
Valencian Sign Language"Llengua de Signes en la Comunitat Valenciana" (LSCV)
Walloon Sign LanguageBelgian"Langue des Signes de Belgique Francophone" (LSFB)
Yugoslav Sign LanguageFrench:Austro-Hungarian

Middle East

LanguageOriginNotes
Al-Sayyid Bedouin Sign Languagevillage(ABSL), Negev Israel
Central Taurus Sign LanguagevillageTurkey
Egyptian Sign LanguageArab
Emirati Sign LanguageArab
Ghardaia Sign Languagevillage(Algerian Jewish Sign Language) deaf & hearing, Algeria → Israel
Iraqi Sign LanguageArabلغة الاشارة العراقية Perhaps close to Levantine.
Israeli Sign LanguageLarge lexical base from DGSשפת סימנים ישראלית (שס"י SHaSI)
Jordanian Sign LanguageArab, LevantineLughat il-Ishaarah il-Urduniah / لغة الاشارة الأردنية (LIU)
Kafr Qasem Sign LanguageArab, villageKafr Qasim Israel
Kurdish Sign LanguagelocalZHK
Kuwaiti Sign LanguageArabلغة الاشارة الكويتية
Lebanese Sign LanguageArab, LevantineLughat al-Isharat al-Lubnaniya / لغة الإشارات اللبنانية
Mardin Sign Languagefamilyone extended family in Turkey[16]
Omani Sign LanguageArab?
Palestinian Sign LanguageArab, Levantine"لغة الاشارات الفلسطينية"
Persian Sign LanguagePersianزبان اشاره پارسى
Qahvehkhaneh Sign LanguageurbanTehran. Moribund.
Qatari Unified Sign LanguageArtificial/ArabUnclear what the Qatari deaf community actually uses. An artificial attempt to standardize all Arab sign languages has resulted in a variety used mainly by hearing Qatari interpreters.
Saudi Sign Languageisolate"لغة الإشارة السعودية"
Seraglio Sign LanguageOttoman court
Syrian Sign LanguageArab, Levantine
Yemeni Sign LanguageArab"لغة الإشارة اليمنية"

Historical deaf sign languages

Auxiliary sign languages

  • Baby Sign – using signs to assist early language development in young children.
  • Contact Sign – a pidgin or contact language between a spoken language and a sign language, e.g. Pidgin Sign English (PSE).
  • Curwin Hand Signs – a technique which allows musical notes to be communicated through hand signs.
  • International Sign (previously known as Gestuno) – an auxiliary language used by deaf people in international settings.
  • Makaton – a system of signed communication used by and with people who have speech, language or learning difficulties.
  • Mofu-Gudur Sign Language
  • Monastic sign language
  • Signalong – international sign assisted communication techniques used to support children and adults with communication or learning difficulties

Manual modes of spoken languages

Manual modes of spoken languages include:

Genetic classification of sign languages

Languages are assigned families (implying a genetic relationships between these languages) as British, Swedish (perhaps a branch of BSL), French (with branches ASL (American), Austro-Hungarian, Danish, Italian), German, Japanese, and language isolates.

BANZSL family tree
Old British Sign Language
(c.1760–1900)
Maritime SL
(c. 1860–present)
Swedish SL family?
(c. 1800–present)
Papua NG SL
(c. 1990–present)
Auslan
(c. 1860–present)
New Zealand SL
(c. 1870–present)
British SL
(c. 1900–present)
Northern Ireland SL
(c. 1920–present)
South African SL
(c. 1860–present)
Danish Sign Language family tree
French Sign
(c. 1760–present)
local/home sign
Danish Sign
(c. 1800–present)
Faroese Sign
(c. 1960–present)
Greenlandic Sign
(c. 1950–present)
Icelandic Sign
(c. 1910–present)
Norwegian Sign
(c. 1820–present)
Malagasy Sign
(c. 1950–present)
French Sign Language family tree
Old French Sign Language
(influenced by l'Epée c. 1760–89)
Belgian Sign Language
(c. 1790–2000)
Austro-Hungarian Sign Language
(c. 1780–1920)
American Sign Language
(c. 1820–present)
French Sign Language
(c. 1790–present)
French Belgian Sign Language
(c. 1970–present)
Flemish Sign Language
(c. 1970–present)
Dutch Sign Language
(c. 1790–present)
Italian Sign Language
(c. 1830–present)
Swedish Sign Language family tree
Swedish Sign Language
(c. 1800–present)
Portuguese Sign Language
(c. 1820–present)
Finnish Sign Language
(c. 1850–present)
Finland-Swedish Sign Language
(c. 1850–present)
Eritrean Sign Language
(c. 1950–present)

See also

References

  1. Woodward, James (1991), "The relationship of sign language varieties in India, Pakistan, and Nepal", Sign Language Studies, 78: 15–22.
  2. Parkhurst, Stephen; Parkhurst, Dianne (1998), "Introduction to Sign Language survey", Notes on Sociolinguistics, 3: 215–42.
  3. Ciupek-Reed, Julia (2012), Participatory methods in sociolinguistic sign language survey: A case study in El Salvador (PDF) (MA thesis), University of North Dakota.
  4. Aldersson, Russell R; McEntee-Atalianis, Lisa J (2007), A Lexical Comparison of Icelandic Sign Language and Danish Sign Language, Studies in Applied Linguistics, Birkbeck.
  5. For a classification, Wittmann, Henri (1991), "Classification linguistique des langues signées non vocalement" [Linguistic classification of non vocally signed languages] (PDF), Revue québécoise de linguistique théorique et appliquée (in French), 10 (1): 215–88.
  6. Kamei, Nobutaka. The Birth of Langue des Signes Franco-Africaine: Creole ASL in West and Central French-speaking Africa, paper presented at Languages and Education in Africa (LEA), University of Oslo, June 19–22, 2006.
  7. Kamei, Nobutaka (2004). The Sign Languages of Africa, "Journal of African Studies" (Japan Association for African Studies) Vol. 64, March, 2004. [NOTE: Kamei lists 23 African sign languages in this article].
  8. "History of the deaf and sign languages in Africa" (in Japanese). Aacore. December 25, 2006.
  9. "Africa – Sign Language". LibGuides. Gallaudet University Library. 2012-03-07. Retrieved 2012-05-21.
  10. Diane Brentari, Sign Languages, p 406
  11. "Structure of ASL and Libras". University of Connecticut. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 1 August 2015.
  12. "Lei 10.436 de 24 de abril de 2002". Brazilian Government. Archived from the original on 10 September 2010. Retrieved 2018-02-07.
  13. Clark, Brenda Rae (December 2017). A Grammatical Sketch of Sivia Sign Language (PDF).
  14. Pamela Perniss, Roland Pfau, Markus Steinbach; Visible Variation. Walter de Gruyter, 2007. (p.ix)
  15. EUD. "European Union of the deaf: Cyprus". Eud.eu. Archived from the original on 2014-11-22. Retrieved 2012-05-21.
  16. "Mardin Sign Language". University of Central Lancashire. 2010-09-16. Retrieved 2012-05-21.
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