Colombian Sign Language Explained

Colombian Sign Language
Nativename:Lengua de Señas Colombiana
States:Colombia
Speakers:151,000
Date:2021
Ref:e25
Familycolor:Sign
Family:Andean?
Iso3:csn
Glotto:colo1249
Glottorefname:Colombian Sign Language

Colombian Sign Language (Spanish; Castilian: Lengua de Señas Colombiana, LSC, pronounced as /es/) is the deaf sign language of Colombia.

Classification

Clark[1] notes that Peruvian, Bolivian, Ecuadorian and Colombian sign languages "have significant lexical similarities to each other" and "contain a certain degree of lexical influence from ASL" as well, at least going by the forms in national dictionaries. Chilean and Argentine share these traits, though to a lesser extent.

Description

The development of the signs have influences of Spanish sign language and American Sign Language. It is reported to have signs in common with Salvadoran Sign Language.

Teaching

There are two sign language schools in Bogotá (the first started in 1929), two in Medellín and one in Cali. Countrywide, three different institutions of support for deaf promotes the learning of the language. The national Committee for the sign language promotes the research in the area, distributes the manual alphabet for spelling and the Grammar Dictionary and supports the organization for sign language teachers. The now defunct national central of telecommunications TELECOM distributed a CD-ROM software for self-learning.

Relevancy

There is a growing interest for learning the sign language between the hearing people. Some schools use sign language in the classroom. Interpreters are provided at important public events, and for college students.

External Links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: A grammatical sketch of Sivia Sign language . Brenda Rae . Clark . https://web.archive.org/web/20210515121841/http://ling.hawaii.edu/wp-content/uploads/Clark_Brenda-Dissertation-Draft.pdf . 2021-05-15.