List of sign languages explained

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 by some Aboriginal Australian peoples. 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

Contemporary deaf sign languages

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.

Language	Origin^[9]	Notes
		(ADS) (Ghana)
	French
		used by adult men. Threatened by ASL.
	family	Dogon region, Mali https://openaccess.leidenuniv.nl/handle/1887/70449
	village	Ivory Coast
	village	in Nigeria
	local^[10]	Ouagadougou (Langue des Signes Mossi)
	ASL:Nigerian?
	local? village?	Dogon region, Mali
	creole
Eswatini Sign Language	Irish, British, & local
		1 million signers of an unknown number of languages
	ASL & spoken French	The development of ASL in Francophone West Africa
	ASL
	ASL	(GSE)
	ASL
	local	incipient/basic
	local	"Maganar Hannu" (HSL) – Northern Nigeria (Kano State)
	local?	(KSL or LAK)
	Arab?
	French:Danish:Norwegian	(or "Madagascan Sign Language") May be a dialect of Norwegian SL
	local	Cameroon
	isolate
	ASL
	local	M'Bour, Senegal
	Paget-Gorman
	village	a deaf family in Nanabin, Ghana
	ASL
	rural
	ASL
	Kenyan SL
	Irish & British	(SASL)
	village & local?	Government proposal to unify local languages
	local	(seven independent languages, one for each deaf school in Tanzania, with little mutual influence)
	village	(Tebul Ure SL) Mopti, Mali (village of Tebul Ure)
	French:Italian
	local?	(USL)
	local	(YSL)
		(ZASL)
		"sign language" is an official language

Americas

Language	Origin	Notes
	United States and Canada	ASL 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.
	Spain and Italy	(Lengua de Señas Argentina – LSA)
	village	Honduras. Deaf-blind. French Harbour Sign Language
	ASL/Andean	"Lenguaje de Señas Bolivianas" (LSB)
	French	Libras (Lingua Brasileira de Sinais)^[11] Recognized legally as a means of communication among the Brazilian Deaf community.^[12]
	village?
	village?
	family	Peru
	family
	French?	Lenguaje de Señas Chileno (LSCH)
	Andean	(CSN) / Lengua de Señas Colombiana (LSC)
		at least four languages in Costa Rica (Woodward 1991)
Old Costa Rican Sign Language
	ASL
	Andean
	Danish	"Kalaallisut Ussersuutit" (DTS)
	?
	ASL
	Mexican?	"Lengua de señas hondureña" (LESHO)
	Peruvian	Lima, Peru. Inmaculada is a school for the deaf. (see ref under Sivia SL)
	village	"Inuit Uqausiqatigiit Uukturausiq Uqajuittunut (General Inuit Sign Language for deaf)" also known as Tikuraq (ᑎᑯᕋᖅ) There may be more than one. The indigenous languages is an isolate.
	ASL	(JSL)
	local	(JCSL)
	village	Kajana Gebarentaal
	village	(KPISL)
Macushi Sign Language	?	Brazil [no data]
Marajo Sign Language	home sign?	Brazil
	British
Maxakali Sign Language	home sign?	if not home sign, at least a young language. Brazil
	village
	French	"Lengua de señas mexicana" (LSM)
	local	"Idioma de señas nicaragüense" (ISN)
	village	gave rise to Providence Island SL?
	ASL, some Salvadoran influence	"Lengua de señas panameñas"
	related to Uruguayan, Old-French Sign Language	"Lengua de Señas Paraguaya" (LSPy)
Papiu Yanomama Sign Language	?	Brazil [no data]
Peruvian Sign Language	Andean^[13]	"Lengua de señas peruana"
	historically a trade pidgin distinct from national norms	national forms maintained by some Plains nations
	ASL	"Lengua de señas puertorriqueña"
	village
	French-ASL mix	"Langue des Signes Québécoise" (LSQ)
	LESSA	"Lengua de señas salvadoreña"
	village	Peru
	village?	Guyana
	village	Brazil
	isolate?	ASL taught in schools; most deaf bilingual
	Old French Sign Language	"Lengua de Señas Uruguaya"
	village	(Urubu Sign Language, although this name is pejorative)
	isolate	"Lengua de señas venezolana" (LSV)

Asia-Pacific

Language	Origin	Notes
	indig, or ASL creole?
	village
		Japan
	British	(Australian Sign Language)
	village	(Plaa Pag is a dialect)
	?
	ASL	may be two languages
	= mixed LSF, BSL, ASL, various dialects within
	Chinese	"中國手語" (ZGS)
	village	PNG
	isolate	Iranian Sign Language, main sign language used in Iran
	mixed ASL, various dialects	(FSL) or Philippine Sign Language (Filipino: Wikang pasenyas ng mga Pilipino).
	village	(Nepal)
	HSL	Indigenous unique sign language, Hoailona ʻŌlelo o Hawaiʻi^[14] ^[15] ^[16] ^[17]
	Shanghai Sign Language	"香港手語" (HKSL). Derives from the southern dialect of CSL.
	village	(Thailand) [no data]
	Indian	conflicting reports on whether Indian and Pakistani SL are one language or two.
	ASL:Malaysian?:Indonesian	a variety of Indonesian Sign Language
	Japanese	"" (JSL)
	village	(Nepal)
	village	(Nepal)
	village, perhaps related to SSSL	PNG
	village	(Bali Sign Language, Benkala 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
	Shanghai Sign Language	"澳門手語" (MSL). Derives from the southern dialect of CSL.
	ASL	"Bahasa Isyarat Malaysia" (BIM)
Maldivian Sign Language (Dhivehi Sign Language)	Indian, ASL
	village	Nepal
	home sign? incipient?	PNG
	village	Japan
	?	"Монгол дохионы хэл"
	village	PNG
	village	(Thailand) [no data]
	village?	(India) last reported in 1921
	Indian	Indigenous sign language with inputs from Indian Sign Language, American Sign Language, International Sign, and others
	British	(NZSL)
	local (or village?)
	local (or village?)
	British
	local	(Malaysia)
	home sign, not a full language	(Solomon Islands)
Rossel Island Sign Language village	PNG
	Auslan
	ASL?	(Malaysia)
	village?	PNG, not clear if developed
	French	A blend of ASL, Auslan, BSL, SEE2, SSL and locally-developed signs.
	local	(14 deaf schools with different languages)
	Japanese	臺灣手語 / Taiwan Ziran Shouyu
	local
	ASL	(TSL) "แบบสะกดนิ้วมือไทย" (incl. Hai Yai)
	local	(Hanoi Sign Language, Ho Chi Minh Sign Language, Haiphong Sign Language; some may be related to some of the Thai languages)
	village	PNG
	ASL:Malaysian?:Indonesian	a variety of Indonesian Sign Language
	local

Europe

Language	Origin	Notes
		"Gjuha e Shenjave Shqipe"
	isolate
	French:Austro-Hungarian	"Azərbaycan işarət dili" (AİD)
	French:Austro-Hungarian	"Österreichische Gebärdensprache" (ÖGS)
	British	(BSL)
	French:Austro-Hungarian:Russian
	Catalan	(or "Catalonian Sign Language") "Llengua de Signes Catalana" (LSC)
	French:Austro-Hungarian:Yugoslav	(Croslan) "Hrvatski Znakovni Jezik" (HZJ)^[18]
	French:Austro-Hungarian	"Český znakový jazyk" (ČZJ)
	ASL×GSL	"Κυπριακή Νοηματική Γλώσσα" (CSL) ^[19]
	French	"Dansk Tegnsprog" (DTS)
	French	"Nederlandse Gebarentaal" (NGT)
		"Eesti viipekeel"
	Swedish	"Suomalainen viittomakieli" (SVK)
	Swedish	"finlandssvenskt teckenspråk" (Swedish) or "suomenruotsalainen viittomakieli" (Finnish). A single Swedish school in Finland, now closed.
	Belgian	"Vlaamse Gebarentaal" (VGT)
		"Langues des Signes Française" (LSF)
	?	http://dsq-sds.org/article/view/3318/3267
	German	"Deutsche Gebärdensprache" (DGS)
	French-ASL mix	"Ελληνική Νοηματική Γλώσσα" (GSL)
		"Magyar jelnyelv"
	French:Danish	"Íslenskt Táknmál"
	French	"Teanga Chomharthaíochta na hÉireann" (ISL/ISG and TCÉ)
	French	"Lingua dei Segni Italiana" (LIS)
	French:Austro-Hungarian:Yugoslav	"Gjuha e Shenjave Kosovare" (GjShK)
	French	"Latviešu zīmju valoda"
		"Lietuvių gestų kalba"
	French:Austro-Hungarian:Yugoslav	Македонски знаковен јазик / Makedonski znakoven jazik
		"Lingwi tas-Sinjali Maltin" (LSM)
	British (mixed)
	French:Danish	"Tegnspråk" (NSL)
	Old-French, German	"Polski Język Migowy" (PJM)
	Swedish	"Língua Gestual Portuguesa" (LGP)
	French	"Limbaj Mimico-Gestual Românesc" (LMG)
	French:Austro-Hungarian	"Russkiy zhestovyi yazyk" / русский жестовый язык
		"Slovenský posunkový jazyk"
	French:Austro-Hungarian:Yugoslav	"Slovenski znakovni jezik" (SZJ)
	isolate	"Lengua de signos española" (LSE)
	Swedish	"Svenskt teckenspråk" (STS)
	French?	"Langage Gestuelle"
	French?	"Deutschschweizer Gebärdensprache" (DSGS)
	French?
	Isolate	"Türk İşaret Dili" (TİD)
	French	"Українська жестова мова (УЖМ)"
		"Llengua de Signes en la Comunitat Valenciana" (LSCV)
	Belgian	"Langue des Signes de Belgique Francophone" (LSFB)
	French:Austro-Hungarian

Middle East

Language	Origin	Notes
	village	(ABSL), Negev Israel
	village	Turkey
	Arab
	Arab
	village	(Algerian Jewish Sign Language) deaf & hearing, Algeria → Israel
	Arab	لغة الاشارة العراقية Perhaps close to Levantine.
	Large lexical base from DGS	שפת סימנים ישראלית (שס"י SHaSI)
	Arab, Levantine	Lughat il-Ishaarah il-Urduniah / لغة الاشارة الأردنية (LIU)
	Arab, village	Kafr Qasim Israel
	local	ZHK
	Arab	لغة الاشارة الكويتية
	Arab, Levantine	Lughat al-Isharat al-Lubnaniya / لغة الإشارات اللبنانية
	family	one extended family in Turkey^[20]
	Arab?
	Arab, Levantine	"لغة الاشارات الفلسطينية"
	Persian	زبان اشاره پارسى
	urban	Tehran. Moribund.
	Artificial/Arab	Unclear 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.
	isolate	"لغة الإشارة السعودية"
		Ottoman court
	Arab, Levantine
	Arab	"لغة الإشارة اليمنية"

Historical deaf sign languages

• Martha's Vineyard Sign Language
• Old French Sign Language – ancestral to the French family
• Old Kent Sign Language

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:

• General
  • Cued Speech – a hand/mouth system (HMS) to render spoken language phonemes visually intelligible.
  • Fingerspelling – alphabetic signs to represent the written form of a spoken language.
• English
  • Manually Coded English
  • Signing Exact English (SEE2)
  • Makaton
• Malay
  • Bahasa Malaysia Kod Tangan (BMKT)
• Speech-taboo languages
  • Caucasian Sign Language
  • Australian Aboriginal sign languages (though Yolŋu Sign Language does not correspond to any one language, and doubles as a language of the deaf)

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.

See also

• Contact sign
• Intercultural competence
• Legal recognition of sign languages
• List of sign languages by number of native signers
• Manual alphabet
• Sign language
• World Federation of the Deaf

References

1. .
2. .
3. .
4. .
5. For a classification, .
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. Web site: History of the deaf and sign languages in Africa . December 25, 2006 . Aacore . ja . May 10, 2009 . June 4, 2009 . https://web.archive.org/web/20090604172402/http://kamei.aacore.jp/akashi2006-e.html . live .
9. Web site: Africa – Sign Language . LibGuides . Gallaudet University Library . 2012-03-07 . 2012-05-21 . 2017-12-07 . https://web.archive.org/web/20171207154134/http://libguides.gallaudet.edu/content.php?pid=114804&sid=997853 . live .
10. Diane Brentari, Sign Languages, p 406
11. Web site: Structure of ASL and Libras. University of Connecticut. 1 August 2015. https://web.archive.org/web/20160304134622/http://homepages.uconn.edu/~dcl02005/DLM/ASL_%26_LSB_Structure.html. 4 March 2016. dead.
12. Web site: Lei 10.436 de 24 de abril de 2002 . Brazilian Government . 2018-02-07 . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20100910070529/http://www.planalto.gov.br/ccivil_03/LEIS/2002/L10436.htm . 10 September 2010 .
13. Book: Clark, Brenda Rae . A Grammatical Sketch of Sivia Sign Language . December 2017 . 2019-09-19 . 2021-10-08 . https://web.archive.org/web/20211008073506/http://ling.hawaii.edu/wp-content/uploads/Clark_Brenda-Dissertation-Draft.pdf . dead .
14. Web site: 2013-03-01 . Hawaii Sign Language discovered by UH Manoa researchers University of Hawaiʻi System News . 2024-01-30 . en-US . 2024-01-07 . https://web.archive.org/web/20240107074647/https://www.hawaii.edu/news/2013/03/01/new-hawaii-language-discovered-by-uh-researchers/ . live .
15. Web site: 2013-03-05 . Research team discovers existence of Hawaii Sign Language . 2024-01-30 . Hawaii 24/7 . 2024-01-07 . https://web.archive.org/web/20240107074707/https://hawaii247.com/2013/03/04/research-team-discovers-existence-of-hawaii-sign-language/ . live .
16. Web site: melaniejayneashford . 2021-11-29 . Saving Hawai’i Sign Language from Extinction . 2024-01-30 . Hearing Like Me . en-US . 2024-05-26 . https://web.archive.org/web/20240526074215/https://www.hearinglikeme.com/saving-hawaii-sign-language-from-extinction/ . live .
17. Web site: Corinne . Chin . The fight to save Hawaii Sign Language from extinction . 2024-01-30 . CNN . 2023-12-14 . https://web.archive.org/web/20231214004346/https://www.cnn.com/2021/10/08/americas/hawaii-sign-language-extinction-as-equals-intl-cmd/index.html . live .
18. Pamela Perniss, Roland Pfau, Markus Steinbach; Visible Variation. Walter de Gruyter, 2007. (p.ix)
19. Web site: EUD . European Union of the deaf: Cyprus . Eud.eu . 2012-05-21 . http://arquivo.pt/wayback/20141122061853/http%3A//www.eud.eu/Cyprus%2Di%2D178.html . 2014-11-22 . dead .
20. Web site: Mardin Sign Language . University of Central Lancashire . 2010-09-16 . 2012-05-21 . 2012-09-10 . https://web.archive.org/web/20120910123931/http://www.uclan.ac.uk/schools/journalism_media_communication/islands/villagesign/mardin_sl.php . dead .

External links

• Ethnologue – Deaf sign languages
• Multiple accessible sign languages dictionaries
• Signes du Monde, directory for all online Sign Languages dictionaries