Saudi Sign Language Explained

Saudi Sign Language
Also Known As:	لغة الإشارة السعودية
States:	Saudi Arabia
Speakers:	100,000
Date:	2008
Ref:	e25
Familycolor:	sign language
Family:	language isolate? Arab Sign Language family?
Iso3:	sdl
Glotto:	saud1238
Glottorefname:	Saudi Arabian Sign Language

Saudi Sign Language is the deaf sign language of Saudi Arabia. This sign language is different from the Unified Arabic Sign Language that is used by 18 Arab countries.^[1] There are 100,000 deaf people in Saudi Arabia.^[2]

Classification

Wittmann (1991)^[3] posits that SSL is a language isolate (a 'prototype' sign language), though one developed through stimulus diffusion from an existing sign language.

Further reading

• Meir, Irit & Sandler, Wendy. (2007) A Language in Space: The Story of Israel Sign Language. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

Notes and References

1. Web site: Saudi Arabian Sign Language. Ethnologue. 14 December 2018.
2. Web site: Saudi TV sign language keeps deaf audience in news loop.
3. [Henri Wittmann|Wittmann, Henri]