Yolŋu Sign Language Explained

Yolŋu Sign Language
Also Known As:Murngin Sign Language
Region:Gove Peninsula, Northern Territory, Australia
Ethnicity:Yolngu people
Speakers:5,000 natively bilingual
Date:2012
Ref:e18
Speakers Label:Signers
Familycolor:Australian
Fam1:Pama–Nyungan
Fam2:Yolŋu
Iso3:ygs
Lc1:yhs
Ld1:Yan-nhaŋu Sign Language
Glotto:yoln1234
Glottorefname:Yolngu Sign Language

Yolŋu (Yolngu) or Murngin Sign Language is a ritual sign language used by the Yolngu, an Aboriginal community in the Arnhem Land region of Australia. As with other Australian Aboriginal sign languages, YSL was developed by the hearing for use when oral speech is forbidden, as during mourning or between certain family relations. (See speech taboo.) However, "YSL is not a signed version of any spoken Yolngu language... YSL also serves as a primary means of communication for a number of deaf members in Yolngu communities... YSL functions as both an alternate and primary sign language".[1] That is, it is used for communicating to the deaf, but also when communicating at a distance, when hunting, or when ceremonies require silence. It was acquired from birth by the hearing population. YSL is now considered an endangered language.[2]

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Notes and References

  1. Maypila, Elaine and Dany Adone. 2012. Yolngu Sign Language: A sociolinguistic profile. Sign Languages in Village Communities: Anthropological and Linguistic Insights ed. by Ulrike Zehan and Connie De Vox, pp. 401-404. Berlin: De Gruyter.
  2. https://archive.today/20120914162929/http://www.uclan.ac.uk/schools/journalism_media_communication/islands/villagesign/yolngu_sl.php Endangered language