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LIST OF SIGN LANGUAGES

Sign language is not universal. Like spoken languages, sign languages emerge naturally in communities and change through time. The following list is grouped into three sections:

  • Deaf sign languages, which are the preferred languages of Deaf communities around the world;
  • Signed modes of spoken languages, also known as Manually Coded Languages;
  • Auxiliary sign systems, which are not "native" languages, but are signed systems of varying complexity used in addition to native languages. Simple gestures are not considered auxiliary sign systems for the purposes of this page.

The list is sorted alphabetically and regionally, and such groupings should not be taken to imply any genetic relationships between the languages (see Language family#Sign languages).

Contents

Deaf sign languages

Contemporary

Africa

There are at least 23 sign languages in Africa, according to Nobutaka Kamei in The Sign Languages of Africa (2004).[1] 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.

The Americas

Asia/Pacific

Europe

Middle East

Historical sign languages

Auxiliary sign systems

Signed modes of spoken languages

For a more extensive list see Manually Coded Language. This page lists only those MCLs with pages on Wikipedia.

See also

References

  1. ^ Kamei, Nobutaka. 2004. "Journal of African Studies" (Japan Association for African Studies) Vol.64, March, 2004.

External links