The French Sign Language (LSF, from ) or Francosign family is a

language family A language family is a group of languages related through descent from a common ancestor, called the proto-language of that family. The term ''family'' is a metaphor borrowed from biology, with the tree model used in historical linguistics ...

sign language Sign languages (also known as signed languages) are languages that use the visual-manual modality to convey meaning, instead of spoken words. Sign languages are expressed through manual articulation in combination with #Non-manual elements, no ...

s which includes

French Sign Language French Sign Language (, LSF) is the sign language of deaf and hard-of-hearing people in France and in French-speaking parts of Switzerland. According to ''Ethnologue'', it has 100,000 native signers. French Sign Language is related and part ...

and

American Sign Language American Sign Language (ASL) is a natural language that serves as the predominant sign language of Deaf communities in the United States and most of Anglophone Canadians, Anglophone Canada. ASL is a complete and organized visual language that i ...

. The LSF family descends from

Old French Sign Language Old French Sign Language (, often abbreviated as VLSF) was the language of the deaf community in 18th-century Paris at the time of the establishment of the first deaf schools. The earliest records of the language are in the work of the Abbé d ...

(VLSF), which developed among the deaf community in Paris. The earliest mention of Old French Sign Language is by the abbé

Charles-Michel de l'Épée Charles-Michel de l'Épée (; 24 November 1712 – 23 December 1789) was an 18th-century French philanthropic educator who has become known as the "Father of the Deaf". He founded Institut National de Jeunes Sourds de Paris, the first public sch ...

in the late 18th century, but it could have existed for centuries prior. Several European sign languages, such as Russian Sign Language, derive from it, as does

, established when French educator Laurent Clerc taught his language at the

American School for the Deaf American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, ...

. Others, such as Spanish Sign Language, are thought to be related to French Sign Language even if they are not directly descendent from it.

Language family tree

Anderson (1979)

Anderson (1979) postulated the following classification of LSF and its relatives, with derivation from Medieval monks' sign systems, though some lineages are apparently traced by their manual alphabets and thus irrelevant for actual classification: * LSF **

Monastic sign languages Monastic sign languages have been used in Europe from at least the tenth century by Christian monks, and some, such as Cistercian and Trappist sign, are still in use today—not only in Europe, but also in Japan, China and the US. Unlike deaf sign ...

(described 1086) ** "Southwest European" Sign Languages *** Proto-Spanish **** Spanish Sign Language (dictionary 1851) **** Venezuelan Sign Language **** Irish ***** Australian Catholic *** Old Polish ****

Polish Sign Language Polish Sign Language (, ) is the language of the deaf community in Poland. Polish Sign Language uses a distinctive one-handed manual alphabet based on the alphabet used in Old French Sign Language and therefore appears to be related to French S ...

***

(VLSF, before l'Épée) **** Eastern French: Old Danish (edu. 1807), Old German, German Evangelical (edu. 1779 Austria), Old Russian (edu. 1806) **** Western French ***** Middle French Sign Language finger-spelling group: Netherlands (1780), Belgium (1793), Switzerland, Old French ***** Middle French (dict. 1850) ****** French ***** American (edu. 1816; later including components from Northwest European sign languages) ***** International finger-spelling group: Norway, Finland, Germany, US ***** Old Brazilian ****** Brazil, Argentina, Mexico

Wittmann (1991) and later research

Henri Wittmann Henri Wittmann (born 1937) is a Canadian linguist from Quebec. He is best known for his work on Quebec French. Biography Henri (Hirsch) Wittmann was born in Alsace in 1937. After studying with André Martinet at the Sorbonne, he moved to North A ...

(1991) has been influential in scholarly attempts at constructing the French Sign Language family tree. He listed most of the following suspected members of the family, with date of establishment or earliest attestation. Subsequent scholarly research has confirmed most of his conclusions, but rejected others and expanded the family tree with new branches, while removing others. *

(1752; may be different from Old French Sign Language) **Austro-Hungarian Sign Language (1780; now seen as separate Austrian Sign Language and Hungarian Sign Language) ***

Czech Sign Language Czech Sign Language (, ČZJ) is the sign language of the deaf community in the Czech Republic. It presumably emerged around the time of the first deaf school in Bohemia (1786). It belongs to the French sign-language family and is partially intel ...

(1786) ***

Ukrainian Sign Language Ukrainian Sign Language (USL) () is the sign language of the deaf community of Ukraine. Ukrainian Sign Language belongs to the family of French sign languages. Worldwide awareness of Ukrainian Sign Language rose sharply in 2014 after the relea ...

(1805) *** Russian Sign Language (1806) **** Bulgarian Sign Language (1920) ****probably Estonian Sign Language (1866) *** Slovak Sign Language *** Slovenian Sign Language (1840) *** Croatian Sign Language (1885) ***possibly Israeli Sign Language (1934) (but

German Sign Language German Sign Language (, DGS) is the sign language of the deaf community in Germany, Luxembourg and in the German-speaking community of Belgium. It is unclear how many use German Sign Language as their main language; Gallaudet University estimate ...

may be a stronger possibility) ** Belgian Sign Language ( – ), split during the federalisation of Belgium ***

Flemish Sign Language Flemish Sign Language (, VGT) is a deaf sign language of Belgium. It is closely related to French Belgian Sign Language, but they are now generally recognized as distinct languages. VGT is estimated to include around 6,000 sign-language users ...

( – present) ***

French Belgian Sign Language The French Belgian Sign Language (; LSFB) is the deaf sign language of the French language Community of Belgium, a country in Western Europe. It and Flemish Sign Language are very closely related (and distantly if at all related to French Sign ...

( – present) **

Dutch Sign Language Dutch Sign Language ( or NGT; Sign Language of the Netherlands or SLN) is the predominant sign language used by deaf people in the Netherlands. Although the same spoken Dutch language is used in the Netherlands and Flanders, the Dutch Sign Lan ...

(1799) **

Danish Sign Language Danish Sign Language (, DTS) is the sign language used in Denmark. Classification Henri Wittmann (1991) assigned DSL to the French Sign Language family because of similarities in vocabulary. Peter Atke Castberg studied deaf education in Europe ...

(1806) ***

Norwegian Sign Language Norwegian Sign Language, or NSL ( Norwegian or , ''NTS''), is the principal sign language in Norway. There are many sign language organizations and some television programs broadcast in NSL in Norway. The Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation airs ...

(1825) ****

Malagasy Sign Language The Malagasy Sign Language (, abbreviated TT) is a sign language used for communication among hearing impaired people in Madagascar. An estimated 110,000 to 170,000 people (or 1% of the population of Madagascar) are deaf. Malagasy Sign Language ...

(1950) ***

Icelandic Sign Language Icelandic Sign Language () is the sign language of the deaf community in Iceland. It is based on Danish Sign Language; until 1910, deaf Icelandic people were sent to school in Denmark, but the languages have diverged since then. It is officially ...

(split ca. 1910) *** Faroese Sign Language (1960) **

Latvian Sign Language Latvian Sign Language () is a sign language commonly used by deaf people in Latvia. Linguists use LSL as an acronym for Latvian Sign Language. Policy and education The Official Language Law of 9 December 1999, which came into force on 1 Sep ...

(1806) ** Philippine Sign Language (1806?) (frequently attributed to American Sign Language) **

(1817, with possible local admixture) *** Puerto Rican Sign Language (1907) *** Thai Sign Language (1951, creolized with indigenous sign). *** Ghanaian Sign Language (1957) ***

Nigerian Sign Language American Sign Language (ASL) developed in the United States, starting as a blend of local sign languages and French Sign Language (FSL). Local varieties have developed in many countries, but there is little research on which should be considered ...

(1960) *** Kuala Lumpur Sign Language (1960?; now

Malaysian Sign Language Malaysian Sign Language (, or BIM) is the principal language of the deaf community of Malaysia. It is also the official sign language used by the Malaysian government to communicate with the deaf community and was officially recognised by the Ma ...

?) *** Bolivian Sign Language (1973; a dialect of

) *** Moroccan Sign Language (1987?) *** Black American Sign LanguageMcCaskill, Carolyn, Ceil Lucas, Robert Bayley, and Joseph Hill. 2011. The Hidden Treasure of Black ASL: Its History and Structure. Washington, D.C.: Gallaudet University Press. . ***and " Eskimo Sign Language"? (dubious: the indigenous

Inuit Sign Language Inuit Sign Language (IUR; ) is one of the Inuit languages and the indigenous sign language of the Inuit people. It is a language isolate native to Inuit communities in the Canadian Arctic. It is currently only attested within certain communities ...

is an isolate) **A mixture of LSF and ASL may have given rise to ***

Quebec Sign Language Quebec Sign Language ( or , LSQ) is the predominant sign language of deaf communities used in francophone Canada, primarily in Quebec. Although named Quebec sign, LSQ can be found within Deafness in Francophone Canada, communities in Ontario and ...

(1817) *** Greek Sign Language (with local admixture) **

Italian Sign Language Italian Sign Language (, LIS) is the visual language used by deaf people in Italy. Deep analysis of it began in the 1980s, along the lines of William Stokoe's research on American Sign Language in the 1960s. Until the beginning of the 21st cen ...

(1828) *** Tunisian Sign Language (with local admixture) **

Irish Sign Language Irish Sign Language (ISL, ) is the sign language of Ireland, used primarily in the Republic of Ireland. It is also used in Northern Ireland, alongside British Sign Language (BSL). Irish Sign Language is more closely related to French Sign Langu ...

(1846) **

Mexican Sign Language Mexican Sign Language (, LSM; also previously known by several other names), is a natural language that serves as the predominant language of the Deaf community Deafness has varying definitions in cultural and medical contexts. In medical co ...

(1869) ** Algerian Sign Language (undated) ** Romanian Sign Language (undated) **? Catalan Sign Language (undated, but early) ;Post-1991 modifications Wittnann believed

Lyons Sign Language Spurious languages are languages that have been reported as existing in reputable works, while other research has reported that the language in question did not exist. Some spurious languages have been proven to not exist. Others have very lit ...

, Spanish Sign Language,

Brazilian Sign Language Brazilian Sign Language ( ) is the sign language used by deaf communities of Brazil. It is commonly known in short as Libras (). Brazilian Sign Language (Libras) is a well-established language and legally recognized.Venezuelan Sign Language, which are sometimes counted in the French family, had separate origins, though with some contact through stimulus diffusion, and it was Lyons rather than French Sign Language that gave rise to Belgian Sign Language.

Chilean Sign Language Chilean Sign Language (, LSCh) is the sign language of Chile's seven deaf institutions. It is used by people all over Chile and is the primary language used by the deaf community, being used for television interpretations. There is variation with ...

(1852) has also been included in the French family but is not listed by Wittmann. Hawaiian Pidgin Sign Language (with possible local admixture) turned out to be an isolate, unrelated to French, American, or any other Sign Language. J. Albert Bickford concluded that there was 'no substantive evidence that the yons Sign Languageever existed' and retired it from

Ethnologue ''Ethnologue: Languages of the World'' is an annual reference publication in print and online that provides statistics and other information on the living languages of the world. It is the world's most comprehensive catalogue of languages. It w ...

in 2017.

References

{{French Sign Language languages Deaf culture

Language family tree

Anderson (1979)

Wittmann (1991) and later research

See also

References