Guinea-Bissau Sign Language is an incipient
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 markers. Sign l ...
evolving from the single school for the deaf in Guinea-Bissau, which was founded in
Bissau
Bissau () is the capital, and largest city of Guinea-Bissau. Bissau had a population of 492,004. Bissau is located on the Geba River estuary, off the Atlantic Ocean, and is Guinea-Bissau's largest city, major port, and its administrative and m ...
in 2003. In 2005 a linguist and
Portuguese Sign Language
Portuguese Sign language () is a sign language used mainly by deaf people in Portugal.
It is recognized in the present Constitution of Portugal. It was significantly influenced by Swedish Sign Language, through a school for the Deaf that was esta ...
teacher found GBSL to still be basic, but with some consistency among students in the school and village use when the students went home.
References
Sign language development in Guinea Bissau NDCS, 2006.
{{sign language navigation
Sign language isolates
Languages of Guinea-Bissau