Maritime Sign Language (MSL) is a

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 ...

used in Canada's

Atlantic provinces Atlantic Canada, also called the Atlantic provinces (french: provinces de l'Atlantique), is the region of Eastern Canada comprising the provinces located on the Atlantic coast, excluding Quebec. The four provinces are New Brunswick, Newfoundlan ...

. Maritime Sign Language is descended from British Sign Language through the convergence of deaf communities from the

Northeastern United States The Northeastern United States, also referred to as the Northeast, the East Coast, or the American Northeast, is a geographic region of the United States. It is located on the Atlantic coast of North America, with Canada to its north, the Southe ...

and the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and ...

who immigrated to Canada during the 18th and 19th centuries. As late as the mid-20th century, it was the dominant form of sign language in

The Maritimes The Maritimes, also called the Maritime provinces, is a region of Eastern Canada consisting of three provinces: New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island. The Maritimes had a population of 1,899,324 in 2021, which makes up 5.1% of C ...

and the language of instruction at the

Halifax School for the Deaf The Halifax School for the Deaf (The Deaf and Dumb Institution, Halifax) was an institution in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, which opened on 4 August 1856. It was the first school of the deaf in Atlantic Canada. (The Halifax School for the Bli ...

(1857–1961) and the

Atlantic Provinces Special Education Authority The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the "Old World" of Africa, Europe an ...

Amherst, Nova Scotia Amherst ( ) is a town in northwestern Nova Scotia, Canada, located at the northeast end of the Cumberland Basin, an arm of the Bay of Fundy, and south of the Northumberland Strait. The town sits on a height of land at the eastern boundary of th ...

(1961–1995). MSL is being supplanted by

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 of America and most of Anglophone Canada. ASL is a complete and organized visual language that is expre ...

(ASL), so that by 2020, MSL has been largely restricted to older Deaf people in the Maritimes. Younger generations are educated in ASL and have less knowledge of and less regard for MSL, while some of the older generation remain loyal to MSL. The number of MSL speakers is unknown and was estimated to have been fewer than 100 in 2009; most were concentrated in Nova Scotia, some in New Brunswick, while almost none were thought to remain in Newfoundland and Labrador (only 3 were said to exist) or Prince Edward Island. ASL and MSL have 'blended' in the region. ASL has been demonstrated to influence the vocabulary and grammar of MSL, for example because the original BANZSL two-handed manual alphabet is no longer used in the Maritimes and has been replaced by the one-handed

American manual alphabet The American Manual Alphabet (AMA) is a manual alphabet that augments the vocabulary of American Sign Language American Sign Language (ASL) is a natural language that serves as the predominant sign language of Deaf communities in the United ...

, whose

fingerspelling Fingerspelling (or dactylology) is the representation of the letters of a writing system, and sometimes numeral systems, using only the hands. These manual alphabets (also known as finger alphabets or hand alphabets) have often been used in deaf ...

has been influencing

lexicalisation In linguistics, lexicalization is the process of adding words, set phrases, or word patterns to a language's lexicon. Whether '' word formation'' and ''lexicalization'' refer to the same process is controversial within the field of linguistics. ...

. Resources (education, interpretation, etc.) for MSL speakers are largely lacking, but a grant to the Nova Scotia Cultural Society of the Deaf produced VHS tapes documenting the language, and in the 2010s a project was started to document placenames in Atlantic Canada in both MSL and ASL and has resulted in interactive online maps. The language is recorded in a 2017 documentary film, ''Halifax Explosion: The Deaf Experience'', and was contrasted with ASL to comic effect in a piece performed at the 2019 Sound Off Theatre Festival in

Edmonton Edmonton ( ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Alberta's central region. The city an ...

about a Nova Scotian and an American travelling in Eastern Canada.

References

{{sign language navigation BANZSL Sign Language family Endangered sign languages Sign languages of Canada Village sign languages