Norwegian Sign Language, or NSL (
Norwegian or , ''NTS''), is the principal
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 ...
in
Norway
Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...
. There are many sign language organizations and some
television
Television (TV) is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. Additionally, the term can refer to a physical television set rather than the medium of transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, ...
programs broadcast in NSL in Norway. The
Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation
The Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation (), commonly known by its initialism NRK, is a Norwegian state-run, government-influenced radio and television public broadcasting company.
The NRK broadcasts three national TV channels and thirteen nat ...
airs (News in Sign Language) daily and (Time for Signs) weekly.
NSL is an official language as of 1 January 2022.
Relation to Malagasy Sign Language
The language is sometimes reported to be similar, or even identical to
the sign language used in
Madagascar
Madagascar, officially the Republic of Madagascar, is an island country that includes the island of Madagascar and numerous smaller peripheral islands. Lying off the southeastern coast of Africa, it is the world's List of islands by area, f ...
. In fact, while Norwegian Sign Language may have influenced Malagasy sign language via the creation of schools for the deaf by Norwegian Lutheran missionaries, the languages are quite distinct. Out of a sample of 96 sign pairs, 18 pairs were identical between the two languages, 26 showed some level of similarity, and 52 appeared completely unrelated. It is not yet known to what degree the similarities are a result of direct borrowing, borrowing from a common source language (such as
ASL or
International Sign
International Sign (IS) is a pidgin sign language which is used in a variety of different contexts, particularly as an international auxiliary language at meetings such as the World Federation of the Deaf (WFD) congress, in some European Union s ...
),
mimesis
Mimesis (; , ''mīmēsis'') is a term used in literary criticism and philosophy that carries a wide range of meanings, including '' imitatio'', imitation, similarity, receptivity, representation, mimicry, the act of expression, the act of ...
of the thing they refer to, or sheer coincidence.
See also
*
Norway
Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...
*
Norwegian Association of the Deaf
*
Deaf culture
Deaf culture is the set of social beliefs, behaviors, art, literary traditions, history, values, and shared institutions of communities that are influenced by deafness and which use sign languages as the main means of communication. When used as ...
*
Deaf rights movement
References
External links
NTS DictionaryWikiSigns.org– Malagasy Sign Language Dictionary
{{French Sign Language languages
French Sign Language family
Danish Sign Language family
Languages of Norway