Samoan Sign Language is the
deaf 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 ...
of
Samoa
Samoa, officially the Independent State of Samoa; sm, Sāmoa, and until 1997 known as Western Samoa, is a Polynesian island country consisting of two main islands (Savai'i and Upolu); two smaller, inhabited islands (Manono Island, Manono an ...
.
Much Samoan Sign Language is based on
Australian Sign Language, though there are local signs for Samoan food. It's not clear if this means Samoan Sign Language is related to Australian Sign Language, or if it merely has many loanwords from Australian Sign Language.
A short dictionary has been compiled for Samoan Sign Language, and evidently a separate dictionary has been compiled for American Samoan Sign Language. "American Samoan Sign Language" may just be
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 Canadians, Anglophone Canada. ASL is a complete and organized visual lang ...
as used in American Samoa.
References
{{sign language navigation
Sign languages
Languages of Samoa
Languages of American Samoa
BANZSL Sign Language family
Sign languages of the United States