Sudan and South Sudan have multiple regional

sign languages 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 ...

, which are not

mutually intelligible In linguistics, mutual intelligibility is a relationship between languages or dialects in which speakers of different but related varieties can readily understand each other without prior familiarity or special effort. It is sometimes used as an ...

. A survey of just three states found 150 sign languages, though this number included instances of

home sign Home sign (or kitchen sign) is a gestural communication system, often invented spontaneously by a deaf child who lacks accessible linguistic input. Home sign systems often arise in families where a deaf child is raised by hearing parents and is iso ...

. Government figures estimate there are at least about 48,900 deaf people in Sudan. By 2009, the

Sudanese National Union of the Deaf Sudanese or Sudanic may refer to: *pertaining to the country of Sudan **the people of Sudan, see Demographics of Sudan *pertaining to Sudan (region) **Sudanic languages **Sudanic race, subtype of the Africoid racial category See also *Sudanese Civ ...

had worked out a Unified Sudanese Sign Language, but it had not yet been widely disseminated.

References

Sign language isolates Languages of Sudan Languages of South Sudan {{sign-lang-stub