Swiss-German Sign Language (German: ''Deutschschweizer Gebärdensprache'', abbreviated DSGS) is the primary

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 the

German-speaking part of Switzerland The German-speaking part of Switzerland (german: Deutschschweiz, french: Suisse alémanique, it, Svizzera tedesca, rm, Svizra tudestga) comprises about 65 percent of Switzerland (North Western Switzerland, Eastern Switzerland, Central Switz ...

and of

Liechtenstein Liechtenstein (), officially the Principality of Liechtenstein (german: link=no, Fürstentum Liechtenstein), is a German-speaking microstate located in the Alps between Austria and Switzerland. Liechtenstein is a semi-constitutional monarchy ...

. The language was established around 1828. In 2011 it was estimated that 7,500 deaf and 13,000 hearing people use DSGS. There are six dialects which developed in boarding schools for the deaf in

Zürich Zürich () is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zürich. It is located in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zürich. As of January 2020, the municipality has 43 ...

Bern german: Berner(in)french: Bernois(e) it, bernese , neighboring_municipalities = Bremgarten bei Bern, Frauenkappelen, Ittigen, Kirchlindach, Köniz, Mühleberg, Muri bei Bern, Neuenegg, Ostermundigen, Wohlen bei Bern, Zollikofen , website ...

Basel , french: link=no, Bâlois(e), it, Basilese , neighboring_municipalities= Allschwil (BL), Hégenheim (FR-68), Binningen (BL), Birsfelden (BL), Bottmingen (BL), Huningue (FR-68), Münchenstein (BL), Muttenz (BL), Reinach (BL), Riehen (BS ...

Lucerne Lucerne ( , ; High Alemannic German, High Alemannic: ''Lozärn'') or Luzern ()Other languages: gsw, Lozärn, label=Lucerne German; it, Lucerna ; rm, Lucerna . is a city in central Switzerland, in the Languages of Switzerland, German-speaking po ...

, and

St. Gallen , neighboring_municipalities = Eggersriet, Gaiserwald, Gossau, Herisau (AR), Mörschwil, Speicher (AR), Stein (AR), Teufen (AR), Untereggen, Wittenbach , twintowns = Liberec (Czech Republic) , website ...

, as well as in

Name

In Switzerland, the language is called ''Gebärdensprache'' (''sign language'') if a distinction from other languages is not required. Some sources call it ''Natürliche Gebärden'' or ''Natürliche Gebärdensprache'', or Swiss Sign Language (''Langage gestuel suisse''). The former just means 'natural sign', like those for "sleep" or "eat", in contrast to ''Abstrakte Gebärden'' 'conceptual sign', and so the term is no longer used. Most English sources today uses the term ''German-Swiss Sign Language'' or ''Swiss-German Sign Language''.Center for sign language research
Bibliography
/ref>

Classification

Wittmann (1991) suspects that Swiss-German Sign Language may be part of the

French Sign Language family The French Sign Language (LSF, from ''langue des signes française'') or Francosign family is a language family of sign languages which includes French Sign Language and American Sign Language. The LSF family descends from Old French Sign Langua ...

, but it is not close and this is not easy to demonstrate. Wittmann, Henri (1991). "Classification linguistique des langues signées non vocalement." Revue québécoise de linguistique théorique et appliquée 10:1.215–8

/ref> In Switzerland, the parentage of this language is still in research. Research on whether DSGS could be a derivative of the

German Sign Language German Sign Language or Deutsche Gebärdensprache (DGS), is the sign language of the deaf community in Germany, Luxembourg and in the German-speaking community of Belgium. It is unclear how many use German Sign Language as their main language; Ga ...

(DGS) is planned, but it was observed that DSGS signers are often more open to borrowing loan signs from LSF-SR, the

French Sign Language French Sign Language (french: langue des signes française, LSF) is the sign language of the deaf in France and French-speaking parts of Switzerland. According to ''Ethnologue'', it has 100,000 native signers. French Sign Language is related ...

dialect of the

Suisse Romande Romandy (french: Romandie or )Before World War I, the term French Switzerland (french: Suisse française) waalso used german: Romandie or , it, Romandia, rm, Romanda) is the French-speaking part of western Switzerland. In 2020, about 2 milli ...

, and less from the DGS.

Literature

Two books have been published in

SignWriting Sutton SignWriting, or simply SignWriting, is a system of writing sign languages. It is highly featural and visually iconic, both in the shapes of the characters, which are abstract pictures of the hands, face, and body, and in their spatial arr ...

Manual alphabet

The

manual alphabet 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 ...

is similar to that of

and

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 ...

, but with the following differences: *For F, the upright fingers are parallel/in contact *For T, the index finger lies atop the tip of the thumb (an X with the thumb underneath), as commonly found in other alphabets *Informally, X uses the thumb, like C with just the index finger *Ä is like A, but the thumb move out and back a couple times *Ö is like O, but the it opens to a C shape and closes again a couple times (formally, the index finger remains in contact with the thumb) *Ü is like U, but the fingers bend down (as the index is in an X or T) a couple times *SCH is as in DGS *There is also a CH, which is a C formed with the fingers of H (thumb, index and middle) *There is no ẞ, as that is rendered SS in Switzerland.

External links

* Swiss Deaf Federation
Web dictionary of the Swiss German Sign Language
* Interkantonale Hochschule für Heilpädagogik
Business dictionary of the Swiss German Sign Language

References

{{Authority control Sign languages Languages of Switzerland Sign language isolates French Sign Language family Sign languages of Switzerland