The three
deaf-community sign language
A deaf-community or urban sign language is a sign language that emerges when deaf people who do not have a common language come together and form a community. This may be a formal situation, such as the establishment of a school for deaf students, ...
s indigenous to
Vietnam
Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...
are found in
Ho Chi Minh City
, population_density_km2 = 4,292
, population_density_metro_km2 = 697.2
, population_demonym = Saigonese
, blank_name = GRP (Nominal)
, blank_info = 2019
, blank1_name = – Total
, blank1_ ...
,
Hanoi
Hanoi or Ha Noi ( or ; vi, Hà Nội ) is the capital and second-largest city of Vietnam. It covers an area of . It consists of 12 urban districts, one district-leveled town and 17 rural districts. Located within the Red River Delta, Hanoi is ...
, and
Haiphong
Haiphong ( vi, Hải Phòng, ), or Hải Phòng, is a major industrial city and the third-largest in Vietnam. Hai Phong is also the center of technology, economy, culture, medicine, education, science and trade in the Red River delta.
Haiphong wa ...
. The HCMC and Hanoi languages especially have been influenced by 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 ...
(LSQ) once taught in schools, and have absorbed a large amount of FSL vocabulary.
The Vietnamese languages are part of a sign language area that includes indigenous sign languages of
Laos
Laos (, ''Lāo'' )), officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic ( Lao: ສາທາລະນະລັດ ປະຊາທິປະໄຕ ປະຊາຊົນລາວ, French: République démocratique populaire lao), is a socialist ...
and
Thailand
Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is bo ...
, though it is not known if they are genealogically related to each other. The influence of FSL may have obscured the links: the highest cognacy is with Haiphong Sign, which has been the least influenced by FSL.
There are attempts to develop a national
standard language
A standard language (also standard variety, standard dialect, and standard) is a language variety that has undergone substantial codification of grammar and usage, although occasionally the term refers to the entirety of a language that includes ...
, Vietnamese Sign Language.
See also
*
Haiphong Sign Language
Haiphong Sign Language is the deaf-community sign language of the city of Haiphong in Vietnam. It is about 50% cognate with the other sign languages of Vietnam, and has been less influenced than them by the French Sign Language once taught in Viet ...
*
Old Chiangmai–Bangkok Sign Language family
The Old Chiangmai–Bangkok Sign Language family is a language family of two related sign languages: Old Chiangmai Sign Language and Old Bangkok Sign Language. Woodward (2003) found that they were 65% cognate, indicating that the two languages ...
*
Vietnamese Braille
Vietnamese Braille is the braille alphabet used for the Vietnamese language. It is very close to French Braille (and thus to a lesser degree to English Braille), but with the addition of tone letters. Vietnamese Braille is known in Vietnamese as ' ...
References
* Woodward, James (2000). ''Sign languages and sign language families in Thailand and Viet Nam,'' in
Emmorey, Karen, and Harlan Lane, eds., The signs of language revisited : an anthology to honor Ursula Bellugi and Edward Klima. Mahwah, N.J.: Lawrence Erlbaum, p. 23-47
* Woodward, James; Thi Hoa, Nguyen; Tran Thuy Tien, Nguyen (2004). ''Providing higher educational opportunities in Deaf adults in Viet Nam through Vietnamese sign languages: 2000-2003.'' In: Deaf Worlds 20: 3 (2004) - pp. 232–263
External links
Students are dextrous with sign language
{{sign language navigation
Languages of Vietnam
Sign languages