Chilean Sign Language, or ''Lengua de Señas Chilena'' (LSCh), is the

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 Chile's seven deaf institutions. It is used by people all over Chile and is the primary language used by the deaf community, being used for television interpretations. There is variation within the language depending on factors such as geographical location, age, and educational background.

Geographic Distributions

Mainly spoken all across

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

Regions

Santiago Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile, is the capital and largest city of Chile as well as one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is the center of Chile's most densely populated region, the Santiago Metropolitan Region, whos ...

Iquique Iquique () is a port city and commune in northern Chile, capital of both the Iquique Province and Tarapacá Region. It lies on the Pacific coast, west of the Pampa del Tamarugal, which is part of the Atacama Desert. It has a population of 191, ...

* Puerto Montt *

Punta Arenas Punta Arenas (; historically Sandy Point in English) is the capital city of Chile's southernmost region, Magallanes and Antarctica Chilena. The city was officially renamed as Magallanes in 1927, but in 1938 it was changed back to "Punta Are ...

Estimated Population Use

In 2004, it had been estimated that about 292,700 people (1.8%) of the Chilean population had some type of auditory deficiency. About half of the people with auditory deficiency are over the age of 65. This leaves the estimated number of users who actually use LSCh at only about 21,000 people.

Recognition and Status

There have been many movements to get the Chilean government to try to get LSCh (Chilean sign language) regulated within the country. Schools and churches are trying to create more programs to try to encourage deaf leadership training and empowering deaf people to make decisions for their own communities. It was recognized in 2009.

Government Services and Laws

There are no government services specifically for sign language and deaf people. Fondo Nacional de la Discapacidad (FONADIS) is the government department responsible for the providing services. There are also no laws to prevent discrimination while applying for jobs, although there is a branch created to look for jobs for deaf people.

Education

There are about 20 schools spread across Chile geared towards deaf students. There is not one system of doing it with different towns doing it differently. For example, in the town of Santiago, students are only identified as speech only or sign only and learn in different environments. Students with implants are identified as speech only. There are 4 universities developed for deaf students based on standardized test scores. Studies show that out of 17 people, about 10 were taught LSCh through school while the other 7 were either taught by a family member or out of school environments.

Dictionaries

LSCh has a couple of standard Spanish-to-LSCh dictionaries, such as the ''Diccionario Bilingüe Lengua de Señas Chilena-Español''. In 2008, 30 representatives from all across Chile came together to create a standard dictionary.

Fingerspelling

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 ...

of LSCh includes the 27 Spanish alphabet letters, and, as in many sign languages, is used to spell names and words that do not have standard signs.

Fingerspelling 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 defined as a visual form that reflects the graphemes that make up words, providing a means by which to gain access to the segmental information of words. It has been integrated into the deaf community for a variety reasons which include "when a concept lacks a specific sign, for proper nouns, for loan signs, or when signs are ambiguous." Alfabetochileno

References

{{sign language navigation Sign languages Languages of Chile Disability in Chile