Danish Sign Language ( da, Dansk tegnsprog, DTS) 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 ...

used in

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of Denmark , establish ...

Classification

Henri Wittmann Henri Wittmann (born 1937) is a Canadian linguist from Quebec. He is best known for his work on Quebec French. Biography Henri (Hirsch) Wittmann was born in Alsace in 1937. After studying with André Martinet at the Sorbonne, he moved to North Am ...

(1991) Wittmann, Henri (1991). "Classification linguistique des langues signées non vocalement." Revue québécoise de linguistique théorique et appliquée 10:1.215–8

/ref> assigned DSL to the French Sign Language family because of similarities in vocabulary.

Peter Atke Castberg Peter Atke Castberg (3 August 1779 – 30 April 1823) was a Danish professor and physician who founded modern deaf education in Denmark. Biography Castberg was born in Copenhagen, Denmark, to Peder Leganger Castberg, a priest, and Magdal ...

studied deaf education in Europe for two years (1803–1805), including at l'Épée's school in Paris, and founded the first deaf school in Denmark in 1807, where Danish Sign Language (DTS) developed. The exact relationship between DTS and Old French Sign Language (VLSF) is not known; Castberg was critical of l'Épée's 'methodical signs' and also receptive to local sign language in 1807, and may thus have introduced signs from VLSF to a pre-existing local language (or

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 is ...

(s)) rather than derived DTS from VLSF itself. In any case, Castberg introduced a one-handed manual alphabet in 1808 that was based on the Spanish manual alphabet. In 1977, the

Danish Deaf Association The Danish Deaf Association (, DDL) is a private advocacy group which works to ensure better living conditions for deaf people in society. It campaigns for equality between deaf and hearing people in education, paid employment and accessibility, ...

adopted 'the international manual alphabet', which was an almost exact copy of the American manual alphabet, with minor differences and additional signs for the æ, ø and å.

Norwegian Sign Language Norwegian Sign Language, or NSL ( Norwegian or , ''NTS''), is the principal sign language in Norway. There are many sign language organizations and some television programs broadcast in NSL in Norway. The Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation airs ...

is generally thought to be a descendant of DSL. However, it may well be a mixture of DSL and indigenous sign, parallel to the situation between Swedish Sign Language and

Finnish Sign Language Finnish Sign Language () is the sign language most commonly used in Finland. There are 3,000 ''(2012 estimate)'' Finnish deaf who have Finnish Sign Language as a first language. As the Finnish system records users by their written language, not ...

Brita Bergman Brita Elisabeth Bergman (b. Jonsson, 30 March 1946) is a Swedish emeritus professor specializing in the linguistics of signed languages. She initiated a line of research in signed language linguistics at the Department of Linguistics at Stockholm ...

& Elisabeth Engberg-Pedersen, 2010. ''Transmission of sign languages in the Nordic countries.'' In Brentari, ed., ''Sign Languages''. Cambridge University Press.

Icelandic Sign Language Icelandic Sign Language ( is, Íslenskt táknmál) is the sign language of the deaf community in Iceland. It is based on Danish Sign Language; until 1910, deaf Icelandic people were sent to school in Denmark, but the languages have diverged sinc ...

is closer; 37% of a set of analyzed signs (Aldersson 2006) were completely different in structure and a further 16% were similar but not the same. Faroese Sign Language and Greenlandic Sign Language are more clearly dialects of DSL.

References

External links

Ordbog over Dansk Tegnsprog
A free online DSL dictionary. * Aldersson, Russell R. and Lisa J. McEntee-Atalianis. 2007. A Lexical Comparison of Icelandic Sign Language and Danish Sign Language. ''Birkbeck Studies in Applied Linguistics'' Vol 2
A Lexical Comparison of Icelandic Sign Language and Danish Sign Language
Sign Language Studies , October 1, 2008 , Aldersson, Russell R; McEntee-Atalianis, Lisa J , 700+ words French Sign Language family Danish Sign Language family Languages of Denmark Languages of the Faroe Islands Languages of Greenland {{Denmark-stub