Paraguayan Sign Language, or ''Lengua de señas paraguaya'' (LSPY), is the

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 ...

Paraguay Paraguay (; ), officially the Republic of Paraguay ( es, República del Paraguay, links=no; gn, Tavakuairetã Paraguái, links=si), is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to th ...

. It is not intelligible with neighboring languages, nor with

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 speakers report that it has historical connections with

Uruguayan Sign Language Uruguayan Sign Language, or ''Lengua de señas uruguaya'' (LSU), is the deaf sign language of Uruguay Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares ...

. It developed outside the schools, and was only used in education "recently" (as of 2009). Paraguay is notably a bilingual country, where both

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Cana ...

and Guarani are spoken. The Language Law No. 4251 provides for

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 e ...

adequate to both languages.Ley de Lenguas Nº 4251

Bibliography

*Lichtenberger, Wilfried. 1990. ''Habla Conmigo: primer libro de aprendizaje de la lengua para escolares principiantes con difficultades en el lenguaje.'' Asunción: Centro Editorial Paraguayo S.R.L. *Lichtenberger, Wilfried. 1990. ''Guia linguistica y didactica del Habla Conmigo: primer libro de aprendizaje de la lengua para escolares principiantes con difficultades en el lenguaje para el Profesor especial. Asunción.

References

Sign language isolates Languages of Paraguay {{Paraguay-stub