Sri Lankan Sign Language is a
visual language
A visual language is a system of communication using visual elements. Speech as a means of communication cannot strictly be separated from the whole of human communicative activity which includes the visual and the term 'language' in relation to ...
used by
deaf
Deafness has varying definitions in cultural and medical contexts. In medical contexts, the meaning of deafness is hearing loss that precludes a person from understanding spoken language, an audiological condition. In this context it is written ...
people in Sri Lanka and has regional variations stemming from the 25 Deaf schools in Sri Lanka.
Classification
Wittmann (1991)
[ Wittmann, Henri (1991). "Classification linguistique des langues signées non vocalement." Revue québécoise de linguistique théorique et appliquée 10:1.215–8]
/ref> posits that the Sri Lankan languages, as a group, are a language isolate ('prototype' sign language), though one developed through stimulus diffusion
In cultural anthropology and cultural geography, cultural diffusion, as conceptualized by Leo Frobenius in his 1897/98 publication ''Der westafrikanische Kulturkreis'', is the spread of cultural items—such as ideas, styles, religions, technol ...
from an existing sign language. It is not known if they are related to each other, nor how many there are.
References
External links
Sri Lankan sign language
{{sign language navigation
Sign language isolates
Languages of Sri Lanka
Deaf culture in Sri Lanka