Sudan and South Sudan have multiple regional

sign languages 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 ...

, which are not mutually intelligible. A survey of just three states found 150 sign languages, though this number included instances of

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 iso ...

. Government figures estimate there are at least about 48,900 deaf people in Sudan. By 2009, the

Sudanese National Union of the Deaf Sudanese or Sudanic may refer to: *pertaining to the country of Sudan **the people of Sudan, see Demographics of Sudan *pertaining to Sudan (region) **Sudanic languages **Sudanic race, subtype of the Africoid racial category See also *Sudanese Civ ...

had worked out a Unified Sudanese Sign Language, but it had not yet been widely disseminated.

References

Sign language isolates Languages of Sudan Languages of South Sudan {{sign-lang-stub