There are perhaps three hundred

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 ...

s in use around the world today. The number is not known with any confidence; new sign languages emerge frequently through creolization and '' de novo'' (and occasionally through language planning). In some countries, such as Sri Lanka and Tanzania, each school for the deaf may have a separate language, known only to its students and sometimes denied by the school; on the other hand, countries may share sign languages, although sometimes under different names (Croatian and Serbian, Indian and Pakistani). Deaf sign languages also arise outside educational institutions, especially in village communities with high levels of congenital deafness, but there are significant sign languages developed for the hearing as well, such as the speech-taboo languages used in aboriginal Australia. Scholars are doing field surveys to identify the world's sign languages. The following list is grouped into three sections : * Deaf sign languages, which are the preferred languages of

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 ...

communities around the world; these include

village sign language A village sign language, or village sign, also known as a shared sign language, is a local indigenous sign language used by both deaf and hearing in an area with a high incidence of congenital deafness. Meir ''et al.'' define a village sign langua ...

s, shared with the hearing community, and

Deaf-community sign language A deaf-community or urban sign language is a sign language that emerges when deaf people who do not have a common language come together and form a community. This may be a formal situation, such as the establishment of a school for deaf students, ...

s * Auxiliary sign languages, which are not native languages but sign systems of varying complexity, used alongside spoken languages. Simple

gesture A gesture is a form of non-verbal communication or non-vocal communication in which visible bodily actions communicate particular messages, either in place of, or in conjunction with, speech. Gestures include movement of the hands, face, or o ...

s are not included, as they do not constitute

language Language is a structured system of communication. The structure of a language is its grammar and the free components are its vocabulary. Languages are the primary means by which humans communicate, and may be conveyed through a variety of ...

. * Signed modes of spoken languages, also known as

manually coded language Manually coded languages (MCLs) are a family of gestural communication methods which include gestural spelling as well as constructed languages which directly interpolate the grammar and syntax of oral languages in a gestural-visual form—that ...

s, which are bridges between signed and spoken languages The list of deaf sign languages is sorted regionally and alphabetically, and such groupings should not be taken to imply any genetic relationships between these languages (see

List of language families The following is a list of language families. It also includes language isolates, unclassified languages and other types. Major language families By number of languages '' Ethnologue'' 24 (2021) lists the following families that contain at least ...

Sign language list

Contemporary deaf sign languages

Africa

There are at least 25 sign languages in Africa, according to researcher Nobutaka Kamei. Some have distributions that are completely independent of those of African spoken languages. At least 13 foreign sign languages, mainly from Europe and America, have been introduced to at least 27 African nations; some of the 23 sign languages documented by Kamei have originated with or been influenced by them.

Americas

Asia-Pacific

Europe

Middle East

Historical deaf sign languages

Martha's Vineyard Sign Language Martha's Vineyard Sign Language (MVSL) was a village sign-language that was once widely used on the island of Martha's Vineyard from the early 18th century to 1952. It was used by both Deaf and hearing people in the community; consequently, dea ...

Old French Sign Language Old French Sign Language (french: Vieille langue des signes française, often abbreviated as VLSF) was the language of the deaf community in 18th-century Paris at the time of the establishment of the first deaf schools. The earliest records o ...

– ancestral to the French family * Old Kent Sign Language

Auxiliary sign languages

Baby Sign Baby sign language is the use of manual signing allowing infants and toddlers to communicate emotions, desires, and objects prior to spoken language development. With guidance and encouragement signing develops from a natural stage in infant de ...

– using signs to assist early language development in young children. * Contact Sign – a

pidgin A pidgin , or pidgin language, is a grammatically simplified means of communication that develops between two or more groups of people that do not have a language in common: typically, its vocabulary and grammar are limited and often drawn from s ...

contact language Language contact occurs when speakers of two or more languages or varieties interact and influence each other. The study of language contact is called contact linguistics. When speakers of different languages interact closely, it is typical for th ...

between a spoken language and a sign language, e.g. Pidgin Sign English (PSE). * Curwin Hand Signs – a technique which allows musical notes to be communicated through hand signs. * International Sign (previously known as Gestuno) – an auxiliary language used by deaf people in international settings. *

Makaton Makaton is a communication tool together with speech and symbols, to enable people with disabilities or learning disabilities to communicate. It is not a British Sign Language (BSL) or any form of Sign Language in its own right. Makaton supports ...

– a system of signed communication used by and with people who have speech, language or learning difficulties. * Mofu-Gudur Sign Language * Monastic sign language *

Signalong Signalong is an alternative and augmentative key-word signing communication method used by those individuals with speech, language and communication needs. The Signalong methodology has been effectively used with individuals who have cognitive i ...

– international sign assisted communication techniques used to support children and adults with communication or learning difficulties

Manual modes of spoken languages

Manual modes of spoken languages include: * General ** Cued Speech – a hand/mouth system (HMS) to render spoken language phonemes visually intelligible. **

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 ...

– alphabetic signs to represent the written form of a spoken language. * English ** Manually Coded English ** Signing Exact English (SEE2) **

*Malay **

Bahasa Malaysia Kod Tangan Kod Tangan Bahasa Malaysia (KTBM), or Manually Coded Malay, is a signed form of the Malay language recognized by the government in Malaysia and the Malaysian Ministry of Education. It is used as an aid to teachers teaching the Malay language to ...

(BMKT) *Speech-taboo languages **

Caucasian Sign Language Armenian Woman's Sign Language, also known as Caucasian Sign Language or ''Harsneren'' (, "bride's language"), is an indigenous sign language of Armenia. It is not directly related to the sign languages of Europe, though it may have historical co ...

Australian Aboriginal sign languages Many Australian Aboriginal cultures have or traditionally had a manually coded language, a signed counterpart of their oral language. This appears to be connected with various speech taboos between certain kin or at particular times, such a ...

(though Yolŋu Sign Language does not correspond to any one language, and doubles as a language of the deaf)

Genetic classification of sign languages

Languages are assigned families (implying a genetic relationships between these languages) as British, Swedish (perhaps a branch of BSL), French (with branches ASL (American), Austro-Hungarian, Danish, Italian),

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

, and

language isolate Language isolates are languages that cannot be classified into larger language families. Korean and Basque are two of the most common examples. Other language isolates include Ainu in Asia, Sandawe in Africa, and Haida in North America. The nu ...

References

External links

''Ethnologue'' – Deaf sign languagesMultiple accessible sign languages dictionariesSignes du Monde
directory for all online Sign Languages dictionaries {{DEFAULTSORT:List Of Sign Languages *

Sign A sign is an Physical object, object, quality (philosophy), quality, event, or Non-physical entity, entity whose presence or occurrence indicates the probable presence or occurrence of something else. A natural sign bears a causal relation to ...

Deaf education