Algerian Jewish Sign Language (AJSL), also known as Ghardaia Sign Language, is a moribund
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 langu ...
originally of
Ghardaïa
Ghardaïa (, ) is the capital city of Ghardaïa Province, Algeria. The commune of Ghardaïa has a population of 93,423 according to the 2008 census, up from 87,599 in 1998, with an annual growth rate of 0.7%.
It is located in northern-central A ...
, Algeria that is now used in Israel and possibly also in France.
The Jewish community of Ghardaïa immigrated to France and Israel during the years 1943 to 1962. However, because deaf Algerian Jews tended to marry deaf Israelis from other backgrounds, they adopted
Israeli Sign Language (ISL) as their primary language and AJSL is now used only by older generations.
Little is known about its use in France.
References
External links
JDCC News
Village sign languages
Sign languages of France
Ghardaïa
Languages of Algeria
Jews and Judaism in Algeria
Jewish languages
Endangered sign language isolates
Sign languages of Israel
Language isolates of Asia
{{Algeria-stub