The recorded history of sign language in Western societies starts in the 17th century, as a visual language or method of communication, although references to forms of communication using hand gestures date back as far as 5th century BC Greece. Sign language is composed of a system of conventional gestures, mimic, hand signs and finger spelling, plus the use of hand positions to represent the letters of the alphabet. Signs can also represent complete ideas or phrases, not only individual words.
Most sign languages are natural languages, different in construction from oral languages used in proximity to them, and are employed mainly by deaf people in order to communicate. Many sign languages have developed independently throughout the world, and no first sign language can be identified. Both signed systems and manual alphabets have been found worldwide. Until the 19th century, most of what we know about historical sign languages is limited to the manual alphabets (fingerspelling systems) that were invented to facilitate transfer of words from an oral to a sign language, rather than documentation of the sign language itself.
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The recorded historyofsignlanguage in Western societies starts in the 17th century, as a visual language or method of communication, although references...
Signlanguages (also known as signedlanguages) are languages that use the visual-manual modality to convey meaning, instead of spoken words. Sign languages...
British SignLanguage (BSL) is a signlanguage used in the United Kingdom and is the first or preferred language among the deaf community in the UK. While...
Plains Indian SignLanguage (PISL), also known as Hand Talk or Plains SignLanguage, is an endangered language common to various Plains Nations across...
American SignLanguage (ASL) is a natural language that serves as the predominant signlanguageof deaf communities in the United States and most of Anglophone...
Filipino SignLanguage (FSL) or Philippine SignLanguage (Filipino: Wikang pasenyas ng mga Pilipino), is a signlanguage originating in the Philippines...
perhaps three hundred signlanguages in use around the world today. The number is not known with any confidence; new signlanguages emerge frequently through...
Singapore SignLanguage, or SgSL, is the native signlanguage used by the deaf and hard of hearing in Singapore, developed over six decades since the setting...
French SignLanguage (French: langue des signes française, LSF) is the signlanguageof the deaf in France and French-speaking parts of Switzerland. According...
Taiwan SignLanguage (TSL; Chinese: 台灣手語; pinyin: Táiwān Shǒuyǔ) is the signlanguage most commonly used by the deaf and hard of hearing in Taiwan. The...
Zealand SignLanguage or NZSL (Māori: te reo Turi) is the main languageof the deaf community in New Zealand. It became an official languageof New Zealand...
American SignLanguage (ASL) developed in the United States, starting as a blend of local signlanguages and French SignLanguage (FSL). Local varieties...
Irish SignLanguage (ISL, Irish: Teanga Chomharthaíochta na hÉireann) is the signlanguageof Ireland, used primarily in the Republic of Ireland. It is...
Greek SignLanguage (ENG) (Greek: Ελληνική νοηματική γλώσσα) is a signlanguage used by the Greek deaf community. Greek Sign has been legally recognized...
(/ˈɒzlæn/) is the signlanguage used by the majority of the Australian Deaf community. The term Auslan is a portmanteau of "Australian SignLanguage", coined by...
Russian SignLanguage (RSL) is the signlanguage used by the Deaf community in Russia, with what is possibly additional presence in Belarus and Tajikistan...
languages are also used in Israel, among them Al-Sayyid Bedouin SignLanguage. The historyof ISL goes back to 1873 in Germany, where Marcus Reich, a German...
Flemish SignLanguage (Dutch: Vlaamse Gebarentaal, VGT) is a deaf signlanguageof Belgium. It is closely related to French Belgian SignLanguage, but they...
South African SignLanguage (SASL, Afrikaans: Suid-Afrikaanse Gebaretaal) is the primary signlanguage used by deaf people in South Africa. The South African...
Dutch SignLanguage (Dutch: Nederlandse Gebarentaal or NGT; SignLanguageof the Netherlands or SLN) is the predominant signlanguage used by deaf people...
Polish SignLanguage ("Polski Język Migowy", PJM) is the languageof the deaf community in Poland. Polish SignLanguage uses a distinctive one-handed manual...
A village signlanguage, or village sign, also known as a shared signlanguage, is a local indigenous signlanguage used by both deaf and hearing in an...
Spanish SignLanguage (Spanish: Lengua de Signos Española, LSE) is a signlanguage used mainly by deaf people in Spain and the people who live with them...
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