Main language of the deaf community in New Zealand
New Zealand Sign Language
NZSL
Native to
New Zealand
Native speakers
23,000 (2018 census)[1]
Language family
BANZSL
New Zealand Sign Language
Official status
Official language in
New Zealand
Language codes
ISO 639-3
nzs
Glottolog
newz1236
New Zealand Sign Language or NZSL (Māori: te reo Turi) is the main language of the deaf community in New Zealand. It became an official language of New Zealand in April 2006 under the New Zealand Sign Language Act 2006. The purpose of the act was to create rights and obligations in the use of NZSL throughout the legal system and to ensure that the Deaf community had the same access to government information and services as everybody else.[2] According to the 2013 Census, over 20,000 New Zealanders know NZSL.[3]
New Zealand Sign Language has its roots in British Sign Language (BSL), and may be technically considered a dialect of British, Australian and New Zealand Sign Language (BANZSL). There are 62.5% similarities found in British Sign Language and NZSL, compared with 33% of NZSL signs found in American Sign Language.[4]
Like other natural sign languages, it was devised by and for deaf people, with no linguistic connection to a spoken or written language.
NZSL uses the same two-handed manual alphabet as BSL (British Sign Language) and Auslan (Australian Sign Language).
It uses more lip-patterns in conjunction with hand and facial movement to cue signs than BSL, reflecting New Zealand's history of oralist education of deaf people. Its vocabulary includes Māori concepts such as marae and tangi, and signs for New Zealand placenames (e.g., Rotorua – mudpools,[5] and Christchurch – 2 Cs,[6] represents ChCh.[clarification needed])
^"2018 Census totals by topic – national highlights (updated)". Stats NZ. 30 April 2020.
^"New Zealand Sign Language Act 2006". Retrieved 3 August 2017.
^"2013 Census totals by topic". archive.stats.govt.nz. Retrieved 2019-05-28.
^McKee, D. and G. Kennedy. 2000. "Lexical Comparisons of Signs from American, Australian, British, and New Zealand Sign Languages" In K. Emmorey & H. Lane (eds) The Signs of Language Revisited: An Anthology to Honor Ursula Bellugi and Edward Klima , New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
^"Rotorua - NZSL Online". The Online Dictionary of New Zealand Sign Language. Deaf Studies Research Unit, Victoria University of Wellington. Retrieved 13 September 2016.
^"Christchurch - NZSL Online". The Online Dictionary of New Zealand Sign Language. Deaf Studies Research Unit, Victoria University of Wellington. Retrieved 13 September 2016.
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