List of sign languages
There are perhaps three hundred sign languages in use around the world today. The number is not known with any confidence; new sign languages emerge frequently through creolization and de novo. 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. Deaf sign languages also arise outside educational institutions, especially in Adamorobe [sign language and deaf culture in Ghana, West Africa|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 by some Aboriginal Australian peoples. 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 communities around the world; these include village sign languages, shared with the hearing community, and Deaf-community sign languagesAuxiliary sign languages, which are not native languages but sign systems of varying complexity, used alongside spoken languages. Simple gestures are not included, as they do not constitute language.Signed modes of spoken languages, also known as manually coded languages, 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.
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.Europe
| Language | Origin | Notes and local name |
| Albanian Sign Language | "Gjuha e Shenjave Shqipe" | |
| Armenian Sign Language | isolate | |
| Azerbaijani Sign Language | French:Austro-Hungarian | "Azərbaycan işarət dili" |
| Austrian Sign Language | French:Austro-Hungarian | "Österreichische Gebärdensprache" |
| British Sign Language | British | |
| Bulgarian Sign Language | French:Austro-Hungarian:Russian | Български жестомимичен език / Balgarski zhestomimichen ezik, BZhE |
| Catalan Sign Language | Catalan | "Llengua de Signes Catalana" |
| Croatian Sign Language | French:Austro-Hungarian:Yugoslav | "Hrvatski Znakovni Jezik" |
| Czech Sign Language | French:Austro-Hungarian | "Český znakový jazyk" |
| Cypriot Sign Language | ASL×GSL | "Κυπριακή Νοηματική Γλώσσα" |
| Danish Sign Language | French | "Dansk Tegnsprog" |
| Dutch Sign Language | French | "Nederlandse Gebarentaal" |
| Estonian Sign Language | "Eesti viipekeel" | |
| Finnish Sign Language | Swedish | "Suomalainen viittomakieli" |
| Finland-Swedish Sign Language | Swedish | "finlandssvenskt teckenspråk" or "suomenruotsalainen viittomakieli". A single Swedish school in Finland, now closed. |
| Flemish Sign Language | Belgian | "Vlaamse Gebarentaal" |
| French Sign Language | "Langues des Signes Française" | |
| Georgian Sign Language | ? | |
| German Sign Language | German | "Deutsche Gebärdensprache" |
| Greek Sign Language | French-ASL mix | "Ελληνική Νοηματική Γλώσσα" |
| Hungarian Sign Language | "Magyar jelnyelv" | |
| Icelandic Sign Language | French:Danish | "Íslenskt Táknmál" |
| Irish Sign Language | French | "Teanga Chomharthaíochta na hÉireann" |
| Italian Sign Language | French | "Lingua dei Segni Italiana" |
| Kosovar Sign Language | French:Austro-Hungarian:Yugoslav | "Gjuha e Shenjave Kosovare" |
| Latvian Sign Language | French | "Latviešu zīmju valoda" |
| Lithuanian Sign Language | "Lietuvių gestų kalba" | |
| Macedonian Sign Language | French:Austro-Hungarian:Yugoslav | Македонски знаковен јазик / Makedonski znakoven jazik |
| Maltese Sign Language | "Lingwi tas-Sinjali Maltin" | |
| Northern Ireland Sign Language | British | |
| Norwegian Sign Language | French:Danish | "Norsk tegnspråk" |
| Polish Sign Language | Old-French, German | "Polski Język Migowy" |
| Portuguese Sign Language | Swedish | "Língua Gestual Portuguesa" |
| Romanian Sign Language | French | "Limbaj Mimico-Gestual Românesc" |
| Russian Sign Language | French:Austro-Hungarian | "Russkiy zhestovyi yazyk" / русский жестовый язык |
| Slovakian Sign Language | "Slovenský posunkový jazyk" | |
| Slovenian Sign Language | French:Austro-Hungarian:Yugoslav | "Slovenski znakovni jezik" |
| Spanish Sign Language | isolate | "Lengua de signos española" |
| Swedish Sign Language | Swedish | "Svenskt teckenspråk" |
| Swiss-French Sign Language | French? | "Langage Gestuelle" |
| Swiss-German Sign Language | French? | "Deutschschweizer Gebärdensprache" |
| Swiss-Italian Sign Language | French? | |
| Turkish Sign Language | Isolate | "Türk İşaret Dili" |
| Ukrainian Sign Language | French | "Українська жестова мова " |
| Valencian Sign Language | "Llengua de Signes en la Comunitat Valenciana" | |
| Walloon Sign Language | Belgian | "Langue des Signes de Belgique Francophone" |
| Yugoslav Sign Language | French:Austro-Hungarian |
Historical deaf sign languages
- Henniker Sign Language
- Martha's Vineyard Sign Language
- Old French Sign Language – ancestral to the French [Sign Language family|French family]
- Old Kent Sign Language – used in Kent villages in the 17th century, later incorporated into the British Sign Language.
- Sandy River Valley Sign Language
Auxiliary sign languages
- Baby Sign – using signs to assist early language development in young children.
- Contact Sign – a pidgin or contact language between a spoken language and a sign language, e.g. Pidgin Sign English.
- Curwin Hand Signs – a technique which allows musical notes to be communicated through hand signs.
- International Sign – an auxiliary language used by deaf people in international settings.
- Makaton – a system of signed communication used by and with people who have speech, language or learning difficulties.
- Mofu-Gudur Sign Language – conventional gestures used by speakers of Mofu-Gudur, a Chadic language spoken in northern Cameroon.
- Monastic sign language - sign languages used in Christian monasteries in Europe.
- Signalong – 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 to render spoken language phonemes visually intelligible.
- * Fingerspelling – alphabetic signs to represent the written form of a spoken language.
- English
- * Manually Coded English
- * Signing Exact English
- *Makaton
- Malay
- * Bahasa Malaysia Kod Tangan
- Speech-taboo languages
- * Caucasian Sign Language
- * Australian Aboriginal sign languages