The journey to communicating globally begins here! Sign language is a visual means of communicating through hand signals, gestures, facial expressions, and body language. People with disabilities including Autism, Apraxia of speech, Cerebral Palsy, and Down Syndrome may also find sign language beneficial for communicating. And as you will see in the different languages below, it has even had other uses throughout history. There is no single sign language used around the world.
Like spoken language, sign languages developed naturally through different groups of people interacting with each other, so there are many varieties. There are somewhere between and different types of sign language used around the globe today. Interestingly, most countries that share the same spoken language do not necessarily have the same sign language as each other.
Most people start their sign language journey by learning the A-Z or alphabet equivalent in sign form. For example, most sign languages have a specific sign for the word tree, but may not have a specific sign for oak, so o-a-k would be finger spelled to convey that specific meaning. Of course, not every language uses the Latin alphabet like English, so their sign language alphabet differs as well. Though there are similarities between some of the different manual alphabets, each sign language has its own style and modifications, and remains unique.
American Sign Language was created independently and it has its own linguistic structure. It is, in fact, descended from Old French Sign Language. Signs are also not expressed in the same order as words are in English. This is due to the unique grammar and visual nature of the sign language. Unlike ASL, these alphabets use two hands, instead of one. Probably the most-used sign language in the world but there is currently no data to confirm this , Chinese Sign Language uses the hands to make visual representations of written Chinese characters.
The language has been developing since the s. LSF also has a pretty fascinating history. The Arab sign-language family is a family of sign languages across the Arab Mideast. Data on these languages is somewhat scarce, but a few languages have been distinguished, including Levantine Arabic Sign Language. Spanish Sign Language is officially recognized by the Spanish Government. It is native to Spain, except Catalonia and Valencia.
