Somali Sign Language

Last updated
Somali Sign Language
SSL
Native to Somalia, Djibouti
  • Somali Sign Language
Language codes
ISO 639-3 None (mis)
Glottolog keny1241   (with KSL:) Kenya-Somali Sign Language

Somali Sign Language (SSL) is a sign language used by the deaf community in Somalia and Djibouti.

In the 1980s a school for the deaf was established in the Somali Kenyan town of Wajir by Annalena Tonelli. Students there became fluent in Kenyan Sign Language. In 1997, three graduates from Wajir helped establish the first school for the deaf in Somalia called the Annalena School for the Deaf named after the late Annalena Tonelli, in Borama. One of the teachers at Boroma soon founded a school in Djibouti, and, with a bit more difficulty, another was established in Hargeisa. [1]

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References

  1. Woodford, Doreen E. (2006). "The beginning and growth of a new language: Somali Sign Language". Enabling Education Network. Archived from the original on 2013-10-29. Retrieved 30 August 2013.