Swedish Sign Language family

Last updated
Swedish Sign Language family
East Scandinavian Sign
Geographic
distribution		Europe, Africa
Linguistic classification ? British Sign
  • Swedish Sign Language family
Subdivisions
Glottolog swed1257
Swedish sign language family map.png
  Part of the Swedish Sign Language family
  Secondarily influenced by the Swedish Sign Language family

The Swedish Sign Language family is a language family of sign languages, including Swedish Sign Language, Portuguese Sign Language, Cape Verdian Sign Language, Finnish Sign Language and Eritrean Sign (although going through the process of demissionization). [1]

Contents

Languages of the Swedish Sign Language family. However, Portuguese sign has also been reported to have been used in Angola. Swedish Sign Language Family updated.png
Languages of the Swedish Sign Language family. However, Portuguese sign has also been reported to have been used in Angola.

History

There is evidence of usage of signed languages in the Nordic countries from the 18th century, but the later 19th century political situation split the Nordic sign languages into two distinct language families, the Swedish Sign Language family and the Danish Sign Language family. [3]

Relation to other Families

Swedish SL started about 1800. Henri Wittmann proposes that it descends from British Sign Language. Regardless, Swedish SL in turn gave rise to Portuguese Sign Language (1823) and Finnish Sign Language (1850s), the latter with local admixture; Finnish and Swedish Sign are mutually unintelligible. [4] Anderson (1979) instead suggested that Swedish Sign, German Sign and British Sign share one origin in a "North-West European" sign language. [5]

Ethnologue reports that Danish Sign Language is largely mutually intelligible with Swedish Sign, though Wittmann places DSL in the French Sign Language family. There are no known dialects in the Swedish Sign Language, however, it is partly intelligible with other manual languages such as Danish (DSL), Norwegian (NSL), and Finnish (FSE). [6]

Although not directly related to the Guinea-Bissau Sign language, it has borrowed the alphabet from Portuguese sign. [7] Namibian Sign Language has also been influenced by Swedish Sign, because some deaf adults went into Sweden before becoming leaders in the deaf community in Namibia. [8]

It has also been reported that Tanzanian sign may have been influenced by Finnish and Swedish sign languages, although the evidence is not explicit. [9]

Nordic Branch

Carl-Oscar-Malm exported sign language to Finland. Carl-Oscar-Malm.jpg
Carl-Oscar-Malm exported sign language to Finland.

Swedish Sign Language is the sign language used in Sweden. It is recognized by the Swedish government as the country's official sign language, and hearing parents of deaf individuals are entitled to access state-sponsored classes that facilitate their learning of SSL. [10] Swedish sign language is strongly linked to the culture of Sweden. There are around 13.000 native speakers and a total of 30.000 speakers.

Finnish Sign Language can be traced back to the mid-1800s when Carl Oscar Malm, a Finnish deaf individual who had studied in Sweden, founded Finland's first school for the deaf in Porvoo in 1846. The Swedish sign language used by Malm spread among Finnish deaf individuals, evolving into its own language. The first association for the deaf in Finland was established in Turku in 1886. Albert Tallroth was involved in founding five different deaf associations and also the Finnish Association of the Deaf. By the late 1800s, oralism, or the speech method, began to be favored in the education of the deaf in Finland. This led to the prohibition of sign language in schools, even under threat of punishment. And as a result of oralism, Finnish Sign Language and Finnish-Swedish Sign Language began to diverge. Despite the ban, students in deaf schools continued to use sign language secretly in dormitories. The use of sign language persisted within the deaf community, while spoken language learned in school was used when interacting with hearing individuals. [11]

The Finland-Swedish Sign Language, also known as FinSSL, was created by the deaf community of Swedish backgrounds inhabiting the coastal areas of Finland. It is declared as an independent language given the connection to the Finland-Swedish culture. [12] Since 2015, Finland-Swedish and Finnish sign languages have been recognized as separate languages in Finnish legislation, as the new sign language act was adopted in the parliament. However, the scientific consensus has been since 2005 that the two sign languages are distinct. [13] Through contacts between Swedish deaf individuals and Finland-Swedish deaf individuals, the Finland-Swedish sign language has borrowed many words from Swedish sign language. Additionally, the visual phonology with facial expressions follows the sounds of the Swedish language. [14] [15]

Portuguese Branch

Par Aron Borg established Portuguese Sign Par Aron Borg.jpg
Pär Aron Borg established Portuguese Sign

Portuguese Sign language (Portuguese : Língua gestual portuguesa) is a sign language used mainly by deaf people in Portugal. It is recognized in the present Constitution of Portugal. [16] It was significantly influenced by Swedish Sign Language, through a school for the Deaf that was established in Lisbon by Swedish educator Pär Aron Borg. [17] [18] The Portuguese Sign Language has its origins from the Swedish Sign Language (LGS), as in the 19th century, the king called to Portugal Pär Aron Borg, a Swede who had founded an institute for the education of the deaf in Sweden. In 1823, the first school for the deaf was made in Portugal, and although the vocabulary of the Portuguese and Swedish sign languages have many differences from each other, the alphabet of the two languages ​​shows their common origin. [19]

Cape Verdian Sign Language (Língua Gestual Caboverdiana) [20] is the sign language used by the deaf community in Cape Verde, numbering around 1500-4000. It is descended from Portuguese sign language and is mutually integible with it, although it contains some local adaptations. [21] [22] In 2010, a school for children who are deaf was established in Cape Verde. Another deaf school was also established in Praia. [23]

Swedish Sign (right) and Portuguese Sign (left) alphabets compared Swedish and Portuguese sign alphabets compared.png
Swedish Sign (right) and Portuguese Sign (left) alphabets compared

Some reports have said that LGSTP is similar to Portuguese Sign and that much of it is mutually integible with Portuguese Sign. [24] Additionally, although not directly related to Portuguese Sign, the Guinea-Bissau Sign Language has borrowed the alphabet from Portuguese Sign. [25]

It is also reported that Portuguese Sign has been also used in Angola. [2]

Eritrean Sign

Eritrean Sign Language also developed out of the Swedish and Finnish Sign Languages, [26] that were introduced by Swedish and Finnish Christian missionaries in 1955, [26] containing a certain amount of local Eritrean signs and having ASL-based Sudanese influences. [27] According to Moges 2011, 70% of the EriSL and Finnish signs are identical. [26] Since 2005, the Eritrean National Association of the Deaf has made linguistic purification attempts to replace Swedish and Finnish signs from the EriSL lexicon by 'Eritrean' ones in an effort to create a more distinct, "indigenous" language. [26] This process is referred to as 'demissionization'. [1]

Swedish Sign Language family tree
Old British Sign Language?
(c. 1760–1900)
Swedish Sign Language
(c. 1800–present)
Portuguese Sign Language
(c. 1820–present)		 Finnish Sign Language
(c. 1850–present)
Cape Verdian Sign Language
(c. 20th century–present)		 Finland-Swedish Sign Language
(c. 1850–present)		 Eritrean Sign Language
(c. 1950–present)
São Tomé and Príncipe Sign Language?
(c. 21st century–present)

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sign language</span> Language that uses manual communication and body language to convey meaning

Sign languages are languages that use the visual-manual modality to convey meaning, instead of spoken words. Sign languages are expressed through manual articulation in combination with non-manual markers. Sign languages are full-fledged natural languages with their own grammar and lexicon. Sign languages are not universal and are usually not mutually intelligible, although there are also similarities among different sign languages.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Community of Portuguese Language Countries</span> International organization

The Community of Portuguese Language Countries, also known as the Lusophone Community, is an international organization and political association of Lusophone nations across five continents, where Portuguese is an official language. The CPLP operates as a privileged, multilateral forum for the mutual cooperation of the governments, economies, non-governmental organizations, and peoples of the Lusofonia. The CPLP consists of 9 member states and 33 associate observers, located in Europe, South America, Asia, Africa and Oceania, totaling 38 countries and 4 organizations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Portuguese-based creole languages</span> Creole languages lexified by Portuguese

Portuguese creoles are creole languages which have Portuguese as their substantial lexifier. The most widely-spoken creoles influenced by Portuguese are Cape Verdean Creole, Guinea-Bissau Creole and Papiamento.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">BANZSL</span> Sign language family

British, Australian and New Zealand Sign Language (BANZSL) is the language of which British Sign Language (BSL), Auslan and New Zealand Sign Language (NZSL) may be considered dialects. These three languages may be considered dialects of a single language (BANZSL) due to their use of the same grammar and manual alphabet and the high degree of lexical overlap. The term BANZSL was coined by Trevor Johnston and Adam Schembri.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Portuguese language in Africa</span> Language official or recognized in several countries

Portuguese is spoken in a number of African countries and is the official language in six African countries: Angola, Mozambique, Guinea-Bissau, Cape Verde, São Tomé and Príncipe and Equatorial Guinea. There are Portuguese-speaking communities in most countries of Southern Africa, a mixture of Portuguese settlers and Angolans and Mozambicans who left their countries during the civil wars. A rough estimate has it that there are about 14 million people who use Portuguese as their sole mother tongue across Africa, but depending on the criteria applied, the number might be considerably higher, since many Africans speak Portuguese as a second language, in countries like Angola and Mozambique, where Portuguese is an official language, but also in countries like South Africa and Senegal, thanks to migrants coming from Portuguese-speaking countries. Some statistics claim that there are over 60 million Portuguese speakers in the continent.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Guinean Portuguese</span> Variety of Portuguese spoken in Guinea-Bissau

Guinean Portuguese is the variety of Portuguese spoken in Guinea-Bissau, where it is the official language.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Swedish Sign Language</span> Official sign language of Sweden

Swedish Sign Language is the sign language used in Sweden. It is recognized by the Swedish government as the country's official sign language, and hearing parents of deaf individuals are entitled to access state-sponsored classes that facilitate their learning of SSL. Swedish sign language is strongly linked to the culture of Sweden. There are around 13.000 native speakers and a total of 30.000 speakers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pär Aron Borg</span> Swedish pedagogue

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Languages of Guinea-Bissau</span> Languages of the country and its people

The official language of Guinea-Bissau is Portuguese, which was spoken by 32.1% of the population according to the 2009 census. It is the language of instruction in schools, the language of literary production, the written press, legislation and administration.

Guinea-Bissau Sign Language is an incipient sign language evolving from the single school for the deaf in Guinea-Bissau, which was founded in Bissau in 2003. In 2005 a linguist and Portuguese Sign Language teacher found GBSL to still be basic, but with some consistency among students in the school and village use when the students went home.

Eritrean Sign Language (EriSL) is a sign language widely used in Eritrea by the 15000 deaf individuals who live there. It developed out of the Swedish and Finnish Sign Languages, that were introduced by Swedish and Finnish Christian missionaries in 1955, containing a certain amount of local Eritrean signs and having ASL-based Sudanese influences. According to Moges 2011, 70% of the EriSL and Finnish signs are identical. Since 2005, the Eritrean National Association of the Deaf has made linguistic purification attempts to replace Swedish and Finnish signs from the EriSL lexicon by 'Eritrean' ones in an effort to create a more distinct, "indigenous" language. This process is referred to as 'demissionization'.

Manuel Ferreira was a Portuguese writer that became known for his work centered around African culture and literature.

Deafness in Portugal involves several elements such as the history, education, community, and medical treatment that must be understood to grasp the experiences of deaf and hard-of-hearing (DHH) individuals in this region. Currently there are 60,000 people in Portugal that are deaf sign language users. Among that number are 100 working sign language interpreters. Currently, the form of sign language used in Portugal is Portuguese Sign Language. In Portugal, the cities Lisbon and Porto have the largest deaf populations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Manillaskolan</span> School in Stockholm, Sweden

Manillaskolan, before 1879 Allmänna institutet för döva och blinda å Manilla, is a Swedish state school for blind, deaf and hard of hearing children, founded by Pär Aron Borg in 1809. Until the autumn term 2013, the school was located at Djurgårdsvägen on Södra Djurgården in Stockholm. The school is now located in the former premises of the Stockholm Institute of Education in Konradsberg on Kungsholmen.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ossian Edmund Borg</span> Swedish teacher of the deaf

Ossian Edmund Borg was a Swedish teacher of the deaf and head of the Manillaskolan school for the deaf. He was the son of Pär Aron Borg, pioneer of deaf schooling in Sweden.

Cape Verdian Sign Language is the sign language used by the deaf community in Cape Verde, numbering around 1500–4000. It is descended from Portuguese sign language and is mutually intelligible with it at the present, although it contains some local adaptations. Cape Verdian sign has not been under any university research. However, a Cape Verdian Sign dictionary was released in 2019.

References

  1. 1 2 Moges, Rezenet Tsegay (2015). It's a Small World. International Deaf Spaces and Encounters. Washington, DC: Gallaudet University Press. pp. 114–125.
  2. 1 2 "Angola". African Sign Languages Resource Center. Retrieved 2024-05-14.
  3. ↑ "Signed languages in the Nordic countries". nordics.info. 2022-02-16. Retrieved 2024-05-14.
  4. ↑ Wittmann, Henri (1991). "Classification linguistique des langues signées non vocalement" (PDF). Revue québécoise de linguistique théorique et appliquée (in French). 10 (1): 215–288. Archived (PDF) from the original on 6 March 2023.
  5. ↑ Lucas, Ceil (2001-10-04). The Sociolinguistics of Sign Languages. Cambridge University Press. ISBN   978-0-521-79474-9.
  6. ↑ "Swedish Sign Language". Ethnologue. Retrieved 2017-09-06.
  7. ↑ "República da Guiné-Bissau (Republic of Guinea-Bissau)". African Sign Languages Resource Center. Retrieved 2024-05-14.
  8. ↑ "Republic of Namibia". African Sign Languages Resource Center. Retrieved 2024-05-14.
  9. ↑ "United Republic of Tanzania". African Sign Languages Resource Center. Retrieved 2024-05-14.
  10. ↑ Haualand, Hilde; Holmström, Ingela (21 March 2019). "When language recognition and language shaming go hand in hand – sign language ideologies in Sweden and Norway". Deafness & Education International. 21 (2–3): 107. doi: 10.1080/14643154.2018.1562636 . hdl: 10642/7861 .
  11. ↑ Salmi, Eeva; Laakso, Mikko (2005). "Helsingin kokous". Maahan lämpimään, Suomen viittomakielisten historia. Kuurojen Liitto ry. p. 152. ISBN   952-5396-30-4.
  12. ↑ Jepsen, Julie (2015). Sign Languages of the World: a Comparative Handbook. De Gruyter.
  13. ↑ "Finlandssvenskt teckenspråk och språkets revitalisering". Finlands Dövas Förbund (in Swedish). Retrieved 2024-04-29.
  14. ↑ "Suomen viittomakielet". Kotimaisten kielten keskus (in Finnish). Retrieved 2024-04-29.
  15. ↑ "Suomen kaksi viittomakieltä". Kielikello (in Finnish). 2011-10-03. Retrieved 2024-04-29.
  16. ↑ Constitution of Portugal, Article 71 and 74
  17. ↑ Lucas, Ceil (2001). The Sociolinguistics of Sign Languages. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 29. ISBN   9780521794749 . Retrieved 26 November 2017.
  18. ↑ Prawitz, J. "Pär Aron Borg - Svenskt Biografiskt Lexikon". Svenskt biografiskt lexikon (in Swedish). Retrieved 2022-03-16.
  19. ↑ Pinto, Mariana Correia (2017-11-14). "O que todos devíamos saber sobre língua gestual (em dez pontos)". PÚBLICO (in Portuguese). Retrieved 2024-05-13.
  20. ↑ RTC. "Apresentado para validação, módulo formativo de língua gestual". My Application (in European Portuguese). Retrieved 2024-05-13.
  21. ↑ "Professoras da UFSM elaboram o primeiro dicionário de gestos voltado para a população surda de Cabo Verde". UFSM (in Brazilian Portuguese). 2019-12-23. Retrieved 2024-05-13.
  22. ↑ "Cape Verde". African Sign Languages Resource Center. Retrieved 2024-05-13.
  23. ↑ "Cape Verde". African Sign Languages Resource Center. Retrieved May 13, 2024.
  24. ↑ "Democratic Republic of São Tomé and Príncipe". African Sign Languages Resource Center. Retrieved 2024-05-13.
  25. ↑ "República da Guiné-Bissau (Republic of Guinea-Bissau)". African Sign Languages Resource Center. Retrieved 2024-05-13.
  26. 1 2 3 4 Moges, Rezenet Tsegay (2015). It's a Small World. International Deaf Spaces and Encounters. Washington, DC: Gallaudet University Press. pp. 114–125.
  27. ↑ Moges, Rezenet (January 2008). "Construction in Eritrean Sign Language". R. M. de Quadros (ed.). Editora Arara Azul. Petrópolis/RJ. Brazil. California State University . Retrieved 1 May 2013.


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