Glossary

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Auslan(also: Australian Sign Language)

Australian Sign Language, the sign language of the Australian Deaf community. Auslan is a natural language with its own grammar and lexicon, unrelated to English and distinct from American Sign Language (ASL); it is historically related to British Sign Language and New Zealand…

Bangla Sign Language(also: BdSL, Bangladeshi Sign Language)

The sign language used by the d/Deaf and hard-of-hearing community in Bangladesh. BdSL has distinct grammatical structures, vocabulary, and regional variation that differ from American Sign Language (ASL) and from the sign languages used in neighbouring countries. As a…

Chinese Natural Sign Language(also: CNSL)

Chinese Natural Sign Language (CNSL) is the language used by roughly twenty million Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing people in China. Unlike Chinese Sign Language (CSL) — an artificial, school-and-broadcast system that follows spoken Mandarin word order — CNSL has its own spatial-visual…

Korean Sign Language(also: KSL, Suhwa)

The primary sign language of the Deaf community in South Korea, with its own grammar, vocabulary, and regional variation, and legally recognized as an official language of Korea under the Korean Sign Language Act of 2016. KSL is historically related to Japanese Sign Language due…

Langue des Signes Québécoise(also: LSQ, Quebec Sign Language)

The sign language used by the Deaf community in francophone Quebec and in francophone Deaf communities elsewhere in Canada. LSQ is a distinct natural language with its own grammar, lexicon, and cultural tradition — not a signed version of French — and developed historically from…

Signed Chinese(also: Manually Coded Chinese, Wenfa Shouyu)

A manually coded signing system that imposes the grammar and word order of written/spoken Mandarin Chinese onto signs, analogous to Signed Exact English in anglophone contexts. Signed Chinese is commonly used in official Chinese television news interpretation and in deaf…

Swedish Sign Language(also: SSL, Svenskt teckenspråk)

The sign language used by the Deaf community in Sweden, recognized as an official minority language since 1981. Like other national sign languages, SSL is a complete natural language with its own grammar distinct from spoken Swedish. It uses manual signs (hand shapes, movements,…

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