Bolivian Sign Language
Encyclopedia
Bolivian Sign Language (Lenguaje de Señas Bolivianas, LSB) is a dialect of American Sign Language
American Sign Language
American Sign Language, or ASL, for a time also called Ameslan, is the dominant sign language of Deaf Americans, including deaf communities in the United States, in the English-speaking parts of Canada, and in some regions of Mexico...

 (ASL) used in Bolivia.

In 1973 ASL was adopted in Bolivia by missionary activities and the original sign languages of the towns were no longer used. The first book of LSB was published in 1992, but more than 90% of the signs were of from ASL. Due to research work in the 1990s and 2000s a lot of expressions in LSB were collected by Bolivian Deafs, and education materials for learning LSB or teaching in LSB were published. The dependence on words used in ASL was reduced, but the usage of ASL words still is over 70%.

Today LSB is used by more deaf Bolivians than the reported 400 in 1988 in the Ethnologue report (E. Powlison) also due to the introduction of bilingual education (LSB as primary language and Spanish as secondary language) originally in Riberalta
Riberalta
Riberalta is a town in the Beni Department in northern Bolivia, situated where the Madre de Dios River joins the Beni River. Riberalta is on the south bank of the Beni River....

and its adoption to other schools in Bolivia with the support of the Education Ministry of Bolivia and the growing social exchange of Deafs.

1988, there were 9 deaf institutions in the country and 46,800 deaf Bolivians; 2002 there are over 25 deaf schools.

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