Catalan Sign Language - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Catalan Sign Language is a sign language

Sign language

A sign language is a language which, instead of acoustically conveyed sound patterns, uses visually transmitted sign patterns to convey meaning—simultaneously combining hand shapes, orientation and movement of the hands, arms or body, and facial expressions to fluidly express a speaker's...

used by 18,000 signers in Catalonia

Catalonia

Catalonia is an autonomous community in northeastern Spain, with the official status of a "nationality" of Spain. Catalonia comprises four provinces: Barcelona, Girona, Lleida, and Tarragona. Its capital and largest city is Barcelona. Catalonia covers an area of 32,114 km² and has an...

. About 50% intelligibility by users of Spanish Sign Language

Spanish Sign language

Spanish Sign Language is a sign language used mainly by deaf people in Spain and the people who live with them.There are small differences throughout Spain with no difficulties in intercommunication, except in Catalonia and in Valencia...

.

Since 1994, it has an official status thanks to a law to promote and diffuse the language promulgated by Generalitat de Catalunya

Generalitat de Catalunya

The Generalitat of Catalonia is the institution under which the autonomous community of Catalonia is politically organised. It consists of the Parliament, the President of the Generalitat of Catalonia and the Government of Catalonia....

. Catalonia

Catalonia

was the first Spanish Autonomous Community to approve a law for a sign language.

FESOCA (Catalan Federation of Deaf People) is a 1979 NGO to represent and to defend the rights of deaf associations and individuals to achieve a full social participation and integration. FESOCA organises several courses, activities and meetings.

There are researching groups for LSC like ILLESCAT (LSC Centre of Studies). This centre studies the evolution of the language, makes linguistic studies and creates new neologisms. Besides, the Platform for Linguistic and Cultural Rights for LSC Users aka LSC, Ara! carried out a law to promote this language in the Statute of Autonomy

Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia

The Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia provides Catalonia's basic institutional regulations. It defines the rights and obligations of the citizens of Catalonia , the political institutions of the Catalan nationality, their competences and relations with the rest of Spain, and the financing of the...

Classification

Wittmann (1991) suspect that LSC may be part of the French Sign Language family

French Sign Language family

The French Sign Language family is a proposed language family of sign languages which includes French Sign Language and American Sign Language, among others....

, but transmission to Catalonia would have happened early, and is not easy to demonstrate.

Classification

See also