German Sign Language family
Encyclopedia
The German Sign Language (JSL) family is a small language family
of sign language
s, including German Sign Language
, Polish Sign Language
, and probably Israeli Sign Language
. The latter also had influence from Austrian Sign Language
, which is unrelated, and the parentage is not entirely clear.
Language family
A language family is a group of languages related through descent from a common ancestor, called the proto-language of that family. The term 'family' comes from the tree model of language origination in historical linguistics, which makes use of a metaphor comparing languages to people in a...
of 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...
s, including German Sign Language
German Sign Language
German Sign Language or Deutsche Gebärdensprache is the sign language of the Deaf community in Germany. It is often abbreviated as DGS. It is unclear how many use German Sign Language as their main language; Gallaudet University estimated 50,000 in 1986.The language has evolved through use in deaf...
, Polish Sign Language
Polish Sign Language
Polish Sign Language is the language of the Deaf community in Poland. Its lexicon and grammar are distinct from the Polish language, although there is a manually coded version of Polish known as System Językowo-Migowy , which is often used by interpreters on television and by teachers in...
, and probably Israeli Sign Language
Israeli Sign Language
Israeli Sign Language, or ISL, is the most commonly used sign language in the deaf community of Israel. Some other sign languages are also used in Israel, among them Al-Sayyid Bedouin Sign Language....
. The latter also had influence from Austrian Sign Language
Austrian Sign Language
Austrian Sign Language, or Österreichische Gebärdensprache , is the sign language used by the Austrian Deaf community — approximately 10,000 people. -Classification:...
, which is unrelated, and the parentage is not entirely clear.