Japanese Sign Language family
Encyclopedia
The Japanese Sign Language (JSL) family is a language family
of three sign language
s, Japanese Sign Language
(JSL), Korean Sign Language
(KSL), and Taiwanese Sign Language
(TSL).
There is little difficulty in communication between the three languages.
in 1878.
JSL spread with the Japanese colonial administration into Korea and Taiwan. According to Ethnologue
, sign language had been used in Korea since 1889, predating the Japanese occupation, with use in schools since 1908. TSL dates from 1895, during the colonial period, when two schools for the deaf were established on north and south of the island. TSL shares 60% of its vocabulary with JSL.
As in other sign languages, they incorporate non-manual markers with lexical, syntactic, discourse, and affective functions. These include brow raising and furrowing, frowning, head shaking and nodding, and leaning and shifting the torso.
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 three 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, Japanese Sign Language
Japanese Sign Language
, also known by the acronym "JSL", is the dominant sign language in Japan.-History:Little is known about sign language and the deaf community before the Edo period. In 1862, the Tokugawa shogunate dispatched envoys to various European schools for the deaf...
(JSL), Korean Sign Language
Korean Sign Language
Korean Sign Language or KSL is the deaf sign language of Korea.The beginnings of KSL date from 1889.The first primary school for deaf children, opened in 1908, used KSL....
(KSL), and Taiwanese Sign Language
Taiwanese Sign Language
Taiwanese Sign Language or TSL is the deaf sign language most commonly used in Taiwan.-History:The beginnings of Taiwan Sign Language date from 1895.The origins of TSL developed from Japanese Sign Language during Japanese rule...
(TSL).
There is little difficulty in communication between the three languages.
History
The first Japanese school for the deaf was established in KyotoKyoto
is a city in the central part of the island of Honshū, Japan. It has a population close to 1.5 million. Formerly the imperial capital of Japan, it is now the capital of Kyoto Prefecture, as well as a major part of the Osaka-Kobe-Kyoto metropolitan area.-History:...
in 1878.
JSL spread with the Japanese colonial administration into Korea and Taiwan. According to Ethnologue
Ethnologue
Ethnologue: Languages of the World is a web and print publication of SIL International , a Christian linguistic service organization, which studies lesser-known languages, to provide the speakers with Bibles in their native language and support their efforts in language development.The Ethnologue...
, sign language had been used in Korea since 1889, predating the Japanese occupation, with use in schools since 1908. TSL dates from 1895, during the colonial period, when two schools for the deaf were established on north and south of the island. TSL shares 60% of its vocabulary with JSL.
Functional markers
JSL family languages are characterized by grammatical structures and features which are not found in the oral languages of the surrounding community. Although Japanese and Mandarin are unrelated and Korean is only related distantly, those using JSL, KSL and TSL can interact easily because of the commonalities all share, such as functional markers . For example, a feature unique to these three languages is the lexical encoding of gender. Some signs when made with the thumb indicate a male, while the corresponding signs made with the little finger indicate a female.As in other sign languages, they incorporate non-manual markers with lexical, syntactic, discourse, and affective functions. These include brow raising and furrowing, frowning, head shaking and nodding, and leaning and shifting the torso.