Sign language
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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Featured:  Illustration: Portrait fantaisiste du marquis de Sade (1866) by H. Biberstein |
A sign language (also signed language) is a language which, instead of acoustically conveyed sound patterns, uses visually transmitted sign patterns (manual communication, body language) 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 thoughts.
Wherever communities of deaf people exist, sign languages develop. Their complex spatial grammars are markedly different from the grammars of spoken languages. Hundreds of sign languages are in use around the world and are at the cores of local Deaf cultures. Some sign languages have obtained some form of legal recognition, while others have no status at all.
See also
- Animal language
- Body language
- Braille
- Cherology
- Chinese number gestures
- Eldridge v. British Columbia (Attorney General)
- Gesture
- Intercultural competence
- International Sign
- Legal recognition of sign languages (status per country/region)
- List of international common standards
- List of sign languages
- Metacommunicative competence
- Mudra
- Nonverbal communication
- Sign language glove
- Sign language in infants and toddlers
- Sign language media
- Sign language on television
- Sign name
