| Australian Aboriginal sign | |
|---|---|
| Geographic distribution | acrossAustralia |
| Linguistic classification | Manual encoding of various Australian languages |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | asw |
| Glottolog | aust1253 |
ManyAustralian Aboriginal cultures have or traditionally had amanually coded language, asigned counterpart of their oral language. This appears to be connected with variousspeech taboos between certain kin or at particular times, such as during a mourning period for women or during initiation ceremonies for men, as was also the case withCaucasian Sign Language but notPlains Indian Sign Language, which did not involve speech taboo, ordeaf sign languages, which are not encodings of oral language. There is some similarity between neighbouring groups and some contactpidgin similar to Plains Indian Sign Language in the American Great Plains.
Sign languages appear to be most developed in areas with the most extensive speech taboos: the central desert (particularly among theWarlpiri andWarumungu), and westernCape York.[1] Complexgestural systems have also been reported in the southern, central, and western desert regions, theGulf of Carpentaria (including north-eastArnhem Land and theTiwi Islands), someTorres Strait Islands, and the southern regions of the Fitzmaurice andKimberley areas. Evidence for sign languages elsewhere is slim, but they have been noted as far south as the south coast (Jaralde Sign Language) and there are even some accounts from the first few years of the 20th century of the use of sign by people from the south west coast. However, many of the codes are now extinct, and very few accounts have recorded any detail.
Reports on the status of deaf members of such Aboriginal communities differ, with some writers lauding the inclusion of deaf people in mainstream cultural life, while others indicate that deaf people do not learn the sign language and, like other deaf people isolated in hearing cultures, develop a simple system ofhome sign to communicate with their immediate family. However, anAboriginal andTorres Strait Islander dialect ofAuslan exists inFar North Queensland (extending fromYarrabah toCape York), which is heavily influenced by the indigenous sign languages and gestural systems of the region.
Sign languages were noted in north Queensland as early as 1908 (Roth). Early research into indigenous sign was done by the American linguistLa Mont West, and later, in more depth, by English linguistAdam Kendon.
Kendon (1988) lists the following languages:
Miriwoong Sign Language is also a developed or perhaps highly developed language.
With the decline of Aboriginal oral and signed languages, an increase in communication between communities and migration of people toCairns, theFar North Queensland Indigenous Sign Language has developed, based on mainland andTorres Strait Islander sign languages such as Umpila Sign Language.
