| Mongolian Sign Language | |
|---|---|
| Монгол дохионы хэл | |
| Native to | Mongolia |
Native speakers | 16,000 (2021)[1] |
French Sign?
| |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | msr |
| Glottolog | mong1264 |
Mongolian Sign Language (MSL;Mongolian:Монгол дохионы хэл,romanized: Mongol dokhiony khel) is asign language used inMongolia.Ethnologue estimates that there are between 9,000 and 15,000 deaf signers in Mongolia as of 2019[update].[3]
A school for the deaf was established in Mongolia in 1964 with assistance from theSoviet Union. This resulted in many similarities between MSL andRussian Sign Language (RSL) for a time, but the two languages have since developed to be separate and distinct.[4]
Linda Ball, aPeace Corps volunteer in Mongolia, is believed to have created the first dictionary of MSL in 1995.[5] In 2007, another MSL dictionary with 3,000 entries was published by Mongolia's Ministry of Education, Culture, and Science with assistance fromUNESCO.[6]
