| Taiwan Sign Language | |
|---|---|
| Taiwan Ziran Shouyu | |
| Native to | Taiwan |
Native speakers | 20,000 (2004)[1] |
Japanese Sign
| |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | tss |
| Glottolog | taiw1241 |
Taiwan Sign Language (TSL;Chinese:台灣手語;pinyin:Táiwān Shǒuyǔ) is thesign language most commonly used by the deaf andhard of hearing in Taiwan.
The beginnings of Taiwan Sign Language date from 1895.[2]
The origins of TSL developed fromJapanese Sign Language duringJapanese rule. TSL is considered part of theJapanese Sign Language family.[3]
TSL has somemutual intelligibility with both Japanese Sign Language andKorean Sign Language; it has about a 60% lexical similarity with JSL.[2]
There are two main dialects of TSL centered on two of the three major sign language schools in Taiwan: one inTaipei, the other inTainan City. There is a variant based inTaichung, but this sign language is essentially the same as the Tainan school.
Afterthe ROC took over Taiwan, Taiwan absorbed an influx ofChinese Sign Language users fromChina who influenced TSL throughteaching methods andloanwords.[2]
Serious linguistic research into TSL began in the 1970s and is continuing at present. The first InternationalSymposium on Taiwan Sign LanguageLinguistics was held on March 1–2, 2003, atNational Chung Cheng University inMinxiong,Chiayi, Taiwan.
TSL, like other sign languages, incorporatesnonmanual 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.[4]
The 2020 psychological-thrillerThe Silent Forest uses a large amount of the Taipei variant of TSL in the dialogue.[5]
 | This article about asign language or related topic is astub. You can help Wikipedia byexpanding it. |
