| Swedish Sign Language family | |
|---|---|
| East Scandinavian Sign | |
| Geographic distribution | Europe, Africa |
| Linguistic classification | ?British Sign
|
| Subdivisions | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | – |
| Glottolog | swed1257 |
 Part of the Swedish Sign Language family Secondarily influenced by the Swedish Sign Language family | |
TheSwedish Sign Language family is alanguage family ofsign languages, includingSwedish Sign Language,Portuguese Sign Language,Cape Verdian Sign Language,Finnish Sign Language andEritrean Sign (although going through the process of demissionization).[1]
There is evidence of usage of signed languages in the Nordic countries from the 18th century, but the later 19th century political situation split the Nordic sign languages into two distinct language families, the Swedish Sign Language family and theDanish Sign Language family.[3]
Swedish SL started about 1800.Henri Wittmannproposes that it descends fromBritish Sign Language. Regardless, Swedish SL in turn gave rise to Portuguese Sign Language (1823) and Finnish Sign Language (1850s), the latter with local admixture; Finnish and Swedish Sign are mutually unintelligible.[4] Anderson (1979) instead suggested thatSwedish Sign,German Sign andBritish Sign share one origin in a "North-West European" sign language.[5]
Ethnologue reports thatDanish Sign Language is largely mutually intelligible with Swedish Sign, though Wittmann places DSL in theFrench Sign Language family. There are no known dialects in the Swedish Sign Language, however, it is partly intelligible with other manual languages such as Danish (DSL), Norwegian (NSL), and Finnish (FSE).[6]
Although not directly related to theGuinea-Bissau Sign language, it has borrowed the alphabet from Portuguese sign.[7]Namibian Sign Language has also been influenced by Swedish Sign, because some deaf adults went into Sweden before becoming leaders in the deaf community in Namibia.[8]
It has also been reported thatTanzanian sign may have been influenced by Finnish and Swedish sign languages, although the evidence is not explicit.[9]
Swedish Sign Language is thesign language used inSweden. It is recognized by theSwedish government as the country'sofficial sign language, and hearing parents ofdeaf individuals are entitled to access state-sponsored classes that facilitate their learning of SSL.[10] Swedish sign language is strongly linked to the culture of Sweden. There are around 13.000 native speakers and a total of 30.000 speakers.[1]
Finnish Sign Language can be traced back to the mid-1800s whenCarl Oscar Malm, a Finnish deaf individual who had studied in Sweden, founded Finland's first school for the deaf inPorvoo in 1846. TheSwedish sign language used by Malm spread among Finnish deaf individuals, evolving into its own language. The first association for the deaf in Finland was established in Turku in 1886. Albert Tallroth was involved in founding five different deaf associations and also the Finnish Association of the Deaf. By the late 1800s,oralism, or the speech method, began to be favored in the education of the deaf in Finland. This led to the prohibition of sign language in schools, even under threat of punishment. And as a result of oralism, Finnish Sign Language and Finnish-Swedish Sign Language began to diverge. Despite the ban, students in deaf schools continued to use sign language secretly in dormitories. The use of sign language persisted within the deaf community, while spoken language learned in school was used when interacting with hearing individuals.[11]
TheFinland-Swedish Sign Language, also known as FinSSL, was created by the deaf community of Swedish backgrounds inhabiting the coastal areas of Finland. It is declared as an independent language given the connection to the Finland-Swedish culture.[12] Since 2015, Finland-Swedish and Finnish sign languages have been recognized as separate languages in Finnish legislation, as the new sign language act was adopted in the parliament. However, the scientific consensus has been since 2005 that the two sign languages are distinct.[13] Through contacts between Swedish deaf individuals and Finland-Swedish deaf individuals, the Finland-Swedish sign language has borrowed many words fromSwedish sign language. Additionally, the visual phonology with facial expressions follows the sounds of the Swedish language.[14][15]
Portuguese Sign language (Portuguese:Língua gestual portuguesa) is asign language used mainly bydeaf people inPortugal. It is recognized in the presentConstitution of Portugal.[16] It was significantly influenced bySwedish Sign Language, through aschool for the Deaf that was established in Lisbon by Swedish educatorPär Aron Borg.[17][18] The Portuguese Sign Language has its origins from the Swedish Sign Language (LGS), as in the 19th century, the king called to Portugal Pär Aron Borg, a Swede who had founded an institute for the education of the deaf in Sweden. In 1823, the first school for the deaf was made in Portugal, and although the vocabulary of the Portuguese and Swedish sign languages have many differences from each other, the alphabet of the two languages shows their common origin.[19]
Cape Verdian Sign Language (Língua Gestual Caboverdiana)[20] is the sign language used by the deaf community inCape Verde, numbering around 1500-4000. It is descended fromPortuguese sign language and is mutually integible with it, although it contains some local adaptations.[21][22] In 2010, a school for children who are deaf was established in Cape Verde. Another deaf school was also established inPraia.[23]
Some reports have said thatLGSTP is similar to Portuguese Sign and that much of it is mutually integible withPortuguese Sign.[24] Additionally, although not directly related to Portuguese Sign, theGuinea-Bissau Sign Language has borrowed the alphabet from Portuguese Sign.[25]
It is also reported that Portuguese Sign has been also used inAngola.[2]
Eritrean Sign Language also developed out of the Swedish and Finnish Sign Languages,[26] that were introduced bySwedish andFinnishChristian missionaries in 1955,[26] containing a certain amount of local Eritrean signs and havingASL-basedSudanese influences.[27] According to Moges 2011, 70% of the EriSL and Finnish signs are identical.[26] Since 2005, the Eritrean National Association of the Deaf has madelinguistic purification attempts to replace Swedish and Finnish signs from the EriSL lexicon by 'Eritrean' ones in an effort to create a more distinct, "indigenous" language.[26] This process is referred to as 'demissionization'.[1]
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