sign language

English

Pronunciation

• Audio (Southern England):

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Noun

sign language (countable and uncountable, plural sign languages)

1. (countable) One of several natural languages, typically used by the deaf, in which words consist of hand shapes, motions, positions, and facial expressions.
   • 2000, Wendy Sandler, Diane Lillo-Martin, edited by Mark Aronoff and Janie Rees-Miller, The Handbook of Linguistics:

     It is safe to say that the academic world is now convinced that sign languages are real languages in every sense of the term.

2. (uncountable) The sign language (sense 1) that is used locally or that is mistakenly believed to be the only one.

   I'm taking night classes to learn sign language.

3. (uncountable) Sign languages (sense 1) considered collectively.

   There are some unique properties found in sign language compared to spoken language.

4. (countable or uncountable) Communication through gestures as a substitute for language, for example, between monks under a vow of silence or during trade amongst different linguistic groups.
   • 1847, Francis Parkman, The Oregon Trail:

     Even Maxwell the trader, who has been most among them, is compelled to resort to the curious sign language common to most of the prairie tribes.

Derived terms

• International Sign, IS
• American Sign Language, ASL
• German Sign Language, DGS
• Bolivian Sign Language
• British Sign Language, BSL
• Catalan Sign Language
• Cuban Sign Language
• Nicaraguan Sign Language
• Norwegian Sign Language, NSL
• Spanish Sign Language
• tactile sign language
• village sign language

Related terms

• sign

Translations

sign language

• Adamorobe Sign Language: please add this translation if you can
• Afghan Sign Language: please add this translation if you can
• Afrikaans: gebaretaal
• Algerian Sign Language: please add this translation if you can
• American Sign Language: please add this translation if you can
• Arabic: لُغَة إِشَارَة f (luḡa(t) ʔišāra)
• Armenian: նշանաբանը (nšanabanə)
• Azerbaijani: işarə dili
• Bavarian: Gebeadnsproch f, Gebeadnsproche f
• Bengali: প্রতীকী ভাষা (protiki bhaśa)
• Bikol Central: palba (bcl)
• Brazilian Sign Language: please add this translation if you can
• Burmese: please add this translation if you can
• Catalan: llengua de signes (ca) f
• Catalan Sign Language: please add this translation if you can
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 手語／手语 (zh) (shǒuyǔ)

• Corsican: lingua di i cenni f
• Czech: znakový jazyk m
• Danish: tegnsprog (da) n
• Dutch: gebarentaal (nl)
• Esperanto: gestolingvo
• Estonian: viipekeel (et)
• Faroese: teknmál n
• Finnish: viittomakieli (fi)
• French: langue des signes (fr) f, langage des signes m
• Galician: lingua de signos f
• Georgian: ჟესტების ენა (žesṭebis ena), ნიშნების ენა (nišnebis ena)
• German: Gebärdensprache (de) f, Zeichensprache (de) f
• Greek: νοηματική γλώσσα (el) f (noïmatikí glóssa)
• Greenlandic: ussersuutit
• Honduras Sign Language: please add this translation if you can
• Hungarian: jelnyelv (hu)
• Icelandic: (sign language) táknmál (is) n, (finger language) fingramál n
• Indonesian: bahasa isyarat (id)
• Inuktitut: ᐆᒃᑐᐊᕋᐅᓯᕋᖅ (ooktoaraosiraq)
• Inupiatun: urraaraq
• Inuvialuktun: ujjiqsuuraq / tikuraq
• Irish: teanga chomharthaíochta f
• Italian: lingua dei segni f
• Japanese Sign Language: please add this translation if you can
• Japanese: 手話 (ja) (しゅわ, shuwa)
• Kalaallisut: ussersuutit
• Kazakh: ым тілі (ym tılı)
• Korean: 수화(手話) (ko) (suhwa), 수어(手語) (sueo)
• Lakota: wíyutȟapi
• Latin: lingua gesticulatoria f, lingua signorum f
• Lithuanian: gestų kalba f
• Lule Sami: siejvvemgiella
• Luxembourgish: Gebäerdesprooch f, Zeechesprooch f
• Malay: bahasa isyarat (ms)
• Maori: reo rotarota
• Navajo: naashchid
• Northern Sami: giehtagiella
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: tegnspråk n

  Nynorsk: teiknspråk n

• Occitan: lenga dels signes f, lenga de signes f
• Polish: język migowy (pl) m
• Portuguese: linguagem de sinais f (Brazil), língua gestual f (Portugal), linguagem gestual f (Portugal)
• Romanian Sign Language: please add this translation if you can
• Russian: язы́к же́стов m (jazýk žéstov), же́стовый язы́к (ru) m (žéstovyj jazýk)
• Sardinian: limba de sos sinnos f
• Scots: sign leid
• Sicilian: lingua dî signa f
• Spanish: lengua de signos f, lengua de señas f, idioma de signos m, idioma de señas m
• Swahili: lugha ya ishara
• Swedish: teckenspråk (sv) n
• Tajik: забони ишоратӣ (zabon-i išorati)
• Thai: ภาษามือ (th) (paa-sǎa-mʉʉ)
• Tibetan: བརྡ་སྐད (brda skad)
• Turkish: işaret dili (tr)
• Ukrainian: жестова мова f (žestova mova)
• Uzbek: ishora tili
• Vietnamese: ngôn ngữ ký hiệu (vi), thủ ngữ, ngôn ngữ dấu hiệu
• Welsh: iaith arwyddion f
• West Frisian: gebeartetaal
• Yiddish: שטומ־לשון (shtum-loshn)

See also

• chirologist