sign language

English

Pronunciation

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Noun

sign language (countable and uncountable, plural sign languages)

1. (countable) Any 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

• Adamorobe Sign Language
• Afghan Sign Language
• Algerian Sign Language
• Al-Sayyid Bedouin Sign Language
• American Sign Language, ASL
• Argentine Sign Language
• Armenian Sign Language
• Australian Sign Language, Auslan
• Bolivian Sign Language
• Brazilian Sign Language, LIBRAS
• British Sign Language, BSL
• Catalan Sign Language
• Chilean Sign Language
• Chinese Sign Language, CSL
• Colombian Sign Language
• Cuban Sign Language
• Danish Sign Language
• Dutch Sign Language
• Ecuadorian Sign Language
• Estonian Sign Language
• Finnish Sign Language
• Flemish Sign Language
• French Sign Language
• German Sign Language, DGS
• Gorilla Sign Language, GSL
• Greek Sign Language
• Guatemalan Sign Language
• Hausa Sign Language
• Hawaii Pidgin Sign Language
• Honduras Sign Language
• Hong Kong Sign Language, HKSL
• Icelandic Sign Language
• International Sign, IS
• Israeli Sign Language
• Japanese Sign Language
• Jhankot Sign Language
• Kenyan Sign Language
• Korean Sign Language
• Malaysian Sign Language
• Maritime Sign Language, MSL
• Martha's Vineyard Sign Language
• Mexican Sign Language
• monastic sign language
• Nicaraguan Sign Language, NSL
• North Korean Sign Language
• Norwegian Sign Language, NSL
• Palestinian Sign Language
• Quebec Sign Language
• Romanian Sign Language
• Russian Sign Language
• Slovenian Sign Language
• South African Sign Language
• Spanish Sign Language
• Swedish Sign Language, SSL
• Swiss-German Sign Language
• tactile sign language
• village sign language
• Yucatec Maya 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
• Albanian: gjuha e shenjave f (definite)
• Algerian Sign Language: please add this translation if you can
• American Sign Language: please add this translation if you can
• Arabic: لُغَةُ إِشَارَة f (luḡatu ʔišāra)
• Armenian: ժեստերի լեզու (hy) (žesteri lezu), նշանների լեզու (nšanneri lezu)
• Azerbaijani: işarə dili
• Belarusian: жэ́ставая мо́ва f (žéstavaja móva), мо́ва жэ́стаў f (móva žéstaw)
• Bengali: প্রতীকী ভাষা (protiki bhaśa)
• Bikol:

  Central Bikol: palba (bcl)

• Brazilian Sign Language: please add this translation if you can
• Bulgarian: жестомими́чен ези́к m (žestomimíčen ezík)
• Burmese: လက်သင်္ကေတပြဘာသာစကား (laksangketa.pra.bhasaca.ka:)
• Carpathian Rusyn: же́стовый язы́к m (žéstovŷj jazŷ́k), зна́ковый язы́к m (znákovŷj jazŷ́k)
• Catalan: llengua de signes (ca) f
• Catalan Sign Language: please add this translation if you can
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 手語 / 手语 (sau² jyu⁵)

  Hokkien: 手語 / 手语 (chhiú-gí / chhiú-gú)

  Mandarin: 手語 / 手语 (zh) (shǒuyǔ)

• Corsican: lingua di i cenni f
• Czech: znakový jazyk m
• Danish: tegnsprog (da) n
• Dutch: gebarentaal (nl) f
• Esperanto: gestolingvo
• Estonian: viipekeel (et)
• Faroese: teknmál n
• Finnish: viittomakieli (fi)
• French: langue des signes (fr) f, langage des signes m
• Frisian:

  West Frisian: gebeartetaal

• Galician: lingua de signos f
• Georgian: ჟესტების ენა (žesṭebis ena), ნიშნების ენა (nišnebis ena)
• German: Gebärdensprache (de) f, Zeichensprache (de) f

  Bavarian: Gebeadnsproch f, Gebeadnsproche f

• Greek: νοηματική γλώσσα (el) f (noïmatikí glóssa)
• Greenlandic: ussersuutit
• Haitian Creole: lang siy
• Hebrew: שְׂפַת סִימָנִים (he) f (s'fat simaním)
• Hindi: सांकेतिक भाषा f (sāṅketik bhāṣā)
• Honduras Sign Language: please add this translation if you can
• Hungarian: jelnyelv (hu)
• Icelandic: (sign language) táknmál (is) n, (finger language) fingramál n
• Ido: please add this translation if you can
• Indonesian: bahasa isyarat (id)
• Interlingua: please add this translation if you can
• Interlingue: please add this translation if you can
• Inuktitut: ᐆᒃᑐᐊᕋᐅᓯᕋᖅ (ooktoaraosiraq)
• Inupiaq: urraaraq
• Inuvialuktun: ujjiqsuuraq / tikuraq
• Irish: teanga chomharthaíochta f
• Italian: lingua dei segni f
• Japanese: 手話 (ja) (しゅわ, shuwa)
• Japanese Sign Language: please add this translation if you can
• Greenlandic: ussersuutit
• Kazakh: ым тілі (ım tili)
• Khmer: ភាសាសញ្ញា (phiəsaa saññaa)
• Korean: 수화(手話) (ko) (suhwa), 수어(手語) (sueo)
• Korean Sign Language: please add this translation if you can
• Kyrgyz: жест тили (jest tili)
• Lakota: wíyutȟapi
• Lao: ພາສາມື (phā sā mư̄)
• Latin: lingua gesticulatoria f, lingua signorum f
• Latvian: zīmju valoda f
• Lithuanian: gestų kalba f
• Luxembourgish: Gebäerdesprooch f, Zeechesprooch f
• Macedonian: знаковен јазик m (znakoven jazik)
• Malay: bahasa isyarat (ms)
• Maltese: lingwa tas-Sinjali f
• Māori: reo rotarota
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: дохионы хэл (doxiony xel)

• Navajo: naashchid
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: tegnspråk n

  Nynorsk: teiknspråk n

• Occitan: lenga dels signes f, lenga de signes f
• Pannonian Rusyn: знаковни язик m (znakovni jazik)
• Pashto: please add this translation if you can
• Persian:

  Iranian Persian: زَبانِ اِشارِه (fa) (zabân-e ešâre), زُبانِ اِشارِه (fa) (zobân-e ešâre)

• Plautdietsch: Finjasproak f
• Polish: język migowy (pl) m inan
• Portuguese: linguagem de sinais f (Brazil), língua gestual f (Portugal), linguagem gestual f (Portugal)
• Romanian: limba semnelor f (definite)
• Romanian Sign Language: please add this translation if you can
• Russian: же́стовый язы́к (ru) m (žéstovyj jazýk), язы́к же́стов m (jazýk žéstov) (dated)
• Sami:

  Lule Sami: siejvvemgiella

  Northern Sami: giehtagiella

• Sardinian: limba de sos sinnos f
• Scots: sign leid
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: знаковни језик m

  Latin: znakovni jezik m

• Sicilian: lingua dî signa f
• Sinhalese: සංඥා භාෂා (saṁgnā bhāṣā)
• Slovak: znakový jazyk m, posunkový jazyk m, posunková reč f, znaková reč f
• Slovene: znakovni jezik m
• Sorbian:

  Lower Sorbian: gestikulaciska rěc f, znamjenjowa rěc f

  Upper Sorbian: gestikulaciska rěč f, znamjenjowa rěč f

• Spanish: lengua de signos f, lengua de señas f, idioma de señas m, idioma de signos m, idioma signado m, lengua signada f
• Swahili: lugha ya ishara
• Swedish: teckenspråk (sv) n
• Tagalog: wikang pakumpas
• Tajik: забони ишоратӣ (zabon-i išorati), забони ишора (zabon-i išora), забони ношунавоён (zabon-i nošunavoyon)
• Thai: ภาษามือ (th) (paa-sǎa-mʉʉ)
• Tibetan: བརྡ་སྐད (brda skad)
• Turkish: işaret dili (tr)
• Turkmen: işaret dili
• Ukrainian: же́стова мо́ва f (žéstova móva), мо́ва же́стів f (móva žéstiv)
• Unami: tëtpi
• Urdu: اِشاری زَبان f (iśārī zabān), اِشاری زُبان f (iśārī zubān)
• Uyghur: ئىشارەت تىلى (isharet tili)
• Uzbek: ishora tili
• Vietnamese: ngôn ngữ kí hiệu, ngôn ngữ ký hiệu (vi), thủ ngữ, ngôn ngữ dấu hiệu
• Volapük: please add this translation if you can
• Welsh: iaith arwyddion f
• Yiddish: שטומ־לשון (shtum-loshn)

See also

• chirologist