Sign language is a form of communication that includes hand gestures, facial expressions, and body language. Sign languages were mainly developed for interaction among the deaf and dumb communities. Sign languages also evolve based on the culture and region of a country. It is said that there are nearly 300 different types of sign languages in use all over the world. The following gives an overview of the different sign language types.

Popular Sign Language Types In The United States

In the U.S, three significant forms of sign language are in use. They are listed below.

American Sign Language(ASL): It is a type of manual language which is simple and easy to understand. ASL can be translated into any type of spoken language. This sign language is developed with its own idioms and grammar.

Pidgin Signed English(PSE): This type of sign language is popular among the deaf community in the U.S. It is the simplest of the three major sign language types in the U.S. The vocabulary of PSE is derived from ASL.

Signing Exact English(SEE): This sign language is basically derived from ASL. SEE is nothing but signing the English words using visual representation.

Other Popular Sign Language Types Around The World

The following are some of the common sign languages currently in use all over the world.

Australian Sign Language: This is the main sign language of Australia. It is also called Auslan sign language. It belongs to the BANZSL language family. The northern and southern region of the country follows two different dialects of Auslan sign language. This sign language is completely different from ASL. Alphabets are represented with the use of two hands in this sign language.

British Sign Language(BSL): Most of the people in England and Wales use BSL. This sign language includes various dialects that differ based on the region.

Chinese Sign Language (CSL): This type of sign language of China is based on the visual representation of Chinese characters. Shanghai dialect is the common dialect among the various dialects of CSL.

Japanese Sign Language(JSL): In Japan, a unique sign language called JSL is in use. It makes use of mouthing for differentiating signs and letters. JSL makes use of fingerspelling as the Japanese characters are used in air.

Classification of Sign Languages

Sign languages can be classified as follows.

Village Sign Language: A type of sign language that evolves in a particular region or village due to a higher incidence of deafness and dumbness can be classified as a village sign language. There are various village sign languages in use all over the world.

Deaf-Community Sign Language: The sign languages developed among the deaf and dumb communities are classified as deaf community sign language. It is mostly a language of instruction in deaf and dumb schools.

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