Saudi Sign Language is the deaf sign language of Saudi Arabia. This sign language is different from the Unified Arabic Sign Language that is used by 18 Arab countries.[2] There are 100,000 deaf people in Saudi Arabia.[3]

Saudi Sign Language
لغة الإشارة السعودية
Native toSaudi Arabia
Native speakers
100,000 (2008)[1]
Language codes
ISO 639-3sdl
Glottologsaud1238

Classification edit

Wittmann (1991)[4] posits that SSL is a language isolate (a 'prototype' sign language), though one developed through stimulus diffusion from an existing sign language.

References edit

  1. ^ Saudi Sign Language at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022)  
  2. ^ "Saudi Arabian Sign Language". Ethnologue. Retrieved 14 December 2018.
  3. ^ "Saudi TV sign language keeps deaf audience in news loop".
  4. ^ Wittmann, Henri (1991). "Classification linguistique des langues signées non vocalement." Revue québécoise de linguistique théorique et appliquée 10:1.215–88.[1]

Further reading edit

  • Meir, Irit & Sandler, Wendy. (2007) A Language in Space: The Story of Israel Sign Language. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.