What is Nicaraguan Sign Language?
{{Infobox language |name=Nicaraguan Sign Language |nativename=Idioma de Señas de Nicaragua, ISN |states=[[Nicaragua]] |region=The [[Managua]] region and spreading throughout the country |speakers=3,000 |ref=e18 |date=1997 |familycolor=sign language |family=[[Deaf-community sign language]]: developed as a [[creole language]] from a [[home sign|home]] and [[idioglossic]] sign, with the addition of an [[American Sign Language|ASL]]-influenced [[manual alphabet]] |iso3=ncs |glotto=nica1238 |glottorefname=Nicaraguan Sign Language }} '''''Idioma de Signos Nicaragüense''''', or '''Nicaraguan Sign Language''', is a [[sign language]] that was spontaneously invented by [[deaf]] schoolchildren in [[Nicaragua]] in the 1970s and 1980s. The language developed when the [[Sandinist]] government of Nicaragua created the first (elementary) school for deaf people, in the 1970s. The [[language]] is of special interest to [[linguist]]s, because it allows them to study how languages develop. In the 1970s, the deaf people of Nicaragua rarely met. They lived isolated lives and used simple gestures to communicate with their friends and family. In 1977, a special programme for the deaf was started in a suburb of [[Managua]]. At first, fifty children took part. When the Sandinist came to power, the number of pupils rose to hundred. In 1980, a [[vocational school]] for deaf people was opened in another part of Managua. In 1983, both schools together had about 400 pupils. The teaching was centered on [[lip reading]] and the use of a [[hand alphabet]]. This was mostly unsuccessful, because most pupils had trouble spelling words in this way. The children were cut off from their teachers, and used recreational breaks, and free time spent together to create a system that allowed them to communicate with each other. Gestures and signs used at home were used to create a [[pidgin]]. Later the pidgin developed into a [[Creole language]]. The first step, that is to say the pidgin is called ''Lenguaje de Signos Nicaragüense'' (LSN) today. Pupils wh