Do different languages use different sign language?
Or the concept of the word is what's being communicated through signs, but not the word itself?
sign-languages symbol
Jesse CohoonJesse Cohoon
I think the Original Poster might be of the widely held belief that sign language translates 'actual' spoken language into signs. For example, one could envisage a system where the sentence she is at home would have four signs, one meaning she one meaning is, one meaning at and one meaning home. This would be a system similar to signed English for example, where the language being signed basically is English in a manually coded form. This could be thought of as a system similar to morse code. However, this is not what sign languages are.
Sign languages have their own distinct syntax and morphology and are full languages in their own right. British sign language for example is perhaps best characterised as an OSV language, where as American Sign Language is often described as an SVO language.
So the answer to the Original Poster's question is that spoken languages do not "have" sign languages. Rather people in different areas speak different sign languages that are distinct from each other as well as being distinct from the oral languages spoken in those areas (although, like other languages, sign languages borrow from other languages, including oral languages such as English).
Araucaria - Not here any more.Araucaria - Not here any more.
I can't say I'm super informed on this question, but I've learned a bit of Japanese sign language, and it seems to be precisely a signed version of Japanese and includes mechanisms for emulating katakana. Can you comment on that? – virmaior Jul 7 '16 at 11:27
@virmaior I know nothing about JSL, I'm afraid, apart from what I've read here.It might be possible that you've been learning manually coded Japanese. JSL does borrow heavily from oral and written Japanese (and English apparently). I do know that Korean and Taiwanese sign language speakers can communicate using their SLs with JSL speakers. – Araucaria - Not here any more. Jul 7 '16 at 12:31
Yes, and no.
There are many different sign lanuages in the world, and they have a tree of descent just as spoken languages do. But there is very little connection between the sign language and the spoken languages of a particular area
For example, ASL (American Sign Language) is said to be derived from French Sign Language: both are utterly different from BSL (British Sign Language), both in vocabulary and grammar.
Colin FineColin Fine
See Gallaudet University's webpage American Sign Language & French Sign Language. ASL and French Sign Language are now every different, in spite of their lineage. (Gallaudet University has programs specifically designed for the needs of deaf and hard of hearing students.) – Tsundoku Oct 12 '16 at 11:13
Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged sign-languages symbol or ask your own question.
Do two deaf persons from different countries understand each other?
What Sign Language developed among orphans/homeless children using the environment as a base for the signs?
Do sign languages inflect?
Are doubled questions in sign languages arbitrary?
What similarities are there between Nicaraguan (ISN) and American (ASL) Sign Language?
Are there signed languages that have a case system?
Would Saussure consider sign language as "parole"?
Do sign languages have words?
Can native signers of one sign language identify other sign languages?
Is mouthing phonemic in American Sign Language or other sign languages?