Editing Sign language (section)

{{short description|Language that uses manual communication and body language to convey meaning}}
{{about|primary sign languages of the deaf|signed versions of spoken languages|manually coded language|other uses|Sign Language (disambiguation)}}

[[File:ASL family.jpg|thumb|Two men and a woman signing [[American Sign Language]] (2008)]]
[[File:Preservation of the Sign Language (1913).webm|thumb|thumbtime=5|''Preservation of the Sign Language'', George W. Veditz (1913)]]

'''Sign languages''' (also known as '''signed languages''') are [[language]]s that use the visual-manual modality to convey meaning, instead of spoken words. Sign languages are expressed through manual articulation in combination with [[#Non-manual elements|non-manual markers]]. Sign languages are full-fledged natural languages with their own grammar and lexicon.<ref name="SLM" /> Sign languages are not universal and are usually not [[mutual intelligibility|mutually intelligible]],<ref>{{cite web | publisher = Linguistic society |title= What is Sign Language?|url= https://www.linguisticsociety.org/content/what-sign-language|access-date=10 March 2018|url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180213195125/https://www.linguisticsociety.org/content/what-sign-language|archive-date=13 February 2018}}</ref> although there are similarities among different sign languages.

Linguists consider both spoken and signed communication to be types of [[natural language]], meaning that both emerged through an abstract, protracted aging process and evolved over time without meticulous planning.<ref>E.g.: Irit Meir, Wendy Sandler, Carol Padden, and Mark Aronoff (2010): Emerging Sign Languages. In: Marc Marschark and Patricia Elizabeth Spencer (eds.): The Oxford Handbook of Deaf Studies, Language, and Education, Vol. 2, pp. 267–80.</ref> This is supported by the fact that there is substantial overlap between the neural substrates of sign and spoken language processing, despite the obvious differences in modality.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Trettenbrein |first1=Patrick C. |last2=Papitto |first2=Giorgio |last3=Friederici |first3=Angela D. |last4=Zaccarella |first4=Emiliano |date=2021-02-15 |title=Functional neuroanatomy of language without speech: An ALE meta‐analysis of sign language |journal=Human Brain Mapping |language=en |volume=42 |issue=3 |pages=699–712 |doi=10.1002/hbm.25254 |issn=1065-9471 |pmc=7814757 |pmid=33118302}}</ref>

Sign language should not be confused with [[body language]], a type of [[non verbal communication|nonverbal communication]]. Linguists also distinguish natural sign languages from other systems that are precursors to them or obtained from them, such as constructed manual codes for spoken languages, [[home sign]], "[[Baby sign language|baby sign]]", and signs learned by non-human primates.

Wherever communities of people with hearing challenges or people who experience [[deafness]] exist, sign languages have developed as useful means of communication and form the core of local [[deaf culture]]s. Although signing is used primarily by the deaf and [[Hearing loss|hard of hearing]], it is also used by hearing individuals, such as those [[Muteness|unable to physically speak]], those who have trouble with oral language due to a disability or condition ([[augmentative and alternative communication]]), and those with deaf family members including [[Child of deaf adult|children of deaf adults]].

The number of sign languages worldwide is not precisely known. Each country generally has its own native sign language; some have more than one. The 2021 edition of ''[[Ethnologue]]'' lists 150 sign languages,<ref>{{citation |contribution = Sign language |title = Ethnologue: Languages of the World |year = 2021 |edition = 24th |publisher = SIL International |access-date = 2021-05-15 |editor1-last = Eberhard |editor1-first = David M. |editor2-last = Simons |editor2-first = Gary F. |editor3-last = Fennig |editor3-first = Charles D. |url = https://www.ethnologue.com/subgroups/sign-language |archive-date = 2019-04-02 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20190402155824/https://www.ethnologue.com/subgroups/sign-language |url-status = live }}</ref> while the SIGN-HUB Atlas of Sign Language Structures lists over 200 and notes that there are more that have not been documented or discovered yet.<ref>{{citation |title = Atlas of Sign Language Structures |year = 2021 |publisher = Sign-hub |access-date = 2021-01-13 |editor1-last = Hosemann |editor1-first = Jana |editor2-last = Steinbach |editor2-first = Markus |url = https://www.sign-hub.eu/atlas |archive-date = 2021-04-13 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20210413222932/https://www.sign-hub.eu/atlas |url-status = dead }}</ref> As of 2021, [[Indo-Pakistani Sign Language]] is the most-used sign language in the world, and ''Ethnologue'' ranks it as the 151st most "spoken" language in the world.<ref>[https://www.ethnologue.com/guides/ethnologue200 What are the top 200 most spoken languages?] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230923161950/https://www.ethnologue.com/guides/ethnologue200/ |date=2023-09-23 }}, [[Ethnologue]].</ref>

Some sign languages have obtained some form of [[Legal recognition of sign languages|legal recognition]].<ref>Wheatley, Mark & Annika Pabsch (2012). ''Sign Language Legislation in the European Union – Edition II''. European Union of the Deaf.</ref>