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The following are sign languages reported to be used by at least 10,000 people. Additional languages, such as Chinese Sign Language, are likely to have more signers, but no data is available. Estimates for sign language use are very crude, and definitions of what counts as proficiency are varied. For most sign languages, there are no concrete estimates. For instance, it has been reported there are a million signers in Ethiopia, but there are only a fifth that number of deaf people, less than half of whom are fluent in sign, and in addition it is unknown how many different sign languages they use.
According to many highly educated members of the ASL dDeaf community, the number of fluent ASL native signers is closer to the tens of millions. Therefore, the statistics listed below, while taken from varying published sources, should be carefully vetted before being disseminated or cited elsewhere.
| Language | Family or origin | Legal recognition and where spoken natively by significant population | Ethnologue estimate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Indo-Pakistani Sign Language | Related to Nepalese Sign Language and possibly others in south Asia | No legal recognition. Native to India, Pakistan and Bangladesh | 6,300,000 (2019) |
| Chinese Sign Language | Independent language family; not related to other sign language families | Legally recognized by China | 4,000,000 (2021) |
| Indonesian Sign Language | Based on French Sign Language family | Native to Indonesia | 810,000 (2021)[1] |
| Russian Sign Language | French Sign Language family | Native to Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Moldova, Bulgaria, Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania | 715,000 (2014)[2] |
| Brazilian Sign Language | French Sign Language family | Legally recognized by law (10.436) in Brazil, on April 24, 2002[3] | 600,000 (2019) |
| Spanish Sign Language | possibly French Sign Language family, according to others Language isolate |
Officially recognized by Spanish Government. Native to Spain except Catalonia and Valencia | 523,000 (2017) |
| Egyptian Sign Language | Arab sign-language family | Native to Egypt | 474,000 (2014)[4] |
| American Sign Language | Old French Sign Language and Martha's Vineyard Sign Language | Native to the United States and Anglophone Canada | 459,850[5] |
| Persian Sign Language | Language isolate | Native to Iran | 325,000 (2019)[6] |
| Turkish Sign Language | from Ottoman Sign Language | Native to Turkey | 300,000 (2019)[7] |
| Japanese Sign Language | JSL Family | Native to Japan. | 126,000 (2019) |
| Mexican Sign Language | French Sign Language family | Native to Urban Mexico. | 130,000 (2010 projection) |
| French Sign Language | French Sign Language family. Descended from Old French Sign Language | Native to France. Spoken in Switzerland, Mali, Rwanda, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Togo, Vietnam | 100,000 (2019) |
| German Sign Language | German Sign Language family | Native to Germany | 80,000 (2014) |
| British Sign Language | BANZSL | Native to United Kingdom. | 80,000 (2014) |
| Malaysian Sign Language | French: ASL | Native to Malaysia | 60,000 (2013) |
| Polish Sign Language | German Sign Language family | Native to Poland. | 38,000 to 50,000 (2014) |
| Italian Sign Language | French Sign Language family | Officially Recognized language in Sicily. Native to Italy | 40,000 (2014) |
| New Zealand Sign Language | BANZSL | An official language of New Zealand since 2006 | 23,000 (2018 census)[8] |
| Yugoslav Sign Language | French: Austro-Hungarian | Native to Bosnia & Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia, Slovenia | 22,000 (2010-2014) |
| Uruguayan Sign Language | French Sign Language family | Legally recognized in Uruguay since 2001 under Law 17.378.[9][10] | 20,000 (2019)[11] |
| Hong Kong Sign Language | Chinese | Native to Hong Kong | 20,000 (2007) |
| Dutch Sign Language | French | Native to Netherlands | 15,000 (2019) |
| Auslan | BANZSL | Native to Australia | 10,000 (2016 census) |
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ "Indonesian Sign Language". Ethnologue. Archived from the original on 21 January 2021. Retrieved 4 February 2021.
- ^ "Russian Sign Language". Ethnologue. Retrieved 4 February 2021.
- ^ Lei 10.436 de 24 de abril de 2002 Archived 2010-09-10 at the Wayback Machine (in Portuguese)
- ^ "Egyptian Sign Language". Ethnologue. Archived from the original on 21 January 2021. Retrieved 4 February 2021.
- ^ "American Sign Language". Ethnologue. Archived from the original on 21 January 2021. Retrieved 4 February 2021.
- ^ "Iranian Sign Language". Ethnologue. Archived from the original on 11 February 2021. Retrieved 4 February 2021.
- ^ "Turkish Sign Language". Ethnologue. Archived from the original on 22 January 2021. Retrieved 4 February 2021.
- ^ "2018 Census totals by topic – national highlights (updated)". Stats NZ. 30 April 2020. Archived from the original on 6 July 2022. Retrieved 6 July 2022.
- ^ Meyers, Stephen; Lockwood, Elizabeth (2014-12-06). "The Tale of Two Civil Societies: Comparing disability rights movements in Nicaragua and Uruguay". Disability Studies Quarterly. 34 (4). doi:10.18061/dsq.v34i4.3845. ISSN 2159-8371. Archived from the original on 2022-06-27. Retrieved 2021-06-08.
- ^ "Ley N° 17378". www.impo.com.uy. Archived from the original on 2022-05-20. Retrieved 2021-06-08.
- ^ Observador, El. "Lengua de señas en Uruguay: cómo es, dónde se estudia y en qué programas se incluirá". El Observador. Archived from the original on 2024-05-26. Retrieved 2021-06-08.