British, Australian and New Zealand Sign Language ( BANZSL , / ˈ b æ n z əl / ), or the British Sign Language (BSL) family , is a language family or grouping encompassing three related sign languages : British Sign Language , Auslan and New Zealand Sign Language (NZSL). The term BANZSL was coined informally by the linguists Trevor Johnston and Adam Schembri in the early 2000s. However, in 2024, Schembri remarked that the Misplaced Pages article on BANZSL had begun describing it with the more specific or authoritative meaning of "the language from which modern BSL and Auslan and New Zealand sign language have descended", a meaning that "took on a life of its own—something that we didn't intend". As a result, Schembri says he and Johnston have disowned the term due to pushback from Deaf communities, concerned that it is replacing the names of each of the three languages.
6-845: BSL, Auslan and NZSL all have their roots in a Deaf sign language used in Britain during the 19th century. The three languages in question are related in their use of similar grammar, manual alphabet , and high degree of lexical overlap. American Sign Language and the BANZSL varieties are not part of the same language family. However, there is still significant overlap in vocabulary, probably due largely to relatively recent borrowing of lexicon by signers of all three BANZSL varieties, with many younger signers unaware which signs are recent imports. Between Auslan, BSL and NZSL, 82% of signs are identical (per Swadesh lists ). When considering identical as well as similar or related signs there are 98% cognate signs between
12-491: A "North-West European" sign language. ^b Denotes the number (if known) of languages within the family. No further information is given on these languages. Two-handed manual alphabet Several manual alphabets in use around the world employ two hands to represent some or all of the letters of an alphabet , usually as a part of a deaf sign language . Two-handed alphabets are less widespread than one-handed manual alphabets . They may be used to represent
18-575: A short pause between words. AEIOU are the pads of each finger, beginning with the thumb . From "Deafblind Manual Alphabet" , on Deafblind Information, Senses Australia (links added): Current Directions in Turkish Sign Language Research , p. 72, at Google Books Some signs are modeled after letters of the Serbian Cyrillic alphabet , others after Gaj's Latin alphabet , or stem from other sources. [1] [2] ^b Denotes
24-489: Is a variation on the above alphabet, modified for tactile use by those communicating with people who are deafblind . The sender holds the wrist of the receiver. The receiver's hand is relaxed, with the palm open and fingers slightly apart. The signer uses their dominant hand like a pen to sign on the non-dominant hand of the receiver. As a beginner, you may squeeze the wrist of the receiver between words since you will spell haltingly. Once you can spell fluently, simply put
30-878: The Latin alphabet (for example in the manual alphabet used in Turkish Sign Language ) or the Cyrillic alphabet (as is sometimes used in Yugoslav Sign Language ). This alphabet is used in the BANZSL group of sign languages. It has been used in British Sign Language and Auslan since at least the 19th century, and in New Zealand Sign Language since the 1970s. Variations of this alphabet are also used in dialects of Indo-Pakistani Sign Language . This
36-599: The languages. By comparison, ASL and BANZSL have only 31% signs identical, or 44% cognate. According to Henri Wittmann (1991), Swedish Sign Language also descends from BSL. From Swedish SL arose Portuguese Sign Language and Finnish Sign Language , the latter with local admixture; Danish Sign Language is largely mutually intelligible with Swedish SL, though Wittmann places it in the French Sign Language family . Anderson (1979) instead suggested that Swedish Sign , German Sign and British Sign share one origin in
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