Back Llingua de signos sudafricana AST Lengua de signos sudafricano Spanish زبان اشاره آفریقای جنوبی FA Langue des signes sud-africaine French South African Sign Language HIF Južnoafrički znakovni jezik Croatian South African Sign Language IG Lingua dei segni sudafricana Italian Sørafrikansk tegnspråk NB South African Sign Language NSO

South African Sign Language

South African Sign Language
Native toSouth Africa
Native speakers
235,000 (2011 census)[1]
BANZSL
  • South African Sign Language
Language codes
ISO 639-3sfs
Glottologsout1404

South African Sign Language (SASL, Afrikaans: Suid-Afrikaanse Gebaretaal) is the primary sign language used by deaf people in South Africa. The South African government added a National Language Unit for South African Sign Language in 2001.[2] SASL is not the only manual language used in South Africa,[3][4] but it is the language that is being promoted as the language to be used by the Deaf in South Africa,[5] although Deaf peoples in South Africa historically do not form a single group.

In 1995, the previous South African National Council for the Deaf (SANCD) was transformed into the Deaf Federation of South Africa (DeafSA),[6] which resulted in a radical policy change in matters for Deaf people in South Africa, such as the development and adoption of a single sign language and the promotion of sign language over oralism. Schools for the deaf have remained largely untransformed, however, and different schools for Deaf children in South African still use different sign language systems, and at a number of schools for the Deaf the use of any sign language is either discouraged or simply not taught.[7] There are as many as twelve different systems of signed oral language in South Africa.[8]

In addition to South African sign languages, American Sign Language (ASL) is also used by some Deaf people in South Africa. Most local sign languages in South Africa show the influence of American Sign Language.

In South Africa, newscasts on television employ the sign language known as SASL. The South African parliament also uses sign language, however different sign language interpreters are known to use various signals for the same topics.[9] There are around 40 schools for the Deaf in South Africa, most using a variety of SASL.

Sign language is explicitly mentioned in the South African constitution, and the South African Schools Act permits the study of the language in lieu of another official language at school.[10][11]

By 2011, there were 84 SASL interpreters on DeafSA's interpreter register, including 43 without any training, 31 who have completed 240 study hours of interpreter training, and 10 who have gained an additional 3 years' experience and completed a further 480 study hours.[12] A total of seven SASL interpreters have actually been accredited by SATI/DeafSA.[13] SASL interpreters can apply for accreditation without having completed any formal training in SASL.[14]

  1. ^ South African Sign Language at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
  2. ^ Ganiso, Mirriam Nosiphiwo (2012). Sign Language in South Africa: Language Planning and Policy Challenges (PDF) (MA thesis). Rhodes University. Archived from the original (PDF) on 14 December 2013. Retrieved 14 December 2013.
  3. ^ Aarons, Debra; Akach, Philemon (1998). "South African Sign Language – One Language or Many? A Sociolinguistic Question". Stellenbosch Papers in Linguistics. 31: 1–28. doi:10.5774/31-0-55.
  4. ^ "[Untitled]" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 14 December 2013. Retrieved 14 December 2013.
  5. ^ Aarons, Debra; Akach, Philemon. "South African Sign Language: One Language or Many?". In Mesthrie, Rajend (ed.). Language in South Africa. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 127–147.
  6. ^ "About Deaf Federation of South Africa (DeafSA)". Deaf Federation of South Africa. Archived from the original on 18 December 2013. Retrieved 12 December 2013.
  7. ^ PDF page 4, document page 114
  8. ^ Jackson, Neels (13 February 2008). "'n Bybel in gebaretaal kom gou". argief.beeld.com (in Afrikaans). Archived from the original on 14 March 2014. Retrieved 14 March 2014.
  9. ^ Selzer, Marsanne (2010). South African Sign Language Used in Parliament: Is There a Need for Standardisation? (MPhil thesis). University of Stellenbosch. hdl:10019.1/4200.
  10. ^ Cite error: The named reference SASLeducation was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  11. ^ Cite error: The named reference 1996SAschoolAct was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  12. ^ DeafSA (2011) [Originally approved 2009]. "Policy on the Provision and Regulation of South African Sign Language Interpreters" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 16 December 2013. Retrieved 15 December 2013.
  13. ^ "South African Sign Language Interpreting National Centre". SASLINC.
  14. ^ "Guidelines: SASL Interpreter Accreditation Testing" (PDF). South African Translators' Institute. n.d. Archived from the original (PDF) on 6 October 2014. Retrieved 15 December 2013.