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<font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif">Indeed! As one of the
people who is involved in editing the Ethnologue entries for sign
languages, I wouldn't look to the Ethnologue at this time for much
indication of the political status. When most of those entries
were written, there was not any consistent editorial practice on
how to deal with official status of a sign language, so there is
likely a lot of inconsistency. And, as Trevor says, much of the
information is out of date. If anyone has information about
particular sign languages that they want to get into the
Ethnologue, please contact me privately.</font><br>
<pre class="moz-signature" cols="72">Albert Bickford
SIL International (Mexico program and Signed Language Leadership Team)
<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:albert_bickford@sil.org">albert_bickford@sil.org</a>
</pre>
<br>
On 2011/04/08 8:50 AM, Trevor Jenkins wrote:
<blockquote
cite="mid:Pine.LNX.4.44.1104081543370.678-100000@suneidesis"
type="cite">
<pre wrap="">On Fri, 8 Apr 2011, Barbara Gerner De Garcia <<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:barbara.gerner.de.garcia@GALL...:">barbara.gerner.de.garcia@GALL...:</a>
</pre>
<blockquote type="cite">
<pre wrap="">Is anyone aware of anyone or any entity that has a list/database documenting
the status of Sign Languages in various countries, including any legal
status? WFD's page on Sign Languages is "under construction" . I am working
on developing ideas for possible student projects related to language
rights.
</pre>
</blockquote>
<pre wrap="">
Closest I can think of is the Ethnologue catalogue. Some entries for
signed languages are woefully out of date. The one for British Sign
Language, for example, is based on research conducted in the 1970s. Recent
publications from government departments suggest that that research
under-estimates the number of native or preferred first language users of
BSL by a factor of 5. (The 2011 census which was conducted last week has a
specific question asking for native/first/preferred language and uses BSL
as an example. In a few years we may therefore get more meaning data.
And even if the Ethnologue entry for BSL was up to date any mention of its
formal ``legal status'' would be misleading. It has been recognised as an
ethnic minority language under EU legislation but not given the same legal
status as Welsh --- a language that has fewer speakers than BSL.
Regards, Trevor
<>< Re: deemed!
</pre>
</blockquote>
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