Names of signed languages

[Adam Schembri]

Dear all,

In a recent paper (I think by Susan Fischer at the most recent TISLR), I
saw "NS" used as an abbreviation for Japanese Sign Language: does anyone
know if that stands for "Nihon Shuwa", or "Nihongo Shuwa"?

Where possible in my work, I'm trying to refer to signed languages by
the names used in the country of origin (i.e. Auslan, ASL, BSL, NZSL,
but DGS, LIS, LSF, LSQ) since this appears to be becoming standard
practice in the literature and it also seems to work very nicely to
prevent the potential ambiguity of abbreviations in English. ISL, for
example, can be both Irish Sign Language and Israeli Sign Language; TSL
can be Thai Sign Language and Taiwan Sign Language. Aside from writing
out the names in full each time, any suggestions for ways to refer to
the various ISLs, TSLs etc? ThaiSL vs TaiwanSL??

What about Sign Language of the Netherlands - should I opt for "SLN" or
"NGT"??


Adam Schembri


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Adam Schembri
Renwick College
Private Bag 29
Parramatta NSW
2124 AUSTRALIA
Ph (voice/TTY): (61 2) 9872 0303
Fax: (61 2) 9873 1614




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