[SL-LING] Status of Sign Languages

[Albert Bickford]

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out of date.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.

Albert Bickford
SIL International (Mexico program and Signed Language Leadership Team)
albert_bickford at sil.org


On 2011/04/08 8:50 AM, Trevor Jenkins wrote:
> On Fri, 8 Apr 2011, Barbara Gerner De Garcia<barbara.gerner.de.garcia at GALL...:
>
>> 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.
> 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 signed languages are woefully out of date.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!
>
>
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