 | This article relies largely or entirely on a single source. (April 2013) |
| Levantine Sign Language | |
|---|---|
| Syro-Palestinian Sign Language | |
| لغة الإشارة العربية الشرقية | |
| Region | Levant/Bilad al-Sham |
Native speakers | 30,000 (2021)[1] |
Arab sign-language family
| |
| Dialects |
|
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | jos (Jordanian Sign Language) |
| Glottolog | jord1238 Levantine Arabic SL |
Levantine Arabic Sign Language is the sign language used by Deaf and hearing-impaired people of the area known as Bilad al-Sham or the Levant, comprising Jordan, Palestine, Syria, and Lebanon. Although there are significant differences in vocabulary between the four states, this is not much greater than regional differences within the states. Grammar is quite uniform and mutual intelligibility is high, indicating that they are dialects of a single language.[2]
The language typically goes by the name of the country, as so:
- Jordanian SL: لغة الإشارة الأردنية, Lughat il-Ishārah il-Urduniyyah (LIU)
- Lebanese SL: لغة الإشارات اللبنانية, Lughat al-Ishārāt al-Lubnāniyyah (LIL)
- Palestinian SL: لغة الاشارات الفلسطينية, Lughat al-Ishārāt al-Filisṭīniyyah (LIF)
- Syrian SL: لغة الإشارة السورية, Lughat il-Ishārah il-Sūriyyah (LIS)
- ^ Levantine Sign Language at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022)
- ^ Hendriks 2008.
