Rennellese Sign Language

Rennellese Sign Language
Native toSolomon Islands
Extinctca. 2000[1]
none (home sign)
Language codes
ISO 639-3rsi (retired)[2]
ELPRennell Island Sign Language

Rennellese Sign Language is an extinct form of home sign documented from Rennell Island in the Solomon Islands in 1974.[3] It was developed about 1915 by a deaf person named Kagobai and used by his hearing family and friends, but apparently died with him; he was the only deaf person on the island, and there never was an established, self-replicating community of signers. Accordingly, in January 2017 its ISO 639-3 code [rsi] was retired.[4] Kuschel,[3] the only source of information about this communication system, cites no evidence to suggest that there was any contact with any sign language.

  1. ^ "Extinct Languages: The Languages We Have Lost in the 21st Century". Atomic Scribe. 2022-01-31. Retrieved 2024-10-05. Extinct: Around 2000
  2. ^ "Rennellese Sign Language". Ethnologue. Archived from the original on 2008-09-28. Retrieved 2024-10-02.
  3. ^ a b Kuschel, Rolf (1974). A Lexicon of Signs from a Polynesian Outliner Island: A Description of 217 Signs as Developed and Used by Kagobai, the Only Deaf-Mute of Rennell Island (PDF). København: Københavns Universitet. pp. 187 pages. ISBN 9788750015062. Retrieved 2016-01-22.
  4. ^ "ISO 639-3 Registration Authority Change request documentation for: 2016-002". ISO 639. SIL International. Retrieved 1 February 2017.