Sign Language: Africa

Africa is the second largest and second most populated continent in the world, with a landmass of about 30.2 million square kilometers (117 million square miles). Among the more than 300 sign languages in existence in the world, no fewer than 29 are used in Africa. While a good number of the sign languages are completely independent of the foreign spoken languages used in Africa, others have their source in or are influenced by these foreign languages.

Languages, including sign languages, are usually classified according to their genetic inclinations—that is, language families—but classifying the sign languages in Africa according to their structural and functional makeup, which in other words points to their source, is preferable. Tables 1 through 4 describe the sign languages in Africa and show their origins.

Obvious from Tables 1 through 4 is that American Sign Language (ASL) is the foreign language with the highest influence on African sign languages. No fewer than eight widely used sign languages have been influenced by ASL, notwithstanding South African Sign Language (SASL), which is about the most developed sign language in Africa and has its source in British Sign Language (BSL). SASL gained its official status in 1995, is the primary language used by the Deaf community in South Africa, and is in the process of being codified. It continues to enjoy official recognition and promotion as the language of various Deaf communities in South Africa even in the presence of other local sign languages with influences from German and American Sign Language. SASL is still the sign language used for television newscasts.

Generally, the attitude of documenting and preserving sign languages in Africa has been very poor, which may be partly due to the marginalization of deaf people, which is common across the continent. However, one of the sign languages that is beginning to get greater attention is Cameroonian Sign Language (CamSL), which includes the rural sign language used in and around the town Maroua, referred to as Extreme North Cameroon Sign Language (ExNorthCamSL), and CamSL used in the rest of the country—Centre, Littoral, Northwest, Southwest, and West regions. CamSL enjoys the influence of ASL and Langue des Signes Française (LSF, or French Sign Language) through educators and missionaries. Although the linguistics of both sign languages is yet to be documented, no fewer than 150 signers use ExNorthCamSL, whereas an estimated 4,500 use CamSL.

Nigeria, the largest and most populated country in Africa, has a high level of marginalization of deaf people. The country has more than 400 oral languages, with many of them well documented, a few others on the way of being documented, and other scantly recognized sign languages yet to be documented. The official sign language of the country is greatly influenced by ASL and is widely used in all the schools for the Deaf and Deaf education centers with a blend of local signs of various inclinations. Some scholars in the past have attempted the documentation of the Nigerian Sign Language (NSL), but the documentation never gained a wide acceptance or is not readily accessible to the Deaf communities in the country.

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