Egyptian Sign Language

Egyptian Sign Language
Egyptian Sign Language
Region	Egypt
Signers	500,000 (2021)
Language family	Arab Sign Language family Egyptian Sign Language;
Language codes
ISO 639-3	esl
Glottolog	egyp1238

Egyptian Sign Language (Arabic: لغة الإشارة المصرية, romanized: lugha al-ʿišāra al-Miṣriyyati) is a sign language used by members of the deaf community in Egypt.

Sign language

Although there are no official statistics on the number of deaf people or the number of people who use Egyptian Sign Language as their primary language,^[2] Gallaudet University's library resources website quotes a 1999 estimate of 2 million hearing impaired children,^[3] while a 2007 study by the World Health Organization places the prevalence of hearing loss in Egypt at 16.02% across all age groups.^[4] Egyptian Sign Language is not formally recognized by the government.^[2]

Linguistically, Egyptian Sign Language is not related to other sign languages of the Arab World, such as Jordanian Sign Language, Palestinian Sign Language, or Libyan Sign Language.^[5] Attempts at unification, creating an "Arabic Sign Language", have failed, as the unified form would be an entirely new language.^[2]

References

^ Egyptian Sign Language at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022)
^ ^a ^b ^c World Federation of the Deaf; Swedish National Association of the Deaf (2008). Global Survey Report WFD Interim Regional Secretariat for the Arab Region (WFD RSAR) (PDF) (Report). ISBN 978-952-9648-12-2. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-03-16. Retrieved 2012-05-01.
^ "LibGuides: Deaf Statistics: Africa & the Americas". Gallaudet University Library. Archived from the original on 2017-06-13. Retrieved 2012-05-01.
^ Abdel-Hamid, O.; Khatib, O. M. N.; Aly, A.; Morad, M.; Kamel, S. (2007). "Prevalence and Patterns of Hearing Impairment in Egypt: A National Household Survey". Eastern Mediterranean Health Journal. 13 (5): 1170–1180. doi:10.26719/2007.13.5.1170. PMID 18290411. Archived from the original on 2011-07-08. Retrieved 2012-05-01.
^ Abdel-Fattah, M. A. (2005). "Arabic Sign Language: A Perspective". The Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education. 10 (2): 212–221. doi:10.1093/deafed/eni007. PMID 15778217.

External links

Egyptian Sign Puddle – Dictionary of Egyptian Sign Language (under construction)
YouTube ESL Dictionary – Animated Dictionary of Egyptian Sign Language (under construction)
The Deaf Unit – Private School in Cairo, associated with The Nardine Association NGO – جمعية الناردين