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Portuguese Sign Language

Portuguese Sign Language
LGP, Língua gestual portuguesa
Native toPortugal
Native speakers
60,000 (2014)[1]
Swedish Sign
  • Portuguese Sign Language
Language codes
ISO 639-3psr
Glottologport1277
ELPPortuguese Sign Language

Portuguese Sign language (Portuguese: Língua gestual portuguesa) is a sign language used mainly by deaf people in Portugal.

It is recognized in the present Constitution of Portugal.[2] It was significantly influenced by Swedish Sign Language, through a school for the Deaf that was established in Lisbon by Swedish educator Pär Aron Borg.[3][4]

Portuguese Sign is the basis of Cape Verdian Sign,[5] it has also slightly influenced Guinea-Bissau Sign[6] and some reports have said that São Tomé and Príncipe Sign Language has considerable mutual intelligibility with Portuguese Sign.[7]

It is also reported that Portuguese Sign has been also used in Angola.[8]

History

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Swedish Sign (right) and Portuguese Sign (left) alphabets compared

The Portuguese Sign Language has its origins from the Swedish Sign Language (LGS), as in the 19th century, the king called to Portugal Pär Aron Borg, a Swede who had founded an institute for the education of the deaf in Sweden. In 1823, the first school for the deaf was made in Portugal.[9] Although many signs were transported from Swedish Sign to Portuguese sign, thus sharing a common root, it has evolved autonomously and become very distinct from the sign language used in Sweden.[10]

Swedish Sign Language family tree
Old British Sign Language?
(c. 1760–1900)
Swedish Sign Language
(c. 1800–present)
Portuguese Sign Language
(c. 1820–present)		Finnish Sign Language
(c. 1850–present)
Cape Verdian Sign Language
(c. 20th century–present)		Finland-Swedish Sign Language
(c. 1850–present)		Eritrean Sign Language
(c. 1950–present)
São Tomé and Príncipe Sign Language?
(c. 21st century–present)


See also

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References

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  1. ^ Portuguese Sign Language at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
  2. ^ Constitution of Portugal, Article 71 and 74
  3. ^ Lucas, Ceil (2001). The Sociolinguistics of Sign Languages. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 29. ISBN 9780521794749. Retrieved 26 November 2017.
  4. ^ Prawitz, J. "Pär Aron Borg - Svenskt Biografiskt Lexikon". Svenskt biografiskt lexikon (in Swedish). Retrieved 2022-03-16.
  5. ^ "Cape Verde". African Sign Languages Resource Center. Retrieved 2024-05-13.
  6. ^ "República da Guiné-Bissau (Republic of Guinea-Bissau)". African Sign Languages Resource Center. Retrieved 2024-05-13.
  7. ^ "Democratic Republic of São Tomé and Príncipe". African Sign Languages Resource Center. Retrieved 2024-05-13.
  8. ^ "Angola". African Sign Languages Resource Center. Retrieved 2024-05-14.
  9. ^ Pinto, Mariana Correia (2017-11-14). "O que todos devíamos saber sobre língua gestual (em dez pontos)". PÚBLICO (in Portuguese). Retrieved 2024-05-13.
  10. ^ Ayres, Marcelo (2023-11-28). "A evolução da língua gestual portuguesa". Vozes (in Brazilian Portuguese). Retrieved 2024-05-14.


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