Auslan

Auslan
Australian Sign Language
Native toAustralia
Native speakers
10,000 (2016 census)[1]
Dialects
Language codes
ISO 639-3asf
Glottologaust1271
ELPAustralian Sign Language

Auslan (/ˈɒzlæn/) is the sign language used by the majority of the Australian Deaf community. The term Auslan is a portmanteau of "Australian Sign Language", coined by Trevor Johnston in the 1980s, although the language itself is much older. Auslan is related to British Sign Language (BSL) and New Zealand Sign Language (NZSL); the three have descended from the same parent language, and together comprise the BANZSL language family. Auslan has also been influenced by Irish Sign Language (ISL) and more recently has borrowed signs from American Sign Language (ASL).

As with other sign languages, Auslan's grammar and vocabulary is quite different from English. Its origin cannot be attributed to any individual; rather, it is a natural language that emerged spontaneously and has changed over time.[2]

  1. ^ Auslan at Ethnologue (22nd ed., 2019) Closed access icon
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference Bellis was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

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