Talk:List of living languages in Europe
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[edit] Sign languages
Great information. Where does it come from? I'd like to use the "number of signers" figures for some of the pages on sign languages. To be honest, I'd be very surprised if reliable data is actually available, given that the number of signers is not known for American Sign Language or British Sign Language, the two most studied sign languages in the world. Estimates for ASL range from 100,000 to 15,000,000!
Also, monastic sign languages are not "living languages... spoken as a native tongue", as the lead section suggests, nor even real languages. Those who have studied them have preferred phrases like "sign systems" or "sign lexicons".
Another minor point regarding nativeness and sign languages in general is that few of the signing community learn the language from their parents. A majority learn a spoken/written language incompletely as their first language, and learn a sign language later in childhood, adolescence or adulthood, which quickly becomes their preferred language. A better phrasing for the "nativeness" requirement in the lead section might be "the primary or preferred languages of a community". ntennis 10:51, 18 June 2006 (UTC)
