Nepali Sign Language | |
---|---|
Signed in | Ecuador |
Native signers | 5,740 (2001 census) |
Language family | |
Language codes | |
ISO 639-3 | nsp |
Nepali Sign Language is the main deaf sign language of Nepal.
Wittmann (1991)[1] posits that ESL is a language isolate (a 'prototype' sign language), though one developed through stimulus diffusion from an existing sign language, likely Indo-Pakistani Sign Language or the systems that underlay it.
Woodward (1993)[2] compared sign-language varieties in India, Pakistan and Nepal and found cognate rates of 62–71%. He concluded these are separate languages of the same family.
Local indigenous sign languages in Nepal are Jhankot Sign Language, Jumla Sign Language, and Ghandruk Sign Language.