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Taiwan Sign Language (TSL; Chinese: 台灣手語; pinyin: Táiwān Shǒuyǔ) is the sign language most commonly used by the deaf and hard of hearing in Taiwan.

History

The beginnings of Taiwan Sign Language date from 1895.

The origins of TSL developed from Japanese Sign Language during Japanese rule. TSL is considered part of the Japanese Sign Language family.

TSL has some mutual intelligibility with both Japanese Sign Language and Korean Sign Language; it has about a 60% lexical similarity with JSL.

There are two main dialects of TSL centered on two of the three major sign language schools in Taiwan: one in Taipei, the other in Tainan City. There is a variant based in Taichung, but this sign language is essentially the same as the Tainan school.

After the ROC took over Taiwan, Taiwan absorbed an influx of Chinese Sign Language users from China who influenced TSL through teaching methods and loanwords.

Serious linguistic research into TSL began in the 1970s and is continuing at present. The first International Symposium on Taiwan Sign Language Linguistics was held on March 1–2, 2003, at National Chung Cheng University in Minxiong, Chiayi, Taiwan.

Functional markers

TSL, like other sign languages, incorporates nonmanual markers with lexical, syntactic, discourse, and affective functions. These include brow raising and furrowing, frowning, head shaking and nodding, and leaning and shifting the torso.

In popular culture

The 2020 psychological-thriller The Silent Forest uses a large amount of the Taipei variant of TSL in the dialogue.

References

1. Taiwan Sign Language at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
2. ^ Fischer & Gong 2010, p. 501.
3. Fischer & Gong 2010, p. 499.
4. Fischer & Gong 2010, p. 507.
5. "Movie prompts ministry official to pledge initiative against sexual harassment". Taipei Times. October 30, 2020. Retrieved February 9, 2021.

• Fischer, Susan; Gong, Qunhu (2010). "Variation in East Asian sign language structures". In Brentari, Diane (ed.). Sign Languages. Cambridge University Press. pp. 499–518. doi:10.1017/CBO9780511712203.023. ISBN 978-0-521-88370-2. S2CID 162770329.
• Huteson, Greg (2003). "Report on Social, Educational, and Sociolinguistic Issues that Impact the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Population of Taiwan". SIL Electronic Survey Reports 2003-020. SIL International.
• Shih Wen-han; Ting Li-fen, eds. (1999). Shou Neng Sheng Ch'iao. Vol. 1 (13th ed.). Taipei: National Association of the Deaf in the Republic of China.

Further reading

• Sasaki, Daisuke (2007). "Comparing the lexicons of Japanese Sign Language and Taiwan Sign Language: a preliminary study focusing on the difference in the handshape parameter". In Quinto-Pozos, David (ed.). Sign Language in Contact: Sociolinguistics in Deaf Communities. Washington, D.C.: Gallaudet University Press. pp. 123–150. doi:10.2307/j.ctv2rr3fxz.8. ISBN 9781563683565. JSTOR j.ctv2rr3fxz.8. OCLC 154789790.
• Smith, Wayne H. (2005). "Taiwan Sign Language research: an historical overview" (PDF). Language and Linguistics. 6 (2). Taipei: 187–215. S2CID 190469121. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016.
• Moratto, Riccardo (2020). Taiwan Sign Language Interpreting: Theoretical Aspects and Pragmatic Issues. New York: Peter Lang. doi:10.3726/b17072. ISBN 9781433177439.

External links

• TSL Online Dictionary (in English and Traditional Chinese)
• Sign Language Dictionary from Ministry of Education Republic of China (Taiwan)(in traditional Chinese)

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