Yolŋu Sign Language

Yolŋu Sign Language
Yolŋu Sign Language
Murngin Sign Language
Region	Yolngu people
Signers	5,000 natively bilingual (2012)
Language family	Pama–Nyungan Yolŋu Yolŋu Sign Language; ;
Language codes
ISO 639-3	ygs – inclusive code; Individual code:; yhs – Yan-nhaŋu Sign Language
Glottolog	yoln1234

Yolŋu (Yolngu) or Murngin Sign Language is a ritual

speech taboo.) However, "YSL is not a signed version of any spoken Yolngu language... YSL also serves as a primary means of communication for a number of deaf members in Yolngu communities... YSL functions as both an alternate and primary sign language".^[2] That is, it is used for communicating to the deaf, but also when communicating at a distance, when hunting, or when ceremonies require silence. It was acquired from birth by the hearing population. YSL is now considered an endangered language.^[3]

Citations

^ Yolŋu Sign Language at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
Yan-nhaŋu Sign Language at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
^ Maypila, Elaine and Dany Adone. 2012. Yolngu Sign Language: A sociolinguistic profile. Sign Languages in Village Communities: Anthropological and Linguistic Insights ed. by Ulrike Zehan and Connie De Vox, pp. 401-404. Berlin: De Gruyter.
^ Endangered language

References

Yolngu Sign Language project at the University of Central Lancashire
Kendon, Adam (1988) Sign Languages of Aboriginal Australia: cultural, semiotic, and communicative perspective. Cambridge University Press.
Warner, W. Lloyd (1937) "Murngin Sign Language", A Black Civilization. New York: Harper and Row, pp. 389–392.
Bauer, Anastasia (2014) "The use of signing space in a shared sign language of Australia", Sign Language Typology 5, De Gruyter Mouton & Ishara Press. Berlin & Nijmegen.