Sign language
language which uses manual communication and body language to convey meaning
Sign languages (also known as signed languages) are languages that use the visual-manual modality to convey meaning rather than spoken words. They are expressed through manual articulation in combination with non-manual markers, and are full-fledged natural languages with their own grammar and lexicon. Sign languages are not universal and are usually not mutually intelligible, although there are similarities among different sign languages.
Wherever communities of deaf and hard of hearing people exist, sign languages have developed as a means of communication and form the core of local Deaf cultures. Although signing is used primarily by deaf and hard of hearing people, it is also used by hearing individuals, such as those with deaf family members including children of deaf adults (CODAs).
Sign languages are distinct from body language, a type of nonverbal communication. Linguists also distinguish natural sign languages from other systems that are precursors to them or derived from them, such as constructed manual codes for spoken languages, home sign, baby sign language, and signs used with non-human primates.
The number of sign languages worldwide is not precisely known. Each country generally has its own native sign language, and some have more than one. The 2021 edition of Ethnologue lists 150 sign languages, while the SIGN-HUB Atlas of Sign Language Structures lists over 200 and notes that there are more that have not yet been documented.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Sign language” as language which uses manual communication and body language to convey meaning. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
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Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 22, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q34228. The Library of Congress control number is sh85122390. None of the 1 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 2021.
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This entry incorporates text from “Sign language” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.