Korean Sign Language

Why KSL resembles Japanese Sign Language

KSL's beginnings date from 1889, before Japan's colonial rule, which began de jure in 1910. Under that rule it took on grammatical features shared with Japanese Sign Language, and it is now counted in the JSL family. The first school for the Deaf opened in Seoul on 1 April 1913. After the peninsula was divided in 1945, lack of contact let the southern and northern sign languages grow apart.

What the sign language law requires

The National Assembly passed the legislation on 31 December 2015, merging two bills and two policies into one fundamental law. National and local governments must provide KSL interpreting to Deaf people who need it, and court proceedings require signed interpretation. The law calls for a KSL improvement plan every five years and a survey of its use every three.

Who standardises the signs

The National Institute of the Korean Language began standardising KSL with the culture ministry in 2000. It published the first official dictionary in 2005 and a phrasebook by 2012. Critics say the official materials leave out native signers and translate artificially from spoken Korean, and that public interpreting in the media conveys well under half of the intended message. The group Korean Deaf LGBT, formed in 2019, created alternatives to official signs it found stigmatising and first spread them in 2021.

How the manual alphabet copies Hangul

The one-handed Korean manual alphabet imitates the shapes of Hangul letters and is used both for spelling Korean and inside KSL itself; the only letter that moves is ssang siot, ㅆ, which starts as two crossed fingers pointing down and snaps open. Like other sign languages, KSL also carries grammar on the face and body: raised or furrowed brows, head shakes and nods, shifts of the torso.