South African Sign Language
Sign language · official in 1 country
SASL, Suid-Afrikaanse Gebaretaal in Afrikaans, joined South Africa's official languages when the 18th Constitutional Amendment was signed into law on 19 July 2023, two months after parliament voted for it. It is the main sign language of deaf South Africans, and daily television news in it holds its regional dialects together.
The language on record
- Own name
- South African Sign Language
- ISO 639-3
- SFS
- Script
- Signed
- Family
- Sign language
- Official in
- 1 country
Where South African Sign Language is official
South Africa alone. Its 1996 constitution named sign language only in general, and the 2023 amendment named SASL itself as the twelfth official language.
Official beside South African Sign Language
About South African Sign Language
How SASL moved from promotion to official status
The 1996 Constitution mentioned sign language, without naming SASL, as a language the Pan South African Language Board should promote. The Schools Act of the same year told schools to weigh a recognised sign language as if it were official when setting their language policy, and the Use of Official Languages Act of 2012 obliged every government department to say how it would communicate with people whose language of choice is South African Sign Language. In 2008 a policy conference of scholars, teachers, advocates and officials pressed for it to become the twelfth official language. The amendment bill was published for comment in May 2022, voted on in May 2023 and signed that July.
Why deaf schools still sign differently
Irish nuns ran training programmes for the deaf from 1863, and in 1874 Bridget Lynne, an Irish deaf woman, founded the Grimley Institute in Cape Town. In 1884 Sister Stephanie Hanshuber brought the oral method from Germany, and oralism was adopted in deaf schools in 1920. Schools were divided into European and Non-European in 1934, and the first school for Black deaf children opened in 1941. SASL is presumed to mix Irish, British and American influence.
Most schools were never reformed. Different schools still use different systems, and some discourage sign language or do not teach it. The Deaf Federation of South Africa, formed in 1995 from the old National Council for the Deaf, has pushed for a single sign language over oralism.
What sign names in SASL look like
Sign names usually pick out a physical feature. Nelson Mandela's is a flat B-hand tracing a hairline over the head. One sign for Cape Town blends the fingerspelled letters C and T, and July is often shortened to J-L-Y.
Common questions
Questions about South African Sign Language
Is South African Sign Language an official language?
Yes, since 19 July 2023, when the 18th Constitutional Amendment was signed into law.
Do different communities in South Africa use different sign languages?
Many South Africans believe so, deaf people among them. Signers from across the country readily understand each other, as the annual Deaf Forum shows; the confusion comes from interpreters who use Signed English or Signed Xhosa, artificial codes, in place of sign language.
How many trained SASL interpreters are there?
In 2011 DeafSA's register listed 84 interpreters: 43 had no training, 31 had completed 240 hours of study and 10 had a further 480 hours. Only seven had been accredited.