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Zimbabwean sign languages

Zimbabwean sign
Zimsign
Native to Zimbabwe
Native speakers
280,000 deaf members of the Zimbabwe National Association of the Deaf (2008)
several Deaf-community sign languages of unknown origin
Dialects
  • Masvingo School Sign
Official status
Official language in
Zimbabwe
Language codes
ISO 639-3
Glottolog zimb1247

Several Zimbabwean sign languages developed independently among deaf students in different Zimbabwean schools for the deaf starting in the 1940s. It is not clear how many languages they are, as little research has been done; Masvingo School Sign is known to be different from that of other schools, but each school apparently has a separate sign language, and these are different from the community language or languages used outside of the schools.American Sign Language is reported to be used, but it is not clear to what extent. "Sign language", without further clarification, became one of Zimbabwe's official national languages with the Constitution of 2013.



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Wikipedia

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