Tibetan Sign Language

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A language of China

ISO 639-3
lsn
Alternate Names
TSL, TibSL, bod kyi lag brda, bökyi lagda
User Population

500 (2018 T. Hofer). About 500 TibSL signers in the Lhasa area where it developed. Ethnic population: 45,000 (2017). Estimated 45,000–50,000 deaf in all of Tibet, most of whom are home signers (Hofer 2017).

Location

Tibet Autonomous Republic: scattered.

Language Maps
Language Status

7 (Shifting).

Classification
Sign language, Deaf community sign language
Dialects

None known. Most significant influences come from spoken and written Tibetan. There are few instances of influences of individual lexical items from Chinese Sign Language [csl] on TSL lexicon, but not grammar (2018 T. Hofer).

Language Use

Adults only. Shifting to Chinese Sign Language [csl].

Language Development

Videos.

Language Resources
OLAC resources in and about Tibetan Sign Language
Other Comments

Developed in early 2000s in and around Lhasa as a formalization of previous indigenous signs and gestures, led by deaf and hard-of-hearing Tibetans. Used almost exclusively by ethnic Tibetans, not Han Chinese. In 2004, the Chinese government publicly recognized Tibetan Sign Language [lsn] as a ‘minority sign language’ distinct from CSL [csl] (Hofer 2017).