Iranian Sign Language

Print

Primary tabs

A language of Iran

ISO 639-3
psc
Alternate Names
Persian Sign Language, ZEI, Zaban Eshareh Irani
User Population

250,000 (2021 DBS/DOOR/SIL). Estimated 165,000–330,000 deaf signers, assuming 0.2%–0.4% of total population. Ethnic population: 3,000,000 (2019). Total deaf and hard of hearing population reported to be as high as 3,000,000 (Sanjabi et al 2016).

Location

Scattered.

Language Status

6a (Vigorous).

Classification
Sign language, Deaf community sign language
Typology

SOV; one-handed fingerspelling system representing written Farsi (Arabic script).

Language Use

Vigorous. Used by all. Some also use Iranian Persian [pes].

Language Development

Dictionary.

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

First school for deaf children founded in 1920s by Jabbar Baghcheban, who introduced a system for representing the sounds of Farsi manually in oralist education, which eventually was repurposed and adapted as a fingerspelling system representing written Farsi. Significant dialect differences between those born before or after the 1979 Iranian revolution, with greater use of fingerspelling in the older generation (Sanjabi et al 2016).