Region Urban areas ISO 639-3 bzs | Native speakers 3 million (no date) Glottolog braz1236 | |
Language family French Sign Language (mother language), American Sign Language (sister language) | ||
Brazilian Sign Language (BSL), also known as "Libras" ([ˈlibɾɐs], from "Língua Brasileira de Sinais" [ˈlĩɡwɐ bɾaziˈlejɾɐ dʒi siˈnajs]) and variously abbreviated as LSB, LGB or LSCB (Brazilian Cities Sign Language), is the sign language used by deaf communities of urban Brazil.
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Recognition and status
Brazilian Sign Language is well-established; several dictionaries, instructional videos and a number of articles on the linguistic features of the language have been published. It has dialects across Brazil reflecting regional and sociocultural differences.
A strong sign language law was passed by the National Congress of Brazil on April 24, 2002, and (in 2005) is in the process of being implemented. The law mandates the use of Brazilian Sign Language in education and government services.
Educational approaches has evolved from oralism to Total Communication and bilingualism.
Alphabet
BSL fingerspelling uses a one-handed manual alphabet similar to that used by the French Sign Language family.
There are 44 distinct handshapes used in the language.
Transcription of the alphabet using SignWriting has been in place since at least 1997 with the SignNet Project in Porto Alegre and Fernando Capovilla's dictionaries in São Paulo. The University of Santa Catarina at Florianopolis (UFSC) has required courses in SignWriting as the preferred form of LIBRAS transcription.
SignWriting is cited as being useful in the pedagogy of young children. http://www.signwriting.org/archive/docs6/sw0580_BR_Aquisicao_Escrita_Sinais_2007.pdf
Deaf and sign language organizations
The most important deaf organization is FENEIS, the Federação Nacional de Educação e Integração dos Surdos (National Federation of Deaf Education and Integration). There are a number of regional organizations in Curitiba, Caxias do Sul and Rio Grande do Sul.
Classification
Wittmann (1991) posits that Brazilian Sign Language is a language isolate (a 'prototype' sign language), though one developed through stimulus diffusion from an existing sign language, likely Portuguese Sign Language and/or French Sign Language.