New Zealand Sign Language 954382 212655665 2008-05-15T18:19:36Z Piopier 745375 ops, minor link modification {{language |name=New Zealand Sign Language |nativename=NZSL |familycolor=Sign |states=[[New Zealand]] |signers=24,090 as of 2006 <ref>[http://www.stats.govt.nz/NR/rdonlyres/1C81F07B-28C6-4DDD-8EBA-80C592E8022A/0/20languagespokentotalresponse.xls Language spoken (total responses) for the census usually resident population count, 2006 (revised 21 December 2006)]</ref> |fam1=[[BANZSL]] |iso2=sgn-NZ |iso3=nzs}} '''New Zealand Sign Language''' or '''NZSL''' is the main language of the [[deaf culture|deaf community]] in [[New Zealand]]. It became an [[official language]] of New Zealand in April 2006, alongside [[Māori language|Māori]] and [[English language|English]]. New Zealand Sign Language has its roots in [[British Sign Language]] (BSL), and may be technically considered a dialect of [[BANZSL|British, Australian and New Zealand Sign Language]] (BANZSL). There are 62.5% similarities found in British Sign Language and NZSL, compared with 33% of NZSL signs found in [[American Sign Language]].{{Fact|date=August 2007}} Like other natural [[sign language]]s, it was devised by and for [[Deaf]] people, with no linguistic connection to a spoken or [[written language]], and it is fully capable of expressing anything a fluent signer wants to say. It uses the same [[two-handed manual alphabet]] as British Sign Language and [[Auslan]], Australian Sign Language. It uses more lip-patterns in conjunction with hand and facial movement to cue signs than BSL, reflecting New Zealand's history of [[oralism|oralist]] education of Deaf people. Its [[vocabulary]] includes [[Māori]] concepts such as [[marae]] and [[Maori culture|tangi]], and signs for New Zealand placenames. (E.g [[Rotorua]] - mudpools, [[Wellington]] - windy breeze, [[Auckland]] - [[Sky Tower]], [[Christchurch]] - 2 Cs, represents ChCh.) ==History== The first non-Polynesian immigrants to New Zealand were from Britain, and those who were Deaf brought [[British Sign Language]] with them. The first known teacher of sign language was Dorcas Mitchell, who taught the children of one family in Charteris Bay, [[Lyttelton Harbour]], from 1868 to 1877. By 1877 she had taught 42 pupils. When the first school for the Deaf (then called the Sumner [[Deaf-mute|Deaf and Dumb]] Institution) was opened at Sumner, south east of Christchurch in 1878, she applied unsuccessfully for the position of principal. Instead it went to Gerrit Van Asch, who agreed with the Milan congress of deaf educators of 1880 (to which no Deaf people were invited) that teaching should be oral only, and that sign language should be forbidden. (He would not even admit pupils who could sign, so only 14 were admitted.) This was the policy of the school until 1979. A [[documentary film]] about the school made in the 1950s makes no mention of sign language. Similar policies were maintained at the schools at Titirangi and Kelston that opened in 1940 and 1958. Unsurprisingly, the children used sign language secretly and after leaving school, developing NZSL out of British Sign Language largely without adult intervention for over 100 years. The main haven for NZSL was the Deaf Clubs in the main centres. In 1979, "Total Communication" (a "use anything that works" philosophy) was adopted at the Sumner School, but the signing it used was "Australasian Sign Language" an artificial [[signed English|signed form of English]]. As a result, younger signers use a number of Australasian signs in their NZSL, to such an extent that some call traditional NZSL "Old Sign". NZSL was adopted for teaching in 1994. In 1985, Marianne Ahlgren proved in her [[PhD]] [[thesis]] at [[Victoria University of Wellington]] that NZSL is a fully-fledged language, with a large vocabulary of signs and a consistent grammar of space. The NZ Sign Language Tutors' Association (NZSLTA) was set up in 1992. Over the next few years [[adult education]] classes in NZSL began in several centres. In 1997 a Deaf Studies course was started at Victoria University of Wellington. An important step toward the recognition of NZSL was the publication in 1998 of a comprehensive NZSL [[dictionary]] by Victoria University of Wellington and the Deaf Association of NZ. It contains some 4000 signs (which correspond to many more meanings than the same number of English words, because of the way signs can be modulated in space and time), sorted by handshape, not English meaning, and coded in the Hamburg Notational System, [http://www.sign-lang.uni-hamburg.de/Projects/HamNoSys.html HamNoSys], as well as pictorially. For some years, [[TVNZ]] broadcast a weekly news programme, "News Review", interpreted in NZSL. This was discontinued in 1993 after a joint survey of Deaf and [[Hearing impairment|hearing-impaired]] people found a majority favoured captioned programmes. Many Deaf people felt they had been misled by the survey. There has been no regular programming in NZSL since. ==Official language status== In New Zealand, English is a national language, but has never been recognised as an official language. NZSL became the second official language of New Zealand in April 2006, joining Māori. The parliamentary bill to approve this passed its [[Reading (legislature)|third reading]] on [[April 6]] [[2006]]<ref>[http://tvnz.co.nz/view/page/488120/696482"Recognition for sign language"], TVNZ</ref>. At the first reading in Parliament, on [[June 22]], [[2004]], the bill was supported by all political parties. It was referred to the Justice and Electoral Committee, which reported back to the House on [[July 18]], [[2005]]. The second reading passed 119 to 2 on [[February 23]], [[2006]] with only the [[ACT New Zealand|ACT]] party opposing because the government is not providing funding for NZSL. <ref>[http://www.hansard.parliament.govt.nz/hansard/Final/FINAL_2006_03_23.htm#_Toc131830390 Hansard 20060323]. Accessed [[2007-05-27]].</ref> It passed the third reading on [[April 6]], [[2006]] with the same margin. <ref>[http://www.hansard.parliament.govt.nz/hansard/Final/FINAL_2006_04_06.htm#_Toc137032777 Hansard 20060406]. Accessed [[2007-05-27]].</ref> The bill received [[Royal Assent]], a constitutional formality, on [[10 April]] [[2006]].<ref name="assent">[http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0604/S00186.htm Governor-General gives assent to Sign Language Bill], Press Release: [[Governor-General|Governor General]], [[10 April]] [[2006]]. Retrieved [[11 April]] [[2006]].</ref> New Zealand Sign Language became an official language of New Zealand the day after Royal Assent. The use of NZSL as a valid [[medium of instruction]] has not always been accepted by the Government, the Association of Teachers of the Deaf, or many parents. However, in light of much research into its validity as a language and much advocacy by deaf adults, parents of deaf children (both hearing and deaf) and educationalists, NZSL has since become — in tandem with English — part of the bilingual/bicultural approach used in public schools (including [[Kelston Deaf Education Centre]] and [[Van Asch Deaf Education Centre]]) since [[1994]]. Victoria University of Wellington has courses in New Zealand Sign Language, although it has yet to develop a [[Academic major|major]] program for it. AUT teaches a diploma course for NZSL interpreting. ==Variants== Differences in lexicon in New Zealand Sign Language have largely developed through the student communities surrounding four schools for the deaf in New Zealand: *[[Van Asch Deaf Education Centre]] (former Sumner School for the Deaf), opened 1880 *[[St Dominic's School for the Deaf]], opened 1944 in Wellington, moved to Feilding in 1953 *[[Titirangi School for the Deaf]], opened 1944 *[[Kelston Deaf Education Centre|Kelston School for the Deaf]], opened 1958 ==References== {{reflist}} ==External links== *[http://www.mcs.vuw.ac.nz/~pondy/nzsl/ NZSL Dictionary] ''(about 6000 signs)'' *[http://www.vanasch.school.nz/125jubilee/history.htm History of Van Asch School] *[http://www.deaf.co.nz Deaf Association of NZ] *[http://www.nzslta.org.nz New Zealand Sign Language Teacher's Association] *[http://www.auckland-deaf.org.nz Auckland Deaf Society] *[http://www.legislation.govt.nz/libraries/contents/om_isapi.dll?clientID=612781644&infobase=pal_statutes.nfo&jump=a2006-018&softpage=DOC New Zealand Sign Language Act 2006] [[Category:Sign languages]] [[Category:Languages of New Zealand]] [[de:New Zealand Sign Language]] [[fi:Uusiseelantilainen viittomakieli]] [[fr:Langue des signes néo-zélandaise]] [[it:Lingua dei segni neozelandese]] [[ms:Bahasa Isyarat New Zealand]] [[no:Nyzealandsk tegnspråk]]