As a double major in modern languages and business management, I am fascinated by different kinds of cultures and communication methods. I was researching the different kinds of sign languages around the world and was amazed by what I found. I went the the wikipedia site http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_sign_languages and couldn't believe the length of the list that I found. I found Sign Languages from Africa, The Americas, Asia, Europe, Middle East, etc.
One thing that I found interesting was that not only do these places have their own sign languages, but they have several different ones. Africa alone has at least 25 sign languages. The other places that have lists on this site have close to that number as well. If you stop and think about it, it isn't that strange. Every country will have different slang, dialects, and accents. So, I guess the same goes for sign language. I'm sure many if not all of the 25 different sign languages in Africa are all similar and have the same signs except for a few here and there.
When I did my project last semester, I wrote a paper on linguistics. One of the topics I touched on was different kinds of sign languages. Some of the titles I used were French Sign Language (FSL), English Sign Lanuage (ESL), and a few others. Nothing was unexpected though. French is a completely different language than what we speak here so it was only natural to think that they have different signs and expressions for the sign languages used in their country.
When researching though, I never expected to see title such as Guatemalan Sign Language, Kata Kolok, Selangor, Taiwanese, etc. It is just strange to think that there are so many different kinds of communicating without actually using words. It is fascinating to know that so many different kinds of sign language exist and makes me want to research them some more!
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