The three deaf-community sign languages indigenous to

Vietnam Vietnam, officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV), is a country at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of about and a population of over 100 million, making it the world's List of countries and depende ...

are found in

Ho Chi Minh City Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) ('','' TP.HCM; ), commonly known as Saigon (; ), is the most populous city in Vietnam with a population of around 14 million in 2025. The city's geography is defined by rivers and canals, of which the largest is Saigo ...

Hanoi Hanoi ( ; ; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Vietnam, second-most populous city of Vietnam. The name "Hanoi" translates to "inside the river" (Hanoi is bordered by the Red River (Asia), Red and Black River (Asia), Black Riv ...

, and

Haiphong Haiphong or Hai Phong (, ) is the third-largest city in Vietnam and is the principal port city of the Red River Delta. The municipality has an area of , consisting of 8 urban districts, 6 rural districts and 1 municipal city (sub-city). Two o ...

. The HCMC and Hanoi languages especially have been influenced by the

French Sign Language French Sign Language (, LSF) is the sign language of deaf and hard-of-hearing people in France and in French-speaking parts of Switzerland. According to ''Ethnologue'', it has 100,000 native signers. French Sign Language is related and part ...

(LSF) once taught in schools, and have absorbed a large amount of LSF vocabulary. The Vietnamese languages are part of a sign language area that includes indigenous sign languages of

Laos Laos, officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic (LPDR), is the only landlocked country in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by Myanmar and China to the northwest, Vietnam to the east, Cambodia to the southeast, and Thailand to the west and ...

and

Thailand Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...

, though it is not known if they are genealogically related to each other. The influence of LSF may have obscured the links: the highest cognacy is with Haiphong Sign, which has been the least influenced by LSF. There are attempts to develop a national

standard language A standard language (or standard variety, standard dialect, standardized dialect or simply standard) is any language variety that has undergone substantial codification in its grammar, lexicon, writing system, or other features and that stands ...

, Vietnamese Sign Language ().

References

* Woodward, James (2000). ''Sign languages and sign language families in Thailand and Viet Nam,'' in Emmorey, Karen, and Harlan Lane, eds., The signs of language revisited : an anthology to honor Ursula Bellugi and Edward Klima. Mahwah, N.J.: Lawrence Erlbaum, p. 23-47 * Woodward, James; Thi Hoa, Nguyen; Tran Thuy Tien, Nguyen (2004). ''Providing higher educational opportunities in Deaf adults in Viet Nam through Vietnamese sign languages: 2000-2003.'' In: Deaf Worlds 20: 3 (2004) - pp. 232–263

External links

Students are dextrous with sign language
{{sign language navigation Languages of Vietnam Sign languages

See also

References

External links