Afghan Sign Language () is the
deaf sign language of
Jalalabad
Jalalabad (; Help:IPA/Persian, ͡ʒä.lɑː.lɑː.bɑːd̪ is the list of cities in Afghanistan, fifth-largest city of Afghanistan. It has a population of about 200,331, and serves as the capital of Nangarhar Province in the eastern part ...
in eastern Afghanistan, possibly with some presence in
Kabul
Kabul is the capital and largest city of Afghanistan. Located in the eastern half of the country, it is also a municipality, forming part of the Kabul Province. The city is divided for administration into #Districts, 22 municipal districts. A ...
. It has been encouraged in the country's only school for the deaf, and derives from the
Deaf-community sign language of Jalalabad, but it is not known what connection it may have, if any, with the sign languages of other cities with established deaf populations, which are principally Kabul,
Mazar-e Sharif
Mazar-i-Sharīf ( ; Dari and ), also known as Mazar-e Sharīf or simply Mazar, is the List of cities in Afghanistan, fifth-largest city in Afghanistan by population, with the estimates varying from 500,000-680,000. It is the capital of Balkh prov ...
,
Herat
Herāt (; Dari/Pashto: هرات) is an oasis city and the third-largest city in Afghanistan. In 2020, it had an estimated population of 574,276, and serves as the capital of Herat Province, situated south of the Paropamisus Mountains (''Se ...
, and
Kandahar
Kandahar is a city in Afghanistan, located in the south of the country on Arghandab River, at an elevation of . It is Afghanistan's second largest city, after Kabul, with a population of about 614,118 in 2015. It is the capital of Kandahar Pro ...
.
American Sign Language
American Sign Language (ASL) is a natural language that serves as the predominant sign language of Deaf communities in the United States and most of Anglophone Canadians, Anglophone Canada. ASL is a complete and organized visual language that i ...
was used in the Jalalabad school for a few years, and so may have had some influence on Afghan Sign.
ISO 639-3 Registration Authority: Request for New Language Code Element in ISO 639-3
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References
Relevant literature
*Power, Justin. 2014. ''Handshapes in Afghan Sign Language.'' MA thesis, University of North Dakota
Downloadable PDF copy
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Sign language isolates
Language isolates of Asia
Languages of Afghanistan