Bay Islands Sign Language, also known as French Harbour Sign Language, is an indigenous
village sign language
A village sign language, or village sign, also known as a shared sign language, is a local indigenous sign language used by both deaf and hearing in an area with a high incidence of congenital deafness. Meir ''et al.'' define a village sign langu ...
of
Honduras
Honduras, officially the Republic of Honduras, is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the west by Guatemala, to the southwest by El Salvador, to the southeast by Nicaragua, to the south by the Pacific Ocean at the Gulf of Fonseca, ...
. It started in the village of
French Harbour on the island of
Roatán
Roatán () is an island in the Caribbean, about off the northern coast of Honduras. The largest of the Bay Islands Department, Bay Islands of Honduras, it is located between the islands of Utila and Guanaja. It is approximately long, and le ...
and spread to the neighbouring island of
Guanaja
Guanaja is one of the Bay Islands Department, Bay Islands of Honduras and is in the Caribbean. It is about off the north coast of Honduras, and from the island of Roatan. One of the cays off Guanaja, also called Guanaja or Bonacca or Low Cay ...
.
There is a high incidence of
Usher syndrome
Usher syndrome, also known as Hallgren syndrome, Usher–Hallgren syndrome, retinitis pigmentosa–dysacusis syndrome or dystrophia retinae dysacusis syndrome, is a rare genetic disorder caused by a mutation in any one of at least 11 genes result ...
in French Harbour, which causes deafness and then
blindness as well later in life. Because of this, BISL has developed both visual and
tactile modes.
References
External links
*Ben Braithwaite
Documenting language across modalities: visual and tactile sign language in the Bay Islands Data deposit.
Village sign languages
Sign languages of Honduras
Deafblindness
Language isolates of North America
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