Cambodian Sign Language (CBDSL) is an indigenous

deaf sign language Sign languages (also known as signed languages) are languages that use the visual-manual modality to convey meaning, instead of spoken words. Sign languages are expressed through manual articulation in combination with non-manual markers. Sign l ...

Cambodia Cambodia (; also Kampuchea ; km, កម្ពុជា, UNGEGN: ), officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochinese Peninsula in Southeast Asia, spanning an area of , bordered by Thailan ...

History

Little is known of the language situation prior to the first Cambodian school for the deaf being established in the capital of Phnom Penh in 1997. Although the language of education is

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 of America and most of Anglophone Canada. ASL is a complete and organized visual language that is express ...

, modified to follow Khmer word order, the Deaf community of Phnom Penh has developed their language with the support of the Maryknoll Deaf Development Programme.

Classification

CBDSL shares about 40% of basic vocabulary with Modern Thai Sign Language (MTSL). What intelligibility there is with American Sign Language, apart from iconic elements, is due to vocabulary that is shared among CBDSL, MTSL and ASL. No connection with other languages of neighboring countries has been noted.Woodward, Bradford, Sokchea & Samath (2015) Cambodian Sign Language. In Jepsen et al. (eds.) ''Sign Languages of the World: A Comparative Handbook'', pp. 159–176. De Gruyter Mouton and Ishara Press.

References

Relevant publications

*Harrelson, Erin Moriarty. "Deaf people with “no language”: Mobility and flexible accumulation in languaging practices of deaf people in Cambodia." ''Applied Linguistics Review'' 10, no. 1 (2019): 55-72. *Woodward, James, Anastasia Bradford, Chea Sokchea, and Heang Samath. "Cambodian Sign Language." In ''Sign Languages of the World'', pp. 159-176. De Gruyter Mouton, 2015. {{sign language navigation Sign language isolates Languages of Cambodia