Egyptian Sign Language

{{Short description|Sign language used in Egypt}}

{{Infobox language

|name = Egyptian Sign Language

|nativename = File:Egyptian Sign Language - لغة الاشارة المصرية.PNG

|region = Egypt

|speakers=500,000

|date=2021

|ref=e25

|speakers_label=Signers

|familycolor = sign

|fam1=Arab Sign Language family

|iso3 = esl

|glotto=egyp1238

|glottorefname=Egypt Sign Language

}}

Egyptian Sign Language ({{Langx|ar|لغة الإشارة المصرية|lugha al-ʿišāra al-Miṣriyyati}}) is a sign language used by members of the deaf community in Egypt.

Sign language

Although there are no official statistics on the number of deaf people or the number of people who use Egyptian Sign Language as their primary language,{{Cite report |url=http://www.wfdeaf.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/7.-RSAR-Regional-Survey-Report-No-7-English-Version.pdf |title=Global Survey Report WFD Interim Regional Secretariat for the Arab Region (WFD RSAR) |last1=World Federation of the Deaf |last2=Swedish National Association of the Deaf |date=2008 |isbn=978-952-9648-12-2 |access-date=2012-05-01 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120316045220/http://www.wfdeaf.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/7.-RSAR-Regional-Survey-Report-No-7-English-Version.pdf |archive-date=2012-03-16 |url-status=dead}}

Gallaudet University's library resources website quotes a 1999 estimate of 2 million hearing impaired children,{{Cite web |title=LibGuides: Deaf Statistics: Africa & the Americas |url=http://libguides.gallaudet.edu/content.php?pid=119476&sid=1061107 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170613212211/http://libguides.gallaudet.edu/content.php?pid=119476&sid=1061107 |archive-date=2017-06-13 |access-date=2012-05-01 |website=Gallaudet University Library}} while a 2007 study by the World Health Organization places the prevalence of hearing loss in Egypt at 16.02% across all age groups.{{Cite journal |last1=Abdel-Hamid |first1=O. |last2=Khatib |first2=O. M. N. |last3=Aly |first3=A. |last4=Morad |first4=M. |last5=Kamel |first5=S. |date=2007 |title=Prevalence and Patterns of Hearing Impairment in Egypt: A National Household Survey |url=http://www.emro.who.int/publications/emhj/1305/article21.htm |journal=Eastern Mediterranean Health Journal |volume=13 |issue=5 |pages=1170–1180 |doi=10.26719/2007.13.5.1170 |pmid=18290411 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110708105033/http://www.emro.who.int/Publications/EMHJ/1305/article21.htm |archive-date=2011-07-08 |access-date=2012-05-01|doi-access=free }} Egyptian Sign Language is not formally recognized by the government.

Linguistically, Egyptian Sign Language is not related to other sign languages of the Arab World, such as Jordanian Sign Language, Palestinian Sign Language, or Libyan Sign Language.{{Cite journal |last=Abdel-Fattah |first=M. A. |date=2005 |title=Arabic Sign Language: A Perspective |journal=The Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education |volume=10 |issue=2 |pages=212–221 |doi=10.1093/deafed/eni007 |pmid=15778217 |doi-access=free}} Attempts at unification, creating an "Arabic Sign Language", have failed, as the unified form would be an entirely new language.

See also

References

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