Malagasy Sign Language

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

{{Infobox language

|name = Malagasy Sign Language

|altname = {{hlist |Madagascar Sign Language
{{lang|mg|Tenin'ny Tanana Malagasy}}}}

|states = Madagascar

|speakers =

|date =

|ref =

|familycolor = Sign

|fam1 = French Sign

|fam2 = Danish Sign

|fam3 = Norwegian Sign

|script =

|iso3 = mzc

|glotto = mada1271

|glottorefname = Madagascar Sign Language

}}

The Malagasy Sign Language ({{Langx|mg|Tenin'ny Tanana malagasy}}, abbreviated TT) is a sign language used for communication among hearing impaired people in Madagascar. An estimated 110,000 to 170,000 people (or 1% of the population of Madagascar) are deaf. Malagasy Sign Language is similar to Norwegian Sign Language because the first deaf school in Madagascar was founded in 1960 by the Malagasy Lutheran Church with the assistance of a number of Norwegians, including Norwegian teachers.{{cite journal |last1=Minoura |first1=Nobukatsu |date=31 July 2014 |title=A Preliminary Comparative Study of Norwegian Sign Language and Malagasy Sign Language |url=http://repository.tufs.ac.jp/bitstream/10108/82035/1/acs088005_ful.pdf |script-journal=ja:東京外国語大学論集 |trans-journal=Area and Culture Studies |volume=88 |pages=91–116 |access-date=12 August 2023 |issn=0493-4342 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220812003812/http://repository.tufs.ac.jp/bitstream/10108/82035/1/acs088005_ful.pdf |archive-date=12 August 2022 |url-status=dead}} That said, a large number of signs in Malagasy Sign seem to be completely unrelated to their Norwegian Sign counterparts.

Seven deaf schools in Madagascar are sponsored by Evangelical Lutherans.{{Cite web |url=https://www.ethnologue.com/language/mzc/20 |title=Ethnologue |access-date=2018-02-27 |archive-date=2018-02-28 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180228041333/https://www.ethnologue.com/language/mzc/20 |url-status=live }}

{{Danish Sign Language family tree}}