Teanga Chomharthaíochta na hÉireann: genesis of a gendered Irish sign language
Today it is September 23, and that means that it is International Day of Sign Languages, proclaimed as such by the General Assembly of the United Nations. This year, Lingoblog searched in vain for an expert in sign languages for the deaf to celebrate this with us. Peter Bakker fills in this year with a special sign language: Irish Sign Language, the only sign language for the deaf that has a so-called genderlect.
Irish sign language developed around schools for deaf girls and boys in the 1800s. It is documented that there were sign languages before that time as well in Ireland, but they were probably quite different across the country. When Irish deaf people were no longer kept at … ↪