Levantine Arabic Sign Language is the
sign language used by Deaf and hearing-impaired people of the area known as
Bilad al-Sham or the
Levant, comprising
Jordan,
Palestine,
Syria, and
Lebanon. Although there are significant differences in vocabulary between the four states, this is not much greater than regional differences within the states. Grammar is quite uniform and mutual intelligibility is high, indicating that they are dialects of a single language.[2]
The language typically goes by the name of the country, as so:
Jordanian SL: لغة الإشارة الأردنية, Lughat il-Ishārah il-Urduniyyah (LIU)
Lebanese SL: لغة الإشارات اللبنانية, Lughat al-Ishārāt al-Lubnāniyyah (LIL)
Palestinian SL: لغة الاشارات الفلسطينية, Lughat al-Ishārāt al-Filisṭīniyyah (LIF)
Syrian SL: لغة الإشارة السورية, Lughat il-Ishārah il-Sūriyyah (LIS)
^a Sign-language names reflect the region of origin. Natural sign languages are not related to the spoken language used in the same region. For example, French Sign Language originated in France, but is not related to French. Conversely,
ASL and
BSL both originated in English-speaking countries but are not related to each other; ASL however is related to
French Sign Language.
^b Denotes the number (if known) of languages within the family. No further information is given on these languages.