Afghan Sign Language is the
deaf sign language of
Jalalabad in eastern Afghanistan, possibly with some presence in
Kabul. It has been encouraged in the country's only school for the deaf, and derives from the
Deaf-community sign language of Jalalabad, but it's not known what connection it may have, if any, with the sign languages of other cities with established deaf populations, which are principally Kabul,
Mazar-e Sharif,
Herat, and
Kandahar.
American Sign Language was used in the Jalalabad school for a few years, and so may have had some influence on Afghan Sign.[2]
^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.