Hawaiʻi Sign Language
Indigenous sign language used in Hawaii / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Hawaiʻi Sign Language or Hawaiian Sign Language (HSL; Hawaiian: Hoailona ʻŌlelo o Hawaiʻi), also known as Hoailona ʻŌlelo, Old Hawaiʻi Sign Language and Hawaiʻi Pidgin Sign Language,[2] is an indigenous sign language native to Hawaiʻi. Historical records document its presence on the islands as early as the 1820s, but HSL was not formally recognized by linguists until 2013.[3]
Hawaiʻi Sign Language | |
---|---|
Hoailona ʻŌlelo o Hawaiʻi | |
Native to | United States |
Region | Hawaii |
Native speakers | 40 (2019)[1] Moribund; a few elderly signers are bilingual with the dominant ASL. It may be that all speak mixed HSL/ASL, a.k.a. Creolized Hawai‘i Sign Language (CHSL).[2][1] |
Isolate | |
Language codes | |
ISO 639-3 | hps |
Glottolog | hawa1235 |
ELP | Hawai'i Sign Language |
Although previously believed to be related to American Sign Language (ASL),[4] the two languages are unrelated.[5][6] In 2013, HSL was used by around 40 people, mostly over 80 years old.[7] An HSL–ASL creole, Creole Hawaiʻi Sign Language (CHSL), is used by approximately 40 individuals in the generations between those who signed HSL exclusively and those who sign ASL exclusively.[8] Since the 1940s, ASL has almost fully replaced the use of HSL on the islands of Hawaiʻi [9] and CHSL is likely to also be lost in the next 50 years.[8] HSL is considered critically endangered.[2]