British Sign Language
sign language used in the United Kingdom
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Summary
British Sign Language is a sign language[1]. It ranks in the top 2% of sign language entities by monthly Wikipedia readership (2,323 views/month).[2]
Key Facts
- Country: United Kingdom[3]
- Instance of: modern language[4]
- Subclass of: BANZSL[5]
- Writing system: SignWriting[6], Stokoe notation[7]
- Commons category: British Sign Language[8]
- Wikimedia language code: bfi[9]
- Topic's main category: Category:British Sign Language[10]
- Described at URL: https://www.british-sign.co.uk/[11]
- Number of speakers, writers, or signers: 77,000[12], 327,000[13]
- Native label: British Sign Language[14]
- Short name: BSL[15]
- Different from: manually coded English[16]
- User manual URL: https://www.signbsl.com/[17]
- Has part(s) of the class: two-handed manual alphabet[18]
- Exact match: http://data.linguistik.de/bll/bll-ontology#bll-133082997[19]
- Ethnologue language status: 5 Developing[20]
- Linguistic typology: object–subject–verb[21]
- Category for films in this language: Category:British Sign Language films[22]
Why It Matters
British Sign Language has Wikipedia articles in 20 language editions, a strong signal of global cultural recognition.[23] It is known by 38 alternative names across languages and contexts.[24]