Alternate Names: China Coast Pidgin, Zhongguo Shouyu
Dialects: Southern Chinese Sign Language (Shanghai Sign Language). Survey needed. Few signs of foreign origin. Negative clauses reportedly share similarity with British Sign Language.
Genealogy:
Language Use: Classmates and factory coworkers are channels of dissemination. Now specialized deaf colleges use CSL. All domains. All ages.
Language Development: Literacy rate in L1: 0%. In 2006, school age deaf children enrollment rate was approximately 82% (China Disabled Persons’ Federation). TV. Videos. Dictionary. Grammar.
Nation of Origin: China
Other Comments: Developed late 1980s. There are also Chinese character signs. Others use home sign languages. 550 schools for the deaf, 77 schools for the deaf and the blind. In addition to signs, Chinese Sign Language also uses an alphabetic spelling system (analogous to pinyin in Mandarin ,) and can signify tones with facial gestures. Shanghai Sign Language is the prestige dialect.