Sinasian Sign Language (SSSL) is a village sign language of the Sinasina valley in Chimbu Province, Papua New Guinea. This language is used by approximately 3 deaf and 50 hearing individuals, including members of the Kere community. SSSL was first encountered and reported by linguist Samantha Rarrick in 2016. Documentation efforts are ongoing.[1][2][3]
Sinasina Sign Language may have lexical similarities with another village sign language in the region, Kailge Sign Language,[4] but its genetic affiliation has yet to be established.[5][6]
^Rarrick, Samantha. 2019. "Documenting the Kere Community's Indigenous Languages: Kere & Sinasina Sign Language." Linguistic Society of America's 93rd Annual Meeting. New York, NY.
^Rarrick, Samantha & Emmanuel Asonye. 2017. "Wellness & Linguistic Barriers in Deaf Communities in Nigeria & Papua New Guinea." 5th International Conference on Language Documentation and Conservation. University of Hawai'i at Manoa. https://scholarspace.manoa.hawaii.edu/handle/10125/42056
^Rarrick, Samantha. 2019. "Aksen tasol: Identifying & documenting sign language use in Papua New Guinea. The 8th Meeting of Signed and Spoken Language Linguistics. National Museum of Ethnology. Osaka.
^Rarrick, Samantha. 2019. "Shifting Attitudes and Uncertain Futures: The Endangerment of Sinasina Sign Language (Papua New Guinea)." Foundation for Endangered Languages (FEL XXIII). Sydney Centre for Language Research, The University of Sydney, Sydney.
^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.
