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British Sign Language

Today, British Sign Language is a topic of great relevance in modern society. The importance of British Sign Language has been increasing in recent years, affecting different aspects of daily life. From politics to technology, through culture and economics, British Sign Language has become a determining factor in global decision-making. In this article, we will explore how British Sign Language influences various areas of our lives, analyzing its impact and presenting different perspectives on this topic that is so significant today.

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British Sign Language (BSL)
Breetish Sign Leid (Ulster Scots)
Iaith Arwyddion Prydain (Welsh)
Cànan Soidhnidh Bhreatainn (Scottish Gaelic)
Teanga Chomharthaíochta na Breataine (Irish)
"BSL" in British Sign Language
Native toUnited Kingdom
Native speakers
77,000 (2014)[1]
250,000 L2 speakers (2013)
BANZSL
  • British Sign Language (BSL)
none widely accepted
SignWriting[2]
Official status
Recognised minority
language in
Language codes
ISO 639-3bfi
Glottologbrit1235
The BSL manual alphabet (right-hand-dominant form shown)

British Sign Language (BSL) is a sign language used in the United Kingdom and is the first or preferred language among the deaf community in the UK. Based on the percentage of people who reported 'using British Sign Language at home' on the 2011 Scottish Census, the British Deaf Association estimates there are 151,000 BSL users in the UK, of whom 87,000 are Deaf.[3] By contrast, in the 2011 England and Wales Census 15,000 people living in England and Wales reported themselves using BSL as their main language.[4] People who are not deaf may also use BSL, as hearing relatives of deaf people, sign language interpreters or as a result of other contact with the British Deaf community. The language makes use of space and involves movement of the hands, body, face and head.

Classification

Although the United Kingdom and the United States share English as the predominant spoken language, British Sign Language is quite distinct from American Sign Language (ASL), having only 31% signs identical, or 44% cognate.[5] BSL is also distinct from Irish Sign Language (ISL), which is more closely related to French Sign Language (LSF) and ASL. BSL is also distinct from Signed English, a manually coded method expressed to represent the English language.


BANZSL family tree
Old British Sign Language
(c. 1760–1900)
Maritime SL
(c. 1860–present)		Swedish SL family?
(c. 1800–present)
Papua NG SL
(c. 1990–present)		Auslan
(c. 1860–present)		New Zealand SL
(c. 1870–present)		British SL
(c. 1900–present)		Northern Ireland SL
(c. 1920–present)		South African SL
(c. 1860–present)


The sign languages used in Australia and New Zealand, Auslan and New Zealand Sign Language respectively, evolved largely from 19th century BSL, and all retain the same manual alphabet and grammar and possess similar lexicons.

The sign language used in Sri Lanka is also closely related to BSL despite the oral language not being English, demonstrating variation in distance between sign languages and spoken ones.[citation needed]

History

Early sign language

The earliest known document describing the use of signing in a legal context is dated to c.1324 and mentions John de Orleton, a deaf man assigning his property to a family member.[6] Published in 1450, the History of the Syon Monastery at Lisbon and Brentford, contains descriptions of signs—some of which are still in use.[7] The earliest evidence of signing in registry records is from a marriage ceremony between a deaf man, Thomas Tilsye and Ursula Russel in 1576.[7]

Richard Carew's Survey of Cornwall (1602) includes a description of Edward Bone, a deaf servant, meeting his deaf friend John Kempe.[8] Bone had some knowledge of Cornish and was able to lipread, but appeared to prefer signing. Carew described the situation thus:

Somewhat neerre the place of his birth, there dwelt another, so affected, or rather defected, whose name was Kempe: which two, when they chaunced to meete, would use such kinde embracements, such strange, often, and earnest tokenings, and such heartie laughtes, and other passionate gestures, that their want of a tongue, seemed rather a hindrance to other conceiving them, then to their conceiving one another.[9]

John Bulwer, who had an adopted deaf daughter Chirothea Johnson,[9] authored four late-Renaissance texts related to deafness, sign language and the human body: Chirologia; or, The Natural Language of the Hand (1644), Philocopus; or, The Deaf and Dumb Man’s Friend (1648), Pathomyotamia (1649) and Anthropometamorphosis (1650).[10] In particular, Chirologia focuses on the meanings of gestures, expressions and body language, and describes signs and gestures in use at the time, some of which resemble signs still in use,[9][11] while Philocopus explores the use of lipreading by deaf people and the possibility of deaf education.[10]

Another writer of the same time, George Dalgarno, recognised that sign language was unrelated to English. In 1661 he wrote that "The deaf man has no teacher at all and through necessity may put him upon... using signs, yet those have no affinity to the language by which they that are about him do converse among themselves."[12] In November 1666, diarist Samuel Pepys described a conversation between George Downing and a deaf boy named Oliver who used "strange signs".[13]

British Sign Language has evolved, as all languages do, from these origins by modification, invention and importation.[14][15]

18th and 19th century

Early deaf education and the Braidwood Academy

Main article: History of institutions for deaf education § England: 1760 – Braidwood Academy for the Deaf and Dumb

Thomas Braidwood, a teacher from Edinburgh, founded 'Braidwood's Academy for the Deaf and Dumb' in 1760, which is believed to be the first school for deaf children in Britain.[7][16][17] The school primarily taught oral communication, however there is evidence of 'deaf signing' being used as a teaching method (albeit probably following the structure of English).[17] This combined system came to be known as the English method - a sort of midway point between French manualist and German oralist systems,[11] and was the first codification of British Sign Language.

Joseph Watson was trained as a teacher of the deaf under Thomas Braidwood. He eventually left in 1792 to become the headmaster of the Asylum for the Deaf and Dumb in Bermondsey where he advocated for 'natural signing' - likely referring to the way deaf children naturally sign, as opposed to following English structure.[17] This 'natural signing' is thought to be the precursor to modern BSL.[17]

The use of sign names is mentioned in the memoirs of one pupil who attended Braidwood Academy from 1814-1820, describing them thus:

Every pupil of the school had a fixed sign, instead of his own name, by which he became known. His sign took its rise from some peculiarity in his person or countenance No sign which might refer to something disagreeable in the person or character of any pupil, was, however, allowed to stand.[8]

In 1815 when Thomas Gallaudet visited England, the Braidwood school refused to teach him their methods unless he paid them.[18] So instead, Gallaudet found himself in Paris, having been invited there by the much more accommodating Abbé Sicard.[18] Gallaudet would eventually take much of the what had learnt in France, back to the United States. As a consequence American Sign Language (ASL) today has a 60% similarity to modern French Sign Language and is almost unintelligible to users of British Sign Language.

By the mid 1800s, sign was the most prominent mode of communication within deaf schools in Britain,[11] and by 1870, there were 22 (often residential) schools found in most major cities around the country.[11][17]

The Milan Conference and later deaf education

The Second International Congress on Education of the Deaf, also known as the Milan Conference, was held in 1880, and proscribed the use of sign language in education; for the best part of a century, sign language was no longer used in the education of deaf children.[17]

Signing was actively discouraged in schools by punishment, and deaf education emphasised teaching deaf children to learn to lip read and finger spell, due to the prevailing belief across Europe established that signing was bad. Since there was no (or very little) exchange of sign language within educational establishments, signing was preserved through deaf clubs or within families.[17]

20th century

Until the 1940s, sign language skills were passed between deaf people without a unified sign language system and many deaf people lived in residential institutions.

The National Deaf Children's Society was founded in 1944 as Society of St John of Beverley.[19]

While private correspondence from William Stokoe hinted at a formal name for the language in 1960,[20] the first usage of the term "British Sign Language" in an academic publication was likely by Aaron Cicourel.[21]

1976 saw the establishment of the National Union of the Deaf.[22]

In 1978, the government-issued Warnock Report advocated for the mainstreaming of deaf children which led to the closure of many deaf schools.[17] During this time, the Total Communication method was popularised.[17]

From the 1970s there has been an increasing tolerance for the language, in part due to its recognition as a natural language by linguists.[17]

In the 1980s, BSL started to be used as language of instruction in schools again, alongside English.[17] This decade saw saw the start of deaf programming on British television. Deaf scholar and activist Paddy Ladd is credited with getting sign language on television and enabling deaf children to be educated in sign.[23]

BSL users campaigned to have BSL recognised on an official level. Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 mandates the provision of interpreters.

In 1999, the Federation of Deaf People (FDP) led a 4000-strong march in London to demand the recognition of BSL as a language.[22] This can be considered to mark the first political march by the modern 'British Deaf Community', as an established community.[22]

On 18 March 2003 the UK government formally recognised that BSL is a language in its own right.[24][25]

Let Sign Shine

Let Sign Shine is a campaign started by Norfolk teenager Jade Chapman, whose sister is deaf, to raise awareness of BSL and to petition for BSL to be taught in schools. The campaign's petition to the Parliament of the United Kingdom attracted support from over four thousand people. Chapman was nominated and won the education award category at the Bernard Matthews Youth Award 2014 for her work in raising awareness of the importance of sign language.[26] She was also awarded an Outstanding Achievement Award from the Radio Norwich 99.9 Local Hero Awards on 7 October 2015.[27]

Having been donated £1,000 from the Bernard Matthews Youth Award, Let Sign Shine used this to start a British Sign Language course at Dereham Neatherd High School.[28]

Official language recognition

In 2021, MP Rosie Cooper (a CODA) introduced the British Sign Language Bill to recognise BSL, this time as an official language (not merely its existence), which was backed by the government.[29][30] After being dormant from June 2021, the bill began moving through Parliament on 28 January 2022, but during a meeting with stakeholders on 7 February, the language of the bill was revealed to have been pared down substantially, disappointing said stakeholders. The British Deaf Association stated that it was 'unhappy' with this removal of language from the bill.[31]

Linguistics

Linguistics is the study of language, including those like BSL that are not carried by sound.[32] In all sign languages the great majority of 'words' (hand gestures) cannot be understood in other sign languages.[32] How one language signs a certain number would be different from how another language signs it.[32] The way sentences are constructed (syntax) differs from sign language to sign language, just as with different spoken languages. British Sign Language is described as a 'spatial language' as it "moves signs in space".[32]

Phonology

Like many other sign languages, BSL phonology is defined by elements such as handshape, orientation, location, movement, and non-manual features. There are phonological components to sign language that have no meaning alone but work together to create a meaning of a signed word: hand shape, movement, location, orientation and facial expression.[33][32] The meanings of words differ if one of these components is changed.[33][32] Signs can be identical in certain components but different in others, giving each a different meaning.[32] Facial expression falls under the nonmanual feature component of phonology.[34] These include "eyebrow height, eye gaze, mouthing, head movement, and torso rotation."[34]

Grammar

In common with other languages, whether spoken or signed, BSL has its own grammar which govern how phrases are signed.[32] BSL has a particular syntax.[32] One important component of BSL is its use of proforms.[32] A proform is "...any form that stands in the place of, or does the job of, some other form."[32] Sentences are composed of two parts, in order: the subject and the predicate.[32] The subject is the topic of the sentence, while the predicate is the commentary about the subject.[32] Question words are generally at the end of a sentence.[35]

BSL uses a topic–comment structure.[36] Topic-comment means that the topic of the signed conversation is first established, followed by an elaboration of the topic, being the 'comment' component.[32] The canonical word order outside of the topic–comment structure is object–subject–verb (OSV), and noun phrases are head-initial.[37]

Evolution

The language continues to evolve as older signs such as alms and pawnbroker have fallen out of use and new signs such as internet and laser have been coined. The evolution of the language and its changing level of acceptance meant that older users tend to use more finger spelling while younger ones make use of a wider range of signs.[38]

In 2019, over 100 signs for scientific terms, including 'deoxyribonucleotide' and 'deoxyribonucleoside', were added to BSL, after being conceived by Liam Mcmulkin, a deaf graduate of the University of Dundee, who had found finger-spelling such words tiresome, during his degree course.[39] Similarly, architects Chris Laing and Adolfs Kristapsons developed a project called SignStrokes which developed new signs for the built environment, having not wanted to continuously make new signs for different architectural concepts.[40]

Usage

In 2016 the British Deaf Association (BDA) says that, based on official statistics, it believes there are 151,000 people who use BSL in the UK, and 87,000 of these are deaf. This figure does not include professional BSL users, interpreters, translators, etc. unless they use BSL at home.[41]

In Northern Ireland, there are about 4,500 users of BSL and 1,500 users of Irish Sign Language, an unrelated sign language. A hybrid version, dubbed "Northern Ireland Sign Language", is also used.[42][43][44]

Dialects

BSL has many regional dialects. Certain signs used in Scotland, for example, may not be understood immediately, or not understood at all, by those in Southern England, or vice versa. Some signs are even more local, occurring only in certain towns or cities (such as the Manchester system of number signs). Likewise, some may go in or out of fashion, or evolve over time, just as terms in oral languages do.[45] Families may have signs unique to them to accommodate for certain situations or to describe an object that may otherwise require fingerspelling.

In visual media

Many British television channels broadcast programmes with in-vision signing, using BSL, as well as specially made programmes aimed mainly at deaf people such as the BBC's See Hear and Channel 4's VEE-TV.

BBC News broadcasts in-vision signing at 07:00-07:30, 08:00-08:30 and 13:00–14:00 GMT/BST each weekday. 07:00–07:30 on the weekends. BBC Two also broadcasts in-vision signed repeats of the main channel's primetime programmes between 00:00 and 05:00 each weekday and early Saturday mornings. Also provides signing on weekday mornings between 08:00 and 09:00. All BBC channels (excluding BBC One and BBC Alba) provide in-vision signing for some of their programmes. In 2024, over 10% of Channel 4's programming was signed,[46] including popular shows such as Hollyoaks and Gogglebox.[47]

Welsh Government daily COVID-19 press conference in November 2020; Welsh and English instantaneous signing

In education

BSL is used in some educational establishments, but is not always the policy for deaf children in some local authority areas. The Let's Sign BSL and fingerspelling graphics are being developed for use in education by deaf educators and tutors and include many of the regional signs referred to above.

British Sign Language Dictionary

The British Sign Language Dictionary was compiled for the British Deaf Association by the Deaf Studies Research Unit at the University of Durham. It depicts over 1,800 signs through pictures and diagrams, each sign accompanied by definitions, explanations and usage. The signs are ordered not alphabetically, as a dictionary of the English language, but rather according to the phonological[clarification needed] characteristics of the language. For example, signs that are based on the "fist" handshape come before signs based on the "open hand" handshape.[48]

The dictionary was edited by David Brien, assisted by a team composed by Mary Brennan, Clark Denmark, Frances Elton, Liz Scott Gibson, Graham Turner and Dorothy Miles, among others.

The Dictionary was published in 1992.[49] The foreword was written by Princess Diana, who was the patron of the BDA.

Learning British Sign Language

British Sign Language can be learnt from formal institutions throughout the UK and three examination systems exist. Courses are provided by community colleges, local centres for deaf people and private organisations.

A teaching qualification program was started by the British Deaf Association in 1984 at the University of Durham, called BSL Tutor Training Course, which closed in 1999.[50]

National awarding organisations run training for BSL teachers. Each of these organisations has its own curriculum, teaching materials and resources.

In June 2023, the UK Government launched a consultation for a GCSE in British Sign Language with planned teaching beginning in schools from September 2025.[51] This went ahead in England, however, in Wales, the introduction was delayed.[52]

BSL interpreter below performers during The Gifting performance, LEEDS 2023

Becoming a BSL / English interpreter

There are two qualification routes: via post-graduate studies, or via National Vocational Qualifications. Deaf studies undergraduate courses with specific streams for sign language interpreting exist at several British universities; post-graduate level interpreting diplomas are also on offer from universities and one private company. Course entry requirements vary from no previous knowledge of BSL to NVQ level 6 BSL (or equivalent).

The qualification process allows interpreters to register with the National Registers of Communication Professionals with Deaf and Deafblind People (NRCPD), a voluntary regulator. Registrants are asked to self-certify that they have both cleared a DBS (Disclosure and Barring Service) check and are covered by professional indemnity insurance. Completing a level 3 BSL language assessment and enrolling on an approved interpreting course allows applications to register as a TSLI (Trainee Sign Language Interpreter). After completing an approved interpreting course, trainees can then apply to achieve RSLI (Registered Sign Language Interpreter) status. RSLIs are currently required by NRCPD to log Continuous Professional Development activities. Post-qualification, specialist training is still considered necessary to work in specific critical domains.

Communication support workers

Communication support workers (CSWs) are professionals who support the communication of deaf students in education at all ages, and deaf people in many areas of work, using British Sign Language and other communication methods such as Sign Supported English. The qualifications and experience of CSWs vary: some are fully qualified interpreters, others are not.

BSL apps

There are currently two well-established BSL language learning apps and web platforms: Bright BSL and Lingvano.

See also

References

  1. ^ British Sign Language (BSL) at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
  2. ^ "BSL on paper" (PDF). Retrieved 27 June 2016.
  3. ^ "Help & Resources". British Deaf Association. Retrieved 19 March 2023.
  4. ^ 2011 Census: Quick Statistics for England and Wales, March 2011, Accessed 17 February 2013.
  5. ^ McKee, D. & G. Kennedy (2000). Lexical Comparison of Signs from American, Australian, British, and New Zealand Sign Languages. In K. Emmorey and H. Lane (Eds), "The signs of language revisited: an anthology to honor Ursula Bellugi and Edward Klima". Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.
  6. ^ Leahy, Anne M (2015). Interpreted communication with deaf parties under Anglo-American common law to 1880 (PDF). p. 47.
  7. ^ a b c "BSL Timeline". History of British Sign Language. University College London. Archived from the original on 10 December 2025. Retrieved 10 December 2025.
  8. ^ a b Atkinson, Alexander (2001) . Memoirs of my youth. Internet Archive. Feltham : British Deaf History Society Publications. pp. v-17. ISBN 978-1-902427-11-9.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: publisher location (link)
  9. ^ a b c "Richard Carew's Survey of Cornwall". History of British Sign Language. University College London. 7 August 2019. Archived from the original on 10 December 2025. Retrieved 10 December 2025.
  10. ^ a b "John Bulwer, English physician, author, and educator". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 17 May 2021.
  11. ^ a b c d Kyle, Jim G.; Woll, Bencie; Kyle, Jim (1998). Sign language: the study of deaf people and their language (1. paperback ed., reprinted ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press. pp. 37–40. ISBN 978-0-521-35717-3.
  12. ^ "George Dalgarno". History of British Sign Language. University College London. 7 August 2019. Retrieved 17 May 2021.
  13. ^ "Samuel Pepys diary extract". History of British Sign Language. University College London. 7 August 2019. Retrieved 10 December 2025.
  14. ^ Deaf people and linguistic research Archived 2011-06-04 at the Wayback Machine, Professor Bencie Woll, Director of the Deafness, Cognition and Language Research Centre based at University College London. British Science Association. Accessed October 2010.
  15. ^ Kyle & Woll (1985).Sign Language: the study of deaf people and their language Cambridge University Press, p. 263
  16. ^ UCL. "Thomas Braidwood, The Braidwood School". History of British Sign Language. Retrieved 10 December 2025.
  17. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Rowley, Katherine; Cormier, Kearsy (1 November 2024). "Shorter but richer versus longer with less information: linguistic differentiation between British Sign Language and sign supported English". Multilingua. 43 (6): 723–750. doi:10.1515/multi-2023-0177. ISSN 1613-3684.
  18. ^ a b Shea, Gerald (2017). The language of light: a history of silent voices. New Haven London: Yale University Press. pp. 53–55. ISBN 978-0-300-21543-4.
  19. ^ "The History of BSL in Scotland". bslscotlandact2015.scot. Retrieved 26 October 2025.
  20. ^ Leahy, Anne; Brown, Peter (2020). "Naming British Sign Language 1960–1975". Sign Language Studies. 20 (4): 691–698. doi:10.1353/sls.2020.0024.
  21. ^ Cicourel, Aaron (April 1974). "Gestural Sign Language and the Study of Nonverbal Communication". Sign Language Studies. 4 (4): 35–76. doi:10.1353/sls.1974.0007. JSTOR 26203093.
  22. ^ a b c Ladd, Paddy (31 December 2003). Understanding Deaf Culture. Bristol, Blue Ridge Summit: Multilingual Matters. pp. xiii-30. ISBN 978-1-85359-547-9.
  23. ^ Prasad, Raekha (19 March 2003). "Sound and Fury". Guardian Unlimited. Archived from the original on 10 September 2014. Retrieved 30 January 2008.
  24. ^ "Official recognition of British Sign Language 1987-2003 – suggested reading | UCL UCL Ear Institute & Action on Hearing Loss Libraries". Blogs.ucl.ac.uk. Retrieved 3 March 2015.
  25. ^ "Time to break the barriers". Chad, 25 September 2013, p.21. Accessed 28 January 2022
  26. ^ East Anglian Daily Press, Archived 8 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine, Photo Gallery: Incredible young people from Norfolk and Suffolk are honoured with special awards.
  27. ^ Let Sign Shine, , Norwich Radio Local Hero Award.
  28. ^ "Teenage campaigner Jade Chapman sets up sign language course with prize". BBC News.
  29. ^ "British Sign Language Bill". UK Parliament. Retrieved 5 February 2022.
  30. ^ "Government backs vital British Sign Language Bill". UK Government. Retrieved 5 February 2022.
  31. ^ "BSL Act Now: British Sign Language Bill discussion reveals UK Government changes". 8 February 2022.
  32. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Sutton-Spence, Rachel (1999). The Linguistics of British Sign Language. University Press, Cambridge, United Kingdom: Press Syndicate of the University of Cambridge.
  33. ^ a b Morgan, Gary (October 2006). "'Children Are Just Lingual': The Development of Phonology in British Sign Language (BSL)" (PDF). Lingua. 116 (10): 1507–1523. doi:10.1016/j.lingua.2005.07.010. Archived (PDF) from the original on 19 July 2018.
  34. ^ a b McArthur, Tom (January 2018). "British Sign Language". The Oxford Companion to the English Language. doi:10.1093/acref/9780199661282.001.0001. ISBN 9780199661282.
  35. ^ BSL, Access (11 June 2023). "How Do You Ask Questions in British Sign Language (BSL)? - Access BSL". Retrieved 15 November 2023.
  36. ^ "Grammatical Structure of British Sign Language · coHearentVision". archive.is. 23 April 2013. Archived from the original on 23 April 2013.
  37. ^ Sutton-Spence, R.; Woll, B. (1999). The Linguistics of British Sign Language: An Introduction. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9780521637183. Retrieved 7 December 2014.
  38. ^ Sign Language: The Study of Deaf People and Their Language, J. G. Kyle, B. Woll, G. Pullen, F. Maddix, Cambridge University Press, 1988. ISBN 0521357179
  39. ^ Martin, Hazel (21 July 2019). "What's deoxyribonucleotide in sign language?". BBC News. Retrieved 3 August 2019.
  40. ^ Hopkirk, Elizabeth. "When it's hard to find the words: creating architectural terms in sign language". Building. Retrieved 4 December 2025.
  41. ^ "Help & Resources - British Deaf Association".
  42. ^ "BSL Northern Ireland Sign Language at all public Masses. Archives".
  43. ^ "Sign language is needed more than Irish: TUV's Allister". Belfasttelegraph – via www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk.
  44. ^ Gordon, Gareth (29 April 2020). "Bringing coronavirus news to the deaf community". BBC News.
  45. ^ Sutton-Spence, Rachel; Woll, Bencie (1998). The Linguistics of British Sign Language: An Introduction. Cambridge University Press. pp. 24–25. ISBN 0521631424.
  46. ^ "Subtitled, Audio Described and Signed programming | Channel 8". www.channel4.com. Retrieved 8 February 2025.
  47. ^ "Signed programmes | Channel 4". www.channel4.com. Retrieved 15 April 2023.
  48. ^ Brien, David; Brennan, Mary, eds. (1992). Dictionary of British Sign Language. Durham: Faber & Faber. ISBN 0571143466.
  49. ^ The Ted Taylor Files (29 September 2024). Channel 4 Sign On 19 12 1992 HD. Retrieved 26 October 2025 – via YouTube.
  50. ^ "5.8 UK". signteach.eu.
  51. ^ "British Sign Language GCSE: Everything you need to know - The Education Hub". educationhub.blog.gov.uk. 15 June 2023. Retrieved 15 July 2023.
  52. ^ "Doncaster sign language course proves a hit as thousands join in". BBC News. 27 October 2025. Retrieved 27 October 2025.
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