Maritime Sign Language
[4] As late as the mid-20th century, it was the dominant form of sign language in The Maritimes and the language of instruction at the Halifax School for the Deaf (1857–1961) and the Atlantic Provinces Special Education Authority in Amherst, Nova Scotia (1961–1995).[4] The number of MSL speakers is unknown and was estimated to have been fewer than 100 in 2009;[4] most were concentrated in Nova Scotia, some in New Brunswick, while almost none were thought to remain in Newfoundland and Labrador (only three were said to exist) or Prince Edward Island.[3] ASL has been demonstrated to influence the vocabulary and grammar of MSL; for example, because the original BANZSL two-handed manual alphabet is no longer used in the Maritimes[4]: 8, 9, 75, 142 and has been replaced by the one-handed American manual alphabet, lexicalized signs are developed from one-handed fingerspelling.for MSL speakers are largely lacking, but a grant to the Nova Scotia Cultural Society of the Deaf produced VHS tapes documenting the language, and in the 2010s a project was started to document placenames in Atlantic Canada in both MSL and ASL, resulting in interactive online maps.[3] The language is recorded in a 2017 documentary film, Halifax Explosion: The Deaf Experience, and was contrasted with ASL to comic effect in a piece performed at the 2019 Sound Off Theatre Festival in Edmonton about a Nova Scotian and an American travelling in Eastern Canada.
CanadaAtlantic CanadaLanguage familyBANZSLWriting systemISO 639-3GlottologFrenchsign languageCanada'sAtlantic provincesdeaf communitiesNortheastern United StatesUnited KingdomThe MaritimesHalifax School for the DeafAmherst, Nova ScotiaAmerican Sign LanguageAmerican manual alphabetlexicalized signsfingerspellingEdmontonBritish Sign LanguageSwedish SL familyPapua NG SLAuslanNew Zealand SLBritish SLNorthern Ireland SLSouth African SLEthnologueSIL InternationalCBC NewsLanguages of CanadaEnglishAlgonquianAbenakiAlgonquinBlackfootMalecite-PassamaquoddyMiꞌkmaqMunseeNaskapiOjibweOttawaPotawatomiAthabaskanBabine-WitsuwitʼenCarrierChilcotinChipewyanDogribGwichʼinNicolaSekaniSlaveyTagishTahltanTsuutʼinaTutchoneInuinnaqtunInuktitutInupiaqInuvialuktunIroquoianCayugaMohawkOneidaOnondagaSenecaTuscaroraWyandotSalishanBella CoolaHalkomelemLillooetOkanaganSaanichshíshálhShuswapSquamishThompsonWakashanDitidahtHaislaHeiltsuk-OowekyalaKwakʼwalaNuu-chah-nulthSiouanStoneyAssiniboineBeothukKutenaiTlingitCoast TsimshianAlgonquian–Basque pidginBroken SlaveyBungeeChinook JargonLabrador Inuit Pidgin FrenchMichifMandarinCantonesePunjabiSpanishTagalog (Filipino)ArabicGermanItalianCanadian GaelicHutterite GermanDoukhobor RussianNewfoundland IrishPennsylvania GermanPlautdietschUkrainianQuebec Sign LanguageInuk Sign LanguagePlains Indian Sign LanguageCanadian dictionaries BANZSL languagesSouth AfricanPapua New GuineanSamoanNew ZealandBritish