Editing Sign language (section)

=== Language endangerment and extinction ===
As with any spoken language, sign languages are also vulnerable to becoming [[Endangered languages|endangered]].<ref>Bickford, J. Albert, and Melanie McKay-Cody (2018). [https://www.sil.org/system/files/reapdata/12/96/81/129681979560727324424065691676610323327/SignLanguageRevitalizationChapter_author_preprint.pdf "Endangerment and revitalization of sign languages"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210831131013/https://www.sil.org/system/files/reapdata/12/96/81/129681979560727324424065691676610323327/SignLanguageRevitalizationChapter_author_preprint.pdf |date=2021-08-31 }}, pp. 255–264 in ''The Routledge handbook of language revitalization''.</ref> For example, a sign language used by a small community may be endangered and even abandoned as users [[Language shift|shift]] to a sign language used by a larger community, as has happened with [[Hawai'i Sign Language]], which is almost extinct except for a few elderly signers.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.endangeredlanguages.com/lang/hps|title=Did you know Hawai'i Sign Language is critically endangered?|website=Endangered Languages|access-date=2016-02-28|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160307065744/http://www.endangeredlanguages.com/lang/hps|archive-date=2016-03-07}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sl_dDVctycgC|title=International Encyclopedia of Linguistics|date=2003-01-01|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=9780195139778|language=en|quote=The language is considered to be endangered. 9,600 deaf people in Hawaii now use American Sign Language with a few local signs for place-names and cultural items.|access-date=2016-02-28|archive-date=2023-01-14|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230114125752/https://books.google.com/books?id=sl_dDVctycgC|url-status=live}}</ref> Even nationally recognised sign languages can be endangered; for example, New Zealand Sign Language is losing users.<ref>{{citation
 |last1        = McKee
 |first1       = Rachel
 |last2        = McKee
 |first2       = David
 |contribution = Assessing the vitality of NZSL
 |year         = 2016
 |title        = 12th International Conference on Theoretical Issues in Sign Language Research
 |place        = Melbourne, Australia
 |url          = http://www.victoria.ac.nz/lals/centres-and-institutes/dsru/McKee-Vitality-TISLR-2016-FINAL-edit-.pdf
 |url-status      = live
 |archive-url   = https://web.archive.org/web/20161101102128/http://www.victoria.ac.nz/lals/centres-and-institutes/dsru/McKee-Vitality-TISLR-2016-FINAL-edit-.pdf
 |archive-date  = 2016-11-01
}}</ref> Methods are being developed to assess the language vitality of sign languages.<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Bickford | last2 = Albert | first2 = J. | last3 = Lewis | first3 = M. Paul | last4 = Simons | first4 = Gary F. | year = 2014 | title = Rating the vitality of sign languages | journal = Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development | volume = 36 | issue = 5| pages = 1–15 }}</ref>

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;Endangered sign languages:
*[[Adamorobe Sign Language]] (AdaSL)<ref name="Velupillai">{{Cite book |last=Velupillai |first=Viveka |date=2012 |title=An Introduction to Linguistic Typology |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WXQinkZvEVAC |location=Amsterdam, Philadelphia |publisher=John Benjamins Publishing |pages=57–58 |isbn=9789027211989 |access-date=16 April 2020 |archive-date=26 May 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240526073542/https://books.google.com/books?id=WXQinkZvEVAC |url-status=live }}</ref>
*[[Ban Khor Sign Language]] (BKSL)<ref name="Velupillai"/>
*[[Benkala Sign Language]] (KK)<ref name="Velupillai"/>
*[[Finland-Swedish Sign Language]] (FinSSL)<ref>{{Cite web|title=Sign languages in UNESCO's Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger Project|url=https://uclan.ac.uk/research/activity/atlas-of-world-languages-in-danger|access-date=2021-08-23|website=University of Central Lancashire|language=en|archive-date=2021-08-23|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210823105244/https://www.uclan.ac.uk/research/activity/atlas-of-world-languages-in-danger|url-status=live}}</ref>
*[[Hawai'i Sign Language]] (HPSL)<ref name="Velupillai"/>
*[[Inuit Sign Language]] (IUR)<ref name=Access>{{cite journal|last1=MacDougall|first1=Jamie|title=Access to justice for deaf Inuit in Nunavut: The role of "Inuit sign language"|journal=Canadian Psychology|date=February 2001|volume=41|issue=1|page=61|doi=10.1037/h0086880}}</ref>
*[[Jamaican Country Sign Language]] (KS)<ref>[[Ulrike Zeshan|Zeshan, Ulrike]]. (2007). ''The ethics of documenting sign languages in village communities.'' In Peter K. Austin, Oliver Bond & David Nathan (eds) [http://www.hrelp.org/publications/ldlt/papers/ldlt_31.pdf ''Proceedings of Conference on Language Documentation and Linguistic Theory.''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924031540/http://www.hrelp.org/publications/ldlt/papers/ldlt_31.pdf |date=2015-09-24 }} London: SOAS. p. 271.</ref>
*[[Maritime Sign Language]] (MSL)<ref name="Velupillai"/>
*[[Old Bangkok Sign Language]] (OBSL)<ref name="Velupillai"/>
*[[Old Chiangmai Sign Language]] (OCSL)<ref name="Velupillai"/>
*[[Plains Indian Sign Language]] (PISL)<ref name="Velupillai"/>
*[[Providencia Sign Language]] (PSL)<ref name="Velupillai"/>
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;Extinct sign languages:
* [[Angami Naga Sign Language]]
* [[Henniker Sign Language]]
* [[Martha's Vineyard Sign Language]] (MVSL)
* [[Old French Sign Language]] (VLSF)
* [[Old Kentish Sign Language]] (OKSL)
* [[Pitta Pitta language#Sign|Pitta Pitta sign language]]
* [[Plateau Sign Language]]
* [[Rennellese Sign Language]] (RSL)
* [[Sandy River Valley Sign Language]]
* [[Warluwarra language#Sign|Warluwarra sign language]]
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