Sudan
Total Population
41 million
Deaf Population
48,000
Number of Sign Language Users
National Language
English
Other Languages
The number of established languages listed in Ethnologue is 77. Some of these are:
- Ama
- Amharic
- Andaandi
- Arabic
- Bedawiyet
- Berta
- Dagik
- Dilling
- Fulfulde
- Fur
- Gaam
- Ghulfan
- Hausa
- Kadaru
- Koalib
- Komo
- Krongo
- Masalit
- Tama
- Tegali
- Tigre
- Tigrigna
- Zaghawa
Name of Sign Language
Sudanese Sign Language
Overview Of Deaf Community And Education
It was reported in 2008 that there were 15 schools for the deaf (across both countries). These schools are partly oral and partly using a form of sign Language or Total Communication. It was reported in the WFD survey (2008) that 90% of deaf people were illiterate. In Kassala there is a primary school at which Sudanese Sign Language is used.
Sign Language Overview
It is not clear that there is one Sudanese sign language. Prior to 2009, before the division into the two countries, the Sudanese National Union of the Deaf worked out a Unified Sudanese Sign Language, which was published in a manual (Andrae, 2009), but it has not yet been widely disseminated.
Sudan has an immense variety of signs. In Andrae (2009) these are referred to as multiple regional sign languages, which are not mutually intelligible. A survey of just three states determined that there were 150 sign languages, although the criteria for calling these variants separate languages are unclear. This number included instances of home sign systems.
Sudanese Sign language is assessed to be developing by Ethnologue according to the Bickford et al. (2014) categories in that it is not losing users.
Deaf Organizations In Country
- Sudanese National Union of the Deaf
- Sudanese National Society for the Deaf
Overview of Interpreting Services
The only information on interpretation comes from the 2008 WFD survey conducted before the split into the two countries. The survey reported that there were 20 interpreters. There was also a two year training program from which five interpreters have qualified. There are many volunteer interpreters. The National Association provides interpreting services. It is not clear whether information is available on the media in Sudanese Sign Language.
References
Karen Andrae, (2009). Language for inclusion (Sign language in Sudan) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v5KZm0KrnfU
World Federation of the Deaf and Swedish National Association of the Deaf. (2008) Global Survey Report. WFD Regional Secretariat for Southern and Eastern Africa (WFD RSESA).
https://www.gallaudet.edu/research-support-and-international-affairs/international-affairs/world-deaf-information-resource/deaf-orgs/local-orgs/sudan
https://www.ethnologue.com/language/xms
List of Contributors
Anne Baker
