View source for Catalan Sign Language

{{Short description|Sign language of Catalonia}}
{{Infobox language
|name= Catalan Sign Language
|image= 
|imagesize= 
|imageheader= 
|nativename= ''Llengua de signes catalana''
|states= [[Spain]]
|region= [[Catalonia]]
|speakers= est. 9,000 
|date=2014
|ref=e18
|familycolor=sign
|fam1=possibly [[French Sign Language family|French SL]]
|iso3= csc
|glotto=cata1287
|glottorefname=Catalan Sign
|dia1=[[Valencian Sign Language|Valencian Sign]]
}}

'''Catalan Sign Language''' ({{langx|ca|Llengua de signes catalana, LSC}}; {{IPA|ca|ˈʎeŋɡwə ðə ˈsiŋnəs kətəˈlanə|IPA}}) is a [[sign language]] used by around 18,000 people in different areas of Spain including [[Catalonia]]. As of 2012, the Catalan Federation for the Deaf estimates 25,000 LSC signers and roughly 12,000 deaf people around the Catalan lands.<ref>{{cite thesis |last1=Barberà Altimira |first1=Gemma |title=The meaning of space in Catalan Sign Language (LSC). Reference, specificity and structure in signed discourse |date=20 April 2012 |hdl=10803/81074 |hdl-access=free }}</ref> It has about 50% intelligibility with [[Spanish Sign Language]] (LSE). On the basis of mutual intelligibility, lexicon, and social attitudes, linguists have argued that LSC and LSE are distinct languages.<ref name=Quer2012>{{cite journal |last1=Quer |first1=Josep |title=Legal Pathways to the Recognition of Sign Languages: A Comparison of the Catalan and Spanish Sign Language Acts |journal=Sign Language Studies |date=2012 |volume=12 |issue=4 |pages=565–582 |doi=10.1353/sls.2012.0012 |s2cid=143970585 }}</ref>

Since 1994, LSC has had official status, due to a law to promote the language promulgated by the ''[[Generalitat de Catalunya]]''. Catalonia was the first Spanish [[Autonomous Community]] to approve a law for a sign language.{{fact|date=August 2020}}

The Catalan Federation of Deaf People (FESOCAT) is an [[NGO]] founded in 1979 to represent and to defend the rights of deaf associations and individuals to achieve a full social participation and integration. FESOCAT organises several courses, activities, and meetings. In 2007, a bill was passed in Spain referred to as the "Bill of Deaf People" which was designed to cover sign language issues.<ref name=Quer2012/>

There are research groups for LSC, such as ILLESCAT (LSC Study Centre). This centre studies the evolution of the language, makes linguistic studies and creates new [[neologism]]s. The 'Platform for Linguistic and Cultural Rights for LSC Users' a.k.a. ''LSC, Ara!'' carried out a law to promote this language in the [[Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia|Statute of Autonomy]].{{fact|date=August 2020}}

==Classification==
Wittmann (1991) suspects that LSC may be part of the [[French Sign Language family]], but transmission to Catalonia would have happened early, and is not easy to demonstrate.<ref>{{cite journal |author-link1=Henri Wittmann |last1=Wittmann |first1=Henri |year=1991 |title=Classification linguistique des langues signées non vocalement |trans-title=Linguistic classification of non-vocally signed languages |language=fr |journal=Revue québécoise de linguistique théorique et appliquée |volume=10 |issue=1 |pages=215–288 |url=http://www.nou-la.org/ling/1991a-class.pdf }}</ref> Likewise, a Linguistic Professor from the University of La Coruña who specializes in LSC, found that the difference between a language like this and oral languages is the use of "neutral space" in front of the signer when speaking on real life situations as well as the use of visual character.<ref name="Morales-Lopez et al 2005"/>

==Linguistic properties==
LSC primarily uses two of the three planes: horizontal and vertical planes.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Barberà |first1=Gemma |title=Use and Functions of Spatial Planes in Catalan Sign Language (LSC) Discourse |journal=Sign Language Studies |date=2014 |volume=14 |issue=2 |pages=147–174 |doi=10.1353/sls.2014.0000 |s2cid=52247757 |hdl=10230/47252 |hdl-access=free }}</ref>

A 2008 study using LSC demonstrated a universal pattern in the manner in the way signed and spoken language are used to communicate ideas. The experiment took into consideration movement, handshape and location as the three modes of comparison and analysis.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Baus |first1=Cristina |last2=Gutiérrez-Sigut |first2=Eva |last3=Quer |first3=Josep |last4=Carreiras |first4=Manuel |title=Lexical access in Catalan Signed Language (LSC) production |journal=Cognition |date=September 2008 |volume=108 |issue=3 |pages=856–865 |doi=10.1016/j.cognition.2008.05.012 |pmid=18656181 |hdl=10230/33129 |s2cid=29616434 |hdl-access=free }}</ref>

In another study, the numeral signs of LSC were analyzed, noting the differing methods of signing numbers above five, which found some differences between LSC and [[American Sign Language]] (ASL) and emphasized how these changes can cause a language to change and evolve.<ref name="Fuentes & Tolchinsky Landsmann 2004">{{cite journal |last1=Fuentes |first1=Mariana |last2=Tolchinsky Landsmann |first2=Liliana |title=The Subsystem of Numerals in Catalan Sign Language: Description and Examples from a Psycholinguistic Study |journal=Sign Language Studies |date=2004 |volume=5 |issue=1 |pages=94–117 |doi=10.1353/sls.2004.0022 |s2cid=144776512 }}</ref> Numbers in Catalan Sign Language are considered more "transparent" than numbers in Spanish and Catalan as the decimal values are made more explicit.<ref name="Fuentes & Tolchinsky Landsmann 2004"/>

Impersonal sentences in LSC are determinant upon syntactic differences in pronominal forms, role shift, and spatial locations.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Meurant |first1=Laurence |last2=Lie Sinte |first2=Aur |last3=Van Herreweghe |first3=Mieke |title=Sign Language Research, Uses and Practices |date=2013 |publisher=De Gruyter Mouton |location=Boston |isbn=978-1-61451-199-1 }}{{pn|date=August 2020}}</ref>

As in ASL, verbs are divided into simple, deictic, and spatial-locative verbs.<ref name="Morales-Lopez et al 2005">{{cite journal |last1=Morales-Lopez |first1=Esperanza |last2=Boldu-Menasanch |first2=Rosa Maria |last3=Alonso-Rodriguez |first3=Jesus Amador |last4=Gras-Ferrer |first4=Victoria |last5=Rodriguez-Gonzalez |first5=Maria Angeles |title=The Verbal System of Catalan Sign Language (LSC) |journal=Sign Language Studies |date=2005 |volume=5 |issue=4 |pages=441–496 |doi=10.1353/sls.2005.0018 |s2cid=143572435 }}</ref>

The complexity of signing metaphors in LSC was studied in an experiment involving double-mapping, and the [[iconicity]] in sign languages like LSC and ASL plays a fundamental role for cognitive theories noting the symbiotic relationship between grammar and bodily cognition.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Jarque |first1=Maria-Josep |title=Double Mapping in Metaphorical Expressions of Thought and Communication in Catalan Sign Language (LSC) |journal=Sign Language Studies |date=2005 |volume=5 |issue=3 |pages=292–316 |doi=10.1353/sls.2005.0008 |s2cid=144943519 }}</ref> Deaf people in Catalonia are taught to read and write oral languages.<ref>{{cite book |title=Sign Bilingualism: Language development, interaction, and maintenance in sign language contact situations |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wV86AAAAQBAJ&q=catalan+sign+language&pg=PR1|isbn=9789027290427|last1=Plaza-Pust|first1=Carolina|last2=Morales-López|first2=Esperanza|date=2008-09-26}}</ref>{{Page needed|date=May 2016}}

== LSC Award ==
In May 2015, the Departament de Cultura (Department for Culture) created the LSC Award<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://premsa.gencat.cat/pres_fsvp/AppJava/cultura/notapremsavw/283119/ca/crea-premi-lsc-foment-llengua-signes-catalana.do |title=Es crea el Premi LSC de Foment de la Llengua de Signes Catalana |date=9 May 2015 |publisher=Departament de cultura (Generalitat de Catalunya) |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151121232925/http://premsa.gencat.cat/pres_fsvp/AppJava/cultura/notapremsavw/283119/ca/crea-premi-lsc-foment-llengua-signes-catalana.do |archive-date=21 November 2015 |url-status=dead }}</ref> in order to acknowledge individuals, institutions and initiatives for their contribution to the promotion and spreading of LSC.

This biennial award has the same consideration as other awards regarding spoken languages like the [[Pompeu Fabra]] Award for Catalan and the [[Robèrt Lafont]] Award for [[Occitan language|Occitan]].

==See also==
* [[Catalonian manual alphabet|Catalan manual alphabet]]
* [http://lsc.wikisign.org Wikisign, LSC Wiki Dictionary]
* [http://www.edu365.cat/signes/ Mira què dic, ''Diccionari Multimèdia de Signes de Catalunya''] {{in lang|ca}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Relevant literature==
*Altimira, Gemma Barberà. The meaning of space in sign language: reference, specificity and structure in Catalan Sign Language discourse. Vol. 4. Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG, 2015.
*Barberà, Gemma. The meaning of space in Catalan Sign Language (LSC): Reference, specificity and structure in signed discourse. ''Sign Language & Linguistic''s 16, no. 1 (2013): 97-105.
*Barberà, Gemma, and Patricia Cabredo Hofherr. Backgrounded agents in Catalan Sign Language (LSC): Passives, middles, or impersonals? ''Language'' 93, no. 4 (2017): 767-798.
*Barberà, Gemma, and Josep Quer. "Impersonal reference in Catalan Sign Language (LSC)." ''Sign language research, uses and practices: Crossing views on theoretical and applied sign language linguistics'' (2013): 237-258.
*Barberà, Gemma, and Patricia Cabredo Hofherr. "Two indefinite pronouns in Catalan Sign Language (LSC)." ''Proceedings of Sinn Und Bedeutung.'' 2018; 21 (1): 89-106 (2018).
*Baus, Cristina, and Albert Costa. On the temporal dynamics of sign production: An ERP study in Catalan Sign Language (LSC). ''Brain Research'' 1609 (2015): 40-53.
*Jarque, Maria-Josep. Double mapping in metaphorical expressions of thought and communication in Catalan Sign Language (LSC). ''Sign language studies'' 5, no. 3 (2005): 292-316.
*Morales-López, Esperanza, Rosa Maria Boldú-Menasanch, Jesus Amador Alonso-Rodríguez, Victoria Gras-Ferrer, and Maria Ángeles Rodríguez-González. The verbal system of Catalan sign language (LSC). ''Sign language studies'' 5, no. 4 (2005): 441-496.
*Pfau, Roland, and Josep Quer. ''On the syntax of negation and modals in Catalan Sign Language and German Sign Language.'' Trends in Linguistics Studies and Monographs 188 (2007): 129.
*Quer, Josep. Legal pathways to the recognition of sign languages: A comparison of the Catalan and Spanish sign language acts. ''Sign Language Studies'' 12, no. 4 (2012): 565-582.

{{French Sign Language languages}}
{{Languages of Spain}}
{{sign language navigation}}

[[Category:Sign languages of Spain]]
[[Category:Languages of Catalonia]]
[[Category:French Sign Language family]]