Swedish Sign Language

Siver can’t hear — she’s deaf. She’s been deaf since birth, and because of that Siver has never spoken Swedish or Kurdish with her family. Instead, Siver uses Swedish sign language. Sign languages are like any other languages, with their own vocabulary – or sign lexicon – and their own grammar. But sign languages differ from spoken languages in certain ways.

Instead of communicating with sound and hearing, like you do in spoken languages, you communicate with your hands and sight. And with head, mouth, and eye movements. Swedish sign language is a language that is used by a small portion of Sweden’s inhabitants – it is a minority language. Roughly 12 000 people are native users, but there are many more people who can sign. In total, about 30 000 people in Sweden use Swedish sign language.

Mainly deaf and hearing-impaired people have Swedish sign language as their native language. But also many hearing children of deaf parents have Swedish sign language as their native tongue. Different forms of sign language have been used at all times and in all places where there have been deaf people. In the 19th century, Sweden founded specialised schools for the deaf. There, many more deaf people were able to find each other, and what is now Swedish sign language started to develop.

But... why a Swedish sign language? Why don’t all deaf people in the world use the same language? Because sign languages develop in the same way as all other languages: people communicate and slowly develop the language between them. Since languages develop this way, the same language is not used in all countries.

Neither do all hearing people speak the same language in all countries – even though that would be practical. Also, languages are influenced by other languages spoken around them. And this is also true for sign languages. Because of this, Swedish sign language is influenced by the Swedish spoken in Sweden. In Sweden there is language legislation with rules, regulations, covering Swedish, Swedish sign language, and the five minority languages that have special status: the national minority languages.

A national minority language is a language that fulfills certain requirements: 1) it is a language and not a dialect 2) it has been spoken in Sweden for a long time – at least a 100 years, and 3) that the speakers themselves want their language to have that status. Swedish sign language is not considered a national minority language in the minority language law. But the Swedish Language Act says that sign language is to be valued and treated in the same manner as the national minority languages. Because of this some view Swedish sign language as Sweden’s sixth national minority language. According to the Language Act, the state, authorities, regions and municipalities have a special responsibility to protect Swedish sign language.

They are to make sure that those who want to use it must be given the possibility to learn, develop, and use it. Swedish sign language is used between people, in direct communication, exactly the same way hearing people use spoken language. Swedish is instead the second language of the deaf, and is used mainly for reading and writing. But for Siver and other members of the Deaf community, sign language is more than just a means of communicating. It is also a community for people sharing a culture – a cultural community.