Is there one kind of sign language in the hole world,Or is there different sign languages for each country? Just like each country speaks there own language. If someone uses sign language and visits some other country would they have to learn different sings?
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Sign language is different across the world.
One sign in the U.S means a whole different thing in another country.
Yep. They have different sign languages.
In fact there are 3 basic signed families, like “indo-european” “chinese” and “semetic” in teh study of verbal languages.
1) British and Auslan (aussi sign).
2) French Sign (lead to US, Canada and Mexican as well as many european sign).
3) Japanese (which has spread to many of the Asian countries).
Within those larger families, there are region specific langauges. So while ASL (American Sign language) is a branch of the French family, a french signer and an ASL signer would not instantly understand each other. it would be like a spanish speaker talking with an Italian.
Also, there are “signed exact languages” which act as pigeon languages. These are signing systems that use the spoken language as the frame, but use signs for the words.
No it is not universal, every country has its own way.
The one poster is very detailed and explained from a purely linguistic approach with little reward to the person that asked the question.
No, sign language is not universal. Just like other languages, it develops in its area over time. Some countries that are near each other are similar. And other languages developed in other areas.
As the other poster said, American Sign Language (ASL) is very similar to French Sign Language. The reason for this is back when the country was young, it was understood that there needed to be a school for Deaf kids. A very prominent teacher in France came over to set up the school. So, ASL was strongly influenced by French Sign Language.
Since that time, American missionaries have done a lot over work all over the world spreading ASL into many other countries as well. These languages do not stay pure ASL. People all have their own “home” signs before they learn a signed language and these signs tend to influence language. Also, there are words in other languages and ideas that are just not found in ASL because of the region.
In ASL there are many differences based on region as well. Think about English, there are accents and slang in all different parts of the country. The same thing happens with signed languages.
While it may seem neat to have one universal sign language, it won’t work. It’s been tried. Look up Gestuno. And if there should be one universal sign language, why not one universal spoken language?
Hope this helped you understand!