Mardin Sign Language

Mardin Sign
Native toTurkey
RegionMardin
Native speakers
40 (2012)
family sign
language isolate
Language codes
ISO 639-3dsz
Glottologmard1245
ELPMardin Sign Language

Mardin Sign Language (MarSL; Turkish: Mardin İşaret Dili) is a family sign language of Turkey. It was originally spoken in the town of Mardin, dating back at least five generations in a single extended family. All speakers now live in İzmir or Istanbul, and the younger generation has shifted to Turkish Sign Language.

Signers refer to their language as "dilsizce" (Turkish for "deaf language") or "eski işaretler" (Turkish for "old signs").

Documentation

MarSL is severely endangered. Most young signers use Turkish Sign Language, and the only fluent users of MarSL are over 50. Recent efforts have been made to create corpora for MarSL, as well as document the language.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Mardin Sign at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022) Closed access icon
  2. ↑ "Mardin Sign Language".{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  3. 1 2 3 "Signing in a 'deaf family' – documentation of the Mardin Sign Language, Turkey | Endangered Languages Archive". www.elararchive.org. Retrieved 2026-01-26.
  4. ↑ Zeshan, Ulrike; Dikyuva, Hasan (2013), "Documentation of endangered sign languages: The case of Mardin Sign Language", in Jones, Mari C.; Ogilvie, Sarah (eds.), Keeping Languages Alive: Documentation, Pedagogy and Revitalization, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 29–41, ISBN 978-1-107-02906-4, retrieved 2026-01-26