Hawaii Sign Language
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A language of United States
ISO 639-3
Alternate Names
HPS, HSL, Hawai’i Pidgin Sign Language, Hawaiian Sign Language
Location
Hawaii.
Language Status
8b (Nearly extinct).
Classification
Dialects
Creole Hawai‘i Sign Language (CHSL). Not related to American Sign Language (ASL) [ase] or any other known sign language, less than 20% probable cognates with ASL (2013 J. Woodward). Most elderly Deaf use a mixture of HSL with ASL, a variety termed Creole Hawai‘i Sign Language (Clark et al 2016).
Typology
SOV (SVO in CHSL), noun-first in noun phrase, verb precedes negative, sentence-final question words. No evidence of classifiers in HSL, but some in CHSL.
Language Use
Language Development
Texts.
Language Resources
The name “Hawai’i Pidgin Sign Language” is no longer commonly used, as Hawai‘i Sign Language is not a pidgin and has no relationship to Hawai’i Pidgin [hwc]. Creole Hawai‘i Sign Language is a mixture of HSL and American Sign Language (ASL) [ase].