Sign language is not universal. Like spoken languages, sign languages emerge naturally in communities and change through time. The following list is grouped into three sections:
- Deaf sign languages, which are the preferred languages of Deaf communities around the world;
- Signed modes of spoken languages, also known as Manually Coded Languages;
- Auxiliary sign systems, which are not "native" languages, but are signed systems of varying complexity used in addition to native languages. Simple gestures are not considered auxiliary sign systems for the purposes of this page.
The list is sorted alphabetically and regionally, and such groupings should not be taken to imply any genetic relationships between the languages (see Language family#Sign languages).
Deaf sign languages
Contemporary
Africa
- Adamorobe Sign Language (ADS) (Ghana)
- Algerian Sign Language
- Bura Sign Language (Nigeria) (PDF link)
- Ethiopian Sign Language
- Hausa Sign Language
- Kenyan Sign Language (KSL)
- Mbour Sign Language (Senegal)
- South African Sign Language (SASL)
- Tunisian Sign Language
- Namibian Sign Language
The Americas
- American Sign Language (ASL)
- Bolivian Sign Language
- Brazilian Sign Language"Lingua Brasileira de Sinais" (LIBRAS)
- Costa Rican Sign Language (LESCO)
- Honduras Sign Language
- Mexican Sign Language "Lenguaje de signos mexicano" (LSM)
- Nicaraguan Sign Language "Idioma de Signos Nicaragüense" (ISN)
- Providence Island Sign Language
- Urubú Sign Language
- Yucatec Maya Sign Language
Asia/Pacific
- Auslan (Australian Sign Language)
- Chinese Sign Language "中国手语" (CSL)
- Filipino Sign Language "Philippine Sign Language" (PSL)
- Hawaii Pidgin Sign Language
- Hong Kong Sign Language "香港手語" (HKSL)
- Indo-Pakistani Sign Language
- Japanese Sign Language "日本手話" (Nihon shuwa), (JSL)
- Korean Sign Language (KSL)
- Malaysian Sign Language "Bahasa Isyarat Malaysia" (BIM)
- New Zealand Sign Language (NZSL)
- Penang Sign Language (used in Malaysia)
- Selangor Sign Language (used in Malaysia)
- Taiwanese Sign Language (TSL)
Europe
- Austrian Sign Language "Österreichische Gebärdensprache" (ÖGS)
- Belgian-French Sign Language "Langue des Signes de Belgique Francophone" (LSFB)
- Brazilian Sign Language "Língua Brasileira de Sinais" (LIBRAS)
- British Sign Language (BSL)
- Catalan Sign Language (or "Catalonian Sign Langauge") "Llengua de Signes Catalana" (LSC)
- Croatian Sign Language (Croslan) "Hrvatskog Znakovnog Jezika" (HZJ)
- Czech Sign Language "Český znakový jazyk" (CZJ)
- Danish Sign Language "Tegnesprog"
- Dutch Sign Language "Nederlandse Gebarentaal" (NGT), also commonly known as "Sign Language of the Netherlands" (SLN)
- Finnish Sign Language "Suomalainen viittomakieli" (SVK)
- Flemish Sign Language "Vlaamse Gebarentaal" (VGT)
- French Sign Language "Langues des Signes Français" (LSF)
- German Sign Language "Deutsche Gebärdensprache" (DGS)
- Greek Sign Language "Ελληνική Νοηματική Γλώσσα" (GSL)
- Hungarian Sign Language "Magyar jelnyelv"
- Icelandic Sign Language "Táknmál"
- Irish Sign Language (ISL)
- Italian Sign Language "Lingua dei Segni Italiana" (LIS)
- Lithuanian Sign Language "Lietuvių gestų kalba"
- Maltese Sign Language "Lingwi tas-Sinjali Maltin" (LSM)
- Northern Ireland Sign Language (NISL)
- Norwegian Sign Language "Tegnspråk" (NSL)
- Polish Sign Language "Polski Język Migowy" (PJM)
- Portuguese Sign Language "Lingua Gestual Portuguesa" (LGP)
- Quebec Sign Language "Langue des Signes Québécois" (LSQ)
- Russian Sign Language "Russkii Zhestovyi Iazyk"
- Spanish Sign Language "Lengua de signos española" (LSE)
- Swedish Sign Language "Svenskt teckenspråk" (TSP)
- Swiss-French Sign Language "Langage Gestuelle"
- Swiss-German Sign Language "Deutschschweizer Gebärdensprache" (DSGS)
Middle East
- Al-Sayyid Bedouin Sign Language (ABSL), Southern Israel
- Israeli Sign Language
- Jordanian Sign Language
- Saudi Arabian Sign Language
- Turkish Sign Language (Türk Isaret Dili)
Historical sign languages
- BANZSL - 'Parent' language of which BSL, Auslan, and NZSL can be considered dialects
- Martha's Vineyard Sign Language
- Old French Sign Language - Parent language of many sign languages
- Old Kent Sign Language
Auxiliary sign systems
- Australian Aboriginal sign languages
- Baby Sign - using signs to assist early language development in young children.
- Contact Sign - a pidgin or contact language between a spoken language and a sign language, eg. Pidgin Sign English (PSE).
- International Sign (previously known as Gestuno) - an auxiliary language used by deaf people in international settings.
- Makaton - a system of signed communication used by and with people who have speech, language or learning difficulties.
- Tic tac - a traditional British system of communicating betting odds at racecourses.
Signed modes of spoken languages
- General
- Cued Speech - an oral/manual system to render spoken language phonemes visually intelligible.
- Fingerspelling - alphabetic signs to represent the written form of a spoken language.
- Arabic
- English
- Esperanto
- Malay
- Bahasa Malaysia Kod Tangan (BMKT)
- Swedish
- Tecknad svenska (TS) - a Swedish equivalent of SEE2, developed in the early 1970's but now largely out of use.
- Warlpiri