Sign language choice and policy among the signing community in Kuwait

Abstract

Sign language is significant in its linguistic complexity and sociocultural values to its users. The linguistic situation of sign languages in the Middle East is controversial. For Arab deaf communities, each country has a rich and complex national sign language without the need for a superior, more standard unifying Arabic sign language (ArSL). There have been attempts to unify sign languages by creating ArSL. This initiative has been mostly taken by nondeaf persons and has been met with opposition and resistance. This paper investigates sign languages in Kuwait and the attitudes towards both Kuwaiti Sign Language (KSL) and ArSL from both deaf individuals and sign language translators/teachers using surveys, informal interviews, and fieldwork visits. The research question is: What sign language would the deaf community and sign language interpreters/teachers in Kuwait choose (KSL, ArSL, or both) to better serve the deaf community. This paper is designed to uncover the impact of language policies on communities' representations of self and explore the richness and complexity of national sign languages that can be underestimated by language policymakers. The findings of this study indicate a preference for KSL or the use of both KSL and ArSL, but not ArSL alone.