Malaysian Sign Language (Malay: Bahasa Isyarat Malaysia, or BIM) is the language of deaf education of Malaysia. BIM has many dialects, differing from state to state.
Malaysian Sign Language was born when the Malaysian Federation of the Deaf was established in 1998 and use has expanded among deaf leaders and participants. It is based on American Sign Language (ASL), but the two are considered different languages. BIM in turn has been the basis for Indonesian Sign Language.
Kod Tangan Bahasa Malaysia or Manually Coded Malay (KTBM) was created by hearing educators and linguists in between 1980 and 1986 and remains the only sign language recognized by the Malaysian Ministry of Education.
Malaysian sign languages which predate BIM are Penang Sign (PSL) and Selangor Sign (Kuala Lumpur Sign, SSL or KLSL). Additionally, every parent of deaf children has own signs called home signs to make a gestural communication. The use of such home signs among peranakan or ethnic Chinese users of BIM may be behind controversy over the supposed influence of Chinese Sign Languages, which does not seem to be documented and may merely be based on ethnic stereotyping.
Famous quotes containing the words sign language, sign and/or language:
“The symbolic view of things is a consequence of long absorption in images. Is sign language the real language of Paradise?”
—Hugo Ball (1886–1927)
“I can only sign over everything,
the house, the dog, the ladders, the jewels,
the soul, the family tree, the mailbox.
Then I can sleep.
Maybe.”
—Anne Sexton (1928–1974)
“For all symbols are fluxional; all language is vehicular and transitive, and is good, as ferries and horses are, for conveyance, not as farms and houses are, for homestead.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)