Plains Indian Sign Language

Plains Indian Sign Language is a sign language, spoken in United States and Canada. Wikidata counts about 75 speakers (2015). Wikidata describes it as “once the lingua franca across North America”.

8b · Nearly Extinct 75

Wikidata record Glottolog

At a glance

ISO 639-3: psd
Glottocode: plai1235
Family: unclassified
EGIDS: 8b Nearly Extinct
Wikipedia: 23 language editions

—first-language speakers

—second-language speakers

2countries

—scripts

—levels in the tree

8bEGIDS level

Facts

Name	Plains Indian Sign Language
Also called	PISL, Hand Talk, Plains Sign Language, Plains Sign Talk
All speakers	75 (2015)
Kind	sign language

Vitality

EGIDS 8b Nearly Extinct8b

Endangered. Children are no longer learning it everywhere, or only grandparents speak it — EGIDS 6b to 8b.

Other languages at this level

where it is spoken

Map and countries

A distribution map from Wikimedia Commons, as linked from Wikidata; borders of language areas are approximate.

Map of the area where Plains Indian Sign Language is spoken — Map: Danachos · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

United States245 languages in the index Canada112 languages in the index

Also spoken in United States

engEnglishIndo-European · 1.13 bn0 · International spaSpanishIndo-European · 555.6 m1 · National fraFrenchIndo-European · 285.4 m0 · International urdUrduunclassified · 162.6 m1 · National panPunjabiunclassified · 125 mSafe korKoreanKoreanic · 73.2 m1 · National pusPashtoIndo-European · 50 mSafe azeAzerbaijaniTurkic · 35 mSafe ukrUkrainianIndo-European · 34.7 m1 · National sylSylhetiIndo-European · 14 m3 · Wider Communication