Australian Aboriginal sign languages
Australian Aboriginal sign Geographic distribution across Australia Linguistic classification Manual encoding of various Australian languages ISO 639-3 asw Glottolog aust1253 [1] Many Australian Aboriginal cultures have or traditionally had a manually coded language, a signed counterpart of their oral language. This appears to be connected with various speech taboos between certain kin or at particular times, such as during a mourning period for women or during initiation ceremonies for men, as was also the case with Caucasian Sign Language but not Plains Indian Sign Language, which did not involve speech taboo, or deaf sign languages, which are not encodings of oral language. There is some similarity between neighboring groups and some contact pidgin similar to Plains Indian Sign Language in the American Great Plains. Sign languages appear to be most developed in areas with the most extensive speech taboos: the central desert (particularly among the Warlp