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Subclassification references

• Zana Jaza 2015
• Henri Wittmann 1991
• Kinda Al-Fityani and Carol Padden 2010
• Al-Muslat, Zaid Abdulla 1994
• Bernadet Hendriks and Ulrike Zeshan 2009

Comments on subclassification

Lexicostatistical data with controls from unrelated sign languages establish an Arab Sign family ( Bernadet Hendriks and Ulrike Zeshan 2009 ):223-224 including Egyptian Sign, Levantine and Iraqi Sign and Yemeni Sign. Bernadet Hendriks and Ulrike Zeshan (2009): 223 imply that Saudi Arabian Sign Language [saud1238] is part of this family (contra Henri Wittmann 1991 ) but the reasoning is not made explicit (though teachers are said to have been recruited from other Arab countries in Al-Muslat, Zaid Abdulla 1994: 279-280 ). Kinda Al-Fityani and Carol Padden (2010) show that lexicostatistically Kuwaiti Sign Language [kuwa1252] and Libyan Sign Language [liby1235] are also part of the family. Kurdish Sign Language [kurd1260] is different from, and unintelligible to Baghdad Iraqi Sign language but informal lexical similarities suggest Baghdad Iraqi Sign is the closest relative ( Zana Jaza 2015 ):570-571.