Danish Sign Language

Danish Sign Language (Danish: Dansk Tegnsprog) is the recognised first language of approximately 5000 deaf and hearing impaired citizens of Denmark, and is also in use to some aspect in Greenland as a minority language. It is believed to be based around locally identified signs, as noted by the founder of the first school for the deaf & mute, Peter Atke Castberg, although some vocabulary is imported from French Sign Language.

In 1807, King Christian 9. of Denmark, passed laws concerning the education of those who were deaf & unable to speak, after Castberg reported back to the Danish government about the need to educate people in this position. He'd visited schools for the deaf in Berlin, Paris, Kiel and Vienna. Castberg went on to open "The Royal Institute for the Deaf-Mute in Copenhagen" on 11 April 1817.

Danish Sign Language was categorized by Henri Wittmann as part of the family of French sign languages (Langues des Signes Française) in 1991, because of the similarity between the vocabulary of Danish and French sign languages.

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