Talk:Korean Sign Language

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Above undated message substituted from Template:Dashboard.wikiedu.org assignment by PrimeBOT (talk) 01:52, 17 January 2022 (UTC)

origin

Anyone know why it's dated to 1889? That's well before the Japanese occupation. — kwami (talk) 02:49, 20 March 2011 (UTC)

Requested move 11 September 2026

Korean Sign Language → South Korean Sign LanguageSouth Korean Sign Language – Wanted to clear it here first, but unless this article is going to go over both the North and South Korean Sign languages, the title should probably be changed to specifically refer to South Korea. Arctic Circle System (talk) 03:01, 11 September 2026 (UTC) — Relisting. –Maltazarian ^{ᚾparley$\lor$investigateᛅ} 09:10, 18 September 2026 (UTC) — Relisting. msk 02:50, 26 September 2026 (UTC)

• Mmmmmm perhaps both North Korean Sign Language and this page should be renamed to something else, based on WP:COMMONNAME?

Surely the North Korean system is not officially called "North Korean Sign Language", nor is this system officially called "South Korean Sign Language". I'm loathe to invent new terminology; if we do make this move we shouldn't present it as if they're proper nouns, should just be "North Korean sign language" and "South Korean sign language".

Perhaps both should be called "Korean Sign Language" but have a disambiguator, like "Korean Sign Language (North Korean)" and "Korean Sign Language (South Korean)".

All of this is contingent on COMMONNAME research though. grapesurgeon (talk) 03:05, 11 September 2026 (UTC)

I agree with this logic. Based on reading each article, but without further research, it appears both articles may be at their correct common names. If so, the hatnote on this article pointing to North Korean Sign Language might be all that is necessary. Station1 (talk) 05:57, 11 September 2026 (UTC)

Correct common name of what though? Correct common name of the sign language of South Korea specifically, or correct common name of a theoretical sign language associated with the whole of Korea? North and South Korean Sign Language have been separate languages for decades since sometime after 1945. The name "Korean Sign Language" only applies to the pre-1945 language and the broader grouping of the two. Arctic Circle System (talk) 08:20, 11 September 2026 (UTC)

You might be correct; I have no special knowledge of this topic. So all I'm saying is, reading through both articles, it sounds like there are currently two languages, one called, in English, "Korean Sign Language" and the other called "North Korean Sign Language". If the articles are correct, no title change is needed. If the articles are incorrect, they need to be partly rewritten, with citations, not just have a title change. Looking at a few of the articles' refs, I see some further evidence that this language is commonly known as "Korean Sign Language". I also see some evidence for "North Korean Sign Language" I don't see any evidence for anything called "South Korean Sign Language". Station1 (talk) 17:41, 11 September 2026 (UTC)

Again, the "Korean Sign Language" you're referring to is only used in South Korea. It is not a broader Korean sign language at this point, only of the south. And there are records of the name "South Korean Sign Language" as well used when referring to it, especially when discussing it in reference to NKSL. https://doi.org/10.7877/jasl.29.3_51 Arctic Circle System (talk) 23:19, 11 September 2026 (UTC)

We agree that the "Korean Sign Language" referred to here is used only in the south. Station1 (talk) 01:21, 12 September 2026 (UTC)

And this is precisely the problem with referring to it in such a way. Arctic Circle System (talk) 19:19, 12 September 2026 (UTC)

And how is that a problem? I agree with Station1 that both articles may be at their correct common names. We aren't under an obligation to give equal footing to North Korean topics, as far as I know. English is not as widespread in North Korea, and the people from there don't travel as much, and its population is about half as much (and the people there have less access to Wikipedia and the rest of the Internet), so the Koreans that people who read English encounter are mostly South Koreans. If the most widespread term for this topic in English is "Korean Sign Language", then we aren't under any obligation to change that in order to achieve some false balance. Weak oppose, as this seems to be the WP:PRIMARYTOPIC for the term "Korean Sign Language", and that is how it is typically referred to in the English language. (As far as I know, there isn't even a different article about the pre-1945 language, so we don't need to distinguish this topic from that one.) The primary terms otherwise used for both of these topics are not in English, and we should use the terms that people usually use in English when referring to them. We also don't need to change the name of the Japanese Sign Language family article to Japanese, Korean and Taiwanese Sign Language family. —⁠ ⁠BarrelProof (talk) 13:09, 25 September 2026 (UTC)

I struck through the word "weak" in my prior remark. I still see no evidence that we need to do something here. AFAICT, these articles are using the titles that are each the dominant term used to refer to their subject in English. —⁠ ⁠BarrelProof (talk) 13:14, 30 September 2026 (UTC)

Note: WikiProject Deaf has been notified of this discussion. —RMCD bot 03:33, 11 September 2026 (UTC)

• Oppose per BarrelProof and Station1. Evidence seems to point to "Korean Sign Language" being the WP:COMMONNAME for English-language discussion of the language used in South Korea, as well as to the South Korean language being the WP:PRIMARYTOPIC for "Korean Sign Language". Sometimes it is the case that the best-known name for a topic may not account for all of its nuances, but that should be addressed through hatnotes and/or a clearly written article body, not through WP:OVERPRECISION or neologisms. ModernDayTrilobite (talk • contribs) 20:46, 25 September 2026 (UTC)

Relisting comment: Could I get some evidence for COMMONNAME? msk 02:50, 26 September 2026 (UTC)

Replying to the relisting comment, I did a little web searching and had a very hard time finding any uses of "South Korean Sign Language" or "SKSL", even when searching explicitly for those strings, and I found "Korean Sign Language" / "KSL" used for this topic consistently even in high-quality academic sources. —⁠ ⁠BarrelProof (talk) 15:50, 26 September 2026 (UTC)

Yeah I disapprove of inventing a proper noun "South Korean Sign Language"; that's not Wikipedia's job. Even if that term appears in one or two sources, I'm loathe to present that as if it's an "official name".

Expanding a bit on my orig comment: I doubt North Korea actually officially calls their system "North Korean Sign Language". I'm betting they call it "Korean Sign Language" as well, although I'm a bit busy lately to find sourcing (also it'll be difficult to find North Korean English-language writings on this subject).

IMO, the most likely best solution to all of this is the one I originally mentioned:

• Korean Sign Language -> Korean Sign Language (South Korea)
• North Korean Sign Language -> Korean Sign Language (North Korea)

grapesurgeon (talk) 02:12, 30 September 2026 (UTC)

Note: WikiProject Languages, WikiProject Korea, and WikiProject Linguistics have been notified of this discussion. grapesurgeon (talk) 02:14, 30 September 2026 (UTC)

• Oppose. This is the primary topic and common name for the topic of this article, and "North Korean Sign Language" is common when referring to the other topic. It is unnecessary to invent a new name here or there. Dekimasuよ! 22:00, 2 October 2026 (UTC)