Article · Wikipedia archive · Last revised Jun 8, 2026

Czech Sign Language

Czech Sign Language is the sign language of the deaf community in the Czech Republic. It presumably emerged around the time of the first deaf school in Bohemia (1786). It belongs to the French sign-language family and is partially intelligible with French sign language. Despite the similarity of oral Czech and Slovak, it is not particularly close to Slovak Sign Language.

Last revised
Jun 8, 2026
Read time
≈ 1 min
Length
111 w
Citations
3
Source
Wikipedia ↗
Czech Sign Language
Český znakový jazyk
Native toCzech Republic
RegionCentral Europe
Native speakers
12,000 (2011 census)1
10,000 (2014)1
Language codes
ISO 639-3cse
Glottologczec1253
ELPCzech Sign Language
Location of the Czech Republic source ↗

Czech Sign Language (Czech: Český znakový jazyk, ČZJ) is the sign language of the deaf community in the Czech Republic. It presumably emerged around the time of the first deaf school in Bohemia (1786). It belongs to the French sign-language family and is partially intelligible with French sign language.2 Despite the similarity of oral Czech and Slovak, it is not particularly close to Slovak Sign Language.

References

References

  1. Czech Sign Language at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
  2. "Czech Sign Language | Ethnologue".