The Government of Rwanda, through the National Council of Persons with Disabilities (NCPD), has completed the production of a comprehensive Rwandan Sign Language Dictionary (RSLD). The publication date, however, is yet to be communicated.
According to Emmanuel Ndayisaba, NCPD’s executive secretary, the development and nationwide dissemination of a comprehensively researched sign language dictionary, based on professional linguistic research and input from relevant stakeholders, will be a significant milestone in addressing the challenges and needs of deaf people in Rwanda.
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Ndayisaba said Rwanda Sign Language (RSL) as an everyday language improves the status and services for hearing-impaired people through effective communication among all people.
"The dictionary has sections containing signs with numbers. If you are learning signs you can look in the appropriate section. The preface introduces the reader to the Rwanda Legal framework on persons living with hearing disabilities, the history of the deaf community in Rwanda, an understanding of RSL, and how to use the dictionary,” he said.
Each sign has a clear illustration and description in Kinyarwanda and English to guide the user on how the sign is done.
Ndayisaba said the recognition of RSL as an official language will be an important step to ensure that sign language is provided systematically in areas such as education, health, justice, and political participation, among others.
Initially, copies of the dictionary will be shared with establishments such as educational institutions, and the Kigali Public Library, among others.
There are also plans to avail an electronic copy on various websites, Ndayisaba said.
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The research and documentation of the second edition of the RSL dictionary commenced in November 2014 with support from the Voluntary Service Overseas (VSO) and the Government of Rwanda—through NCPD as the Chair of the Steering Committee and Rwanda National Union of the Deaf (RNUD) as the technical implementer.
However, Ndayisaba noted, different challenges were encountered along the way, including the lack of a competent consultant in sign language research and linguistics, lack of clear planning, and misunderstanding of the methodology to be used, adding that at least three consultants were hired consecutively to perform the task.
According to Ndayisaba, the dictionary comprises 2000 signs and is built on the first edition of the dictionary that was published in 2009 by RNUD with support from VSO. It included 891 signs used across all five provinces of Rwanda, with the meanings of each sign in Kinyarwanda and English.
He said the illustrations of the signs were drawn by hand and accompanied by descriptions in English and Kinyarwanda to clarify how to pronounce each sign, step-by-step.
"This second edition is a major expansion of the first edition. The illustrations have been completely designed with modern technology, converting photographs of signers to precise line drawings, with added arrows to represent the motion,” he said.
An introduction to Rwandan Sign Language grammar is provided to explain some of its features.
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Ndayisaba explained that there is a common misconception in society that sign language is universal and can be used internationally as a language, cutting across all communities of hearing-impaired people worldwide.
He said although sign language of different countries has a similar grammatical structure, it is not universal or an international language, noting that each country has its own sign language and within a country, the national sign language may have local dialects.