2.2. Sign language users

As mentioned in section 2.1 Community characteristics, the sign language community comprises sign language users or signers (De Meulder et al., 2019; Gras Ferrer, 2006). This group includes deaf and deafblind people, as well as hearing individuals who use Spanish Sign Language (LSE) in their daily lives. Native signers include not only deaf people with diverse intersectional backgrounds related to nationality, ethnicity, social class, employment, mobility, and education, but also children of deaf signing parents, known as CODAs (Children Of Deaf Adults) or heritage signers. Hearing signers include LSE professionals (interpreters, linguists, teachers) and family members of deaf people.

The World Federation of the Deaf (WFD) estimates that approximately 70 million deaf people worldwide use sign language as their first language (De Meulder, 2019). Determining the exact number of LSE signers is challenging because estimates vary based on different population classifications (CNLSE, 2014). It is also difficult to identify (and define) who are native signers, who have learned LSE as a second language, and what their proficiency levels are (Báez Montero, 2015; Costello et al., 2008, 2012; Gras Ferrer, 2006).

Only about 5% of deaf children are born to deaf families (Costello et al., 2008), while most acquire sign language at school or in deaf clubs. Unlike spoken languages, which typically follow intergenerational transmission patterns, sign languages are predominantly transmitted intragenerationally (De Meulder, 2019; De Meulder et al., 2019; Reagan, 2019). This transmission occurs primarily in non-family contexts like schools and clubs. While there is now greater access to sign language as a second language for both deaf and hearing people, fewer deaf children are being exposed to it during early childhood at home or school.

A study by the Centre for the Language Normalisation of the Spanish Sign Language (CNLSE, 2020) surveyed 514 deaf and deafblind people. Results showed that in Spain, 89.9% of deaf people come from hearing families and acquired LSE not at home but at school (73.4%) and/or in deaf associations/clubs (74%). For these individuals, spoken language is typically the family's primary means of communication. Nevertheless, many deaf people gradually adopt LSE as their preferred language and develop proficiency over time.

Academia and linguistic ideology studies have increasingly focused on demographic changes threatening sign language vitality. These changes include declining numbers of traditional or native signers, widespread adoption of cochlear implants, speech-centered monolingual approaches, and erosion of transmission environments. Concurrently, discussions about new signers have gained prominence, that is to say, people with diverse backgrounds who learn sign language outside family settings, either through interaction with other signers or in formal educational contexts (Braithwaite, 2019; Cabeza Pereiro, 2015; De Meulder, 2019; De Meulder et al., 2019; Jaeger, 2019; Snoddon and De Meulder, 2020).

Esteban Saiz, M. L. (2025). Socio-historical background: Sign language community: Community characteristics: Spanish sign language users. In S. Villameriel García (Ed.), Gramática de la Lengua de Signos Española (GramLSE) / Grammar of Spanish Sign Language (GramLSE). Real Patronato sobre Discapacidad-Centro de Normalización Lingüística de la Lengua de Signos Española. Retrieved Month DD, YYYY, from https://cnlse.es/es/recursos/gramlse/ingles/index/socio-historical-background/sign-language-community/2-2-spanish-sign-language-users