Several Zimbabwean sign languages developed independently among deaf students in different Zimbabwean schools for the deaf starting in the 1940s. It is not clear how many languages they are, as little research has been done; Masvingo School Sign is known to be different from that of other schools,[2] but each school apparently has a separate sign language, and these are different from the community language or languages used outside of the schools.[1] "Sign language", without further clarification, became one of Zimbabwe's official national languages with the Constitution of 2013.[3]
^Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin, eds. (2017). "Masvingo School Sign". Glottolog 3.0. Jena, Germany: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.
^a Sign-language names reflect the region of origin. Natural sign languages are not related to the spoken language used in the same region. For example, French Sign Language originated in France, but is not related to French. Conversely, ASL and BSL both originated in English-speaking countries but are not related to each other; ASL however is related to French Sign Language.
^b Denotes the number (if known) of languages within the family. No further information is given on these languages.