Sociolinguistic survey report of the Deaf community of Peru

A sociolinguistic survey of the sign language among the Deaf communities of Peru was conducted in November and December of 2007. Over eight weeks, our survey team visited six Deaf communities in the cities of Lima, Arequipa, Cusco, Trujillo, Chiclayo, and Iquitos. Using sociolinguistic questionnaires and recorded text testing (RTT) tools, our investigation explored the general social situation of the Deaf communities as well as sociolinguistic topics such as ethnolinguistic identity, language vitality and stability, and language attitudes of Deaf people toward their local sign variety. We also probed sign language standardization and variation within Peru. During background research, we had heard reports that sign language of Peru was similar to American Sign Language (ASL), but questionnaire participant responses and comprehension testing of an ASL text among various Deaf communities in Peru seemed to indicate that ASL was quite different from the sign language of Peru.