ABSTRACT
New Zealand Sign Language (NZSL) has its roots in British Sign Language (BSL),
brought to New Zealand by successive Deaf immigrants from the United Kingdom from
the mid-19th century (Collins-Ahlgren, 1989). Australian Sign Language (Auslan) has
similar colonial origins. There is no record of indigenous sign languages in New Zealand
before European contact, although we may assume that wherever there were communities
of Deaf people, sign languages would have evolved.
