Action Pending: Four Years on from the New Zealand Sign Language Act 2006

Abstract

The granting of official language status to New Zealand Sign Language (NZSL) through the New Zealand Sign Language Act 2006 (NZSL Act 2006) is unusual in terms of the status of signed languages around the world. Many governments have accorded various forms of recognition to a signed language, but no others appear to have granted it official language status.  Language policy makes and promotes certain choices about language use at a particular socio-historical moment; such decisions thus have social and political meaning to the minority community and to wider society.  What motivated the government to recognise NZSL as an official language, and what has been achieved by it? Did cross-party support for this Act signal societal commitment to linguistic diversity and equity? Or did the negligible material implications of the Act ensure its approval by politicians as a compensatory gesture towards a disadvantaged community? This article critically examines the aims, provisions, and impacts of the NZSL Act 2006, and reports data from two recent surveys of stakeholders about priorities for further action to realise the purpose of the Act.