Sign language
However, sign languages are not totally independent from each other. Sign languages can develop from the same source. For example, ASL, LSM, and LSQ all developed from Old French Sign Language. They are part of the same language family. Sign languages can be similar to each other. BSL, Auslan, and NZSL are very much alike. Linguists sometimes talk about them as if they are one language. They call it "BANZSL" (an acronym for "British Australian New Zealand Sign Language"). Sign languages can influence each other. They sometimes copy signs from other sign languages, the same way spoken languages copy loanwords.