Germany has a very strong oralist tradition and historically has seen a suppression of sign language.

German Sign Language was first legally recognised in The Federal Disability Equality Act (2002) in May 2002.

[3] Since then, deaf people have a legal entitlement to Sign Language interpreters when communicating with federal authorities, free of charge.

There is at least one programme conducted entirely in German Sign Language called Sehen statt Hören (Seeing Instead of Hearing), a documentary-style programme produced by the Bayerischer Rundfunk (BR) and broadcast on Saturday mornings on Bayerischer Rundfunk and the other regional state broadcasters in Germany.

In 2018, the Luxembourgish Chamber of Deputies voted unanimously to recognise German Sign Language.

In academic contexts, German Sign Language is usually described with the Hamburg notation system or HamNoSys.

The grammar of German Sign Language may be described in terms of the conventional linguistic categories phonology, morphology, morphosyntax and syntax.

Signs are made up of a combination of different elements from each of the classes of distinctive features: handshape, hand orientation, location and movement.

In the case of HM syllables, for example, the hand configuration of the Movement moves away from the location of the Hold.

An elementary component of lexical signs are non-manual lexical markings, such as movements of eyes (rolling, widening), mouth (puffing, rounding) and face, as well as the whole head (nodding, tilting) and upper body (leaning).

The unmarked word order in DGS is subject-object-verb, similar to languages such as Turkish, Japanese and Latin, but differing from German.

'[PRON]1ISubjectWOHNUNGapartmentObjectPUTZ-clean"full verb"KEINE-LUST-HAB-can't-be-bothered"Modalverb"[PRON]1 WOHNUNG PUTZ- KEINE-LUST-HAB-I apartment clean can't-be-botheredSubject Object {"full verb"} "Modalverb"'I can't be bothered cleaning the apartment.

'[PRON]1ISubjectBUCHbookobjectKAUF-buy"full verb"[BEM]2for-you"auxiliary"[PRON]1 BUCH KAUF- [BEM]2I book buy for-youSubject object {"full verb"} "auxiliary"'I bought a book for you.

'Time expressions (tomorrow, next week) appear at the beginning of the sentence (as a discourse topic).

GESTERNyesterdayTimeUNIVERSITÄT [LOK]Auniversity thereLocation[PRON]1ISubjectMANN NETTman niceObjectKENNENLERN-meetVerbGESTERN {UNIVERSITÄT [LOK]A} [PRON]1 {MANN NETT} KENNENLERN-yesterday {university there} I {man nice} meetTime Location Subject Object Verb'I met a nice man at the university yesterday.

[PRON]2youSubjectBESTELL-order"full verb"WÜNSCH-desire"auxiliary"WASwhatWh[PRON]2 BESTELL- WÜNSCH- WASyou order desire whatSubject {"full verb"} "auxiliary" Wh'What would you like to order?

'[PRON]2youSubjectD-G-SDGSobjectLERN-learn"full verb"WÜNSCH-desire"auxiliary"WARUMwhyWh[PRON]2 D-G-S LERN- WÜNSCH- WARUMyou DGS learn desire whySubject object {"full verb"} "auxiliary" Wh'Why do you want to learn DGS?

'[PRON]2duSubjectSOZIAL WISSENSCHAFTsocial sciencesObjectSTUDIER-study-at-university"full verb"ANFANG-begin"auxiliary"WANNwhenWh[PRON]2 {SOZIAL WISSENSCHAFT} STUDIER- ANFANG- WANNdu {social sciences} study-at-university begin whenSubject Object {"full verb"} "auxiliary" Wh'How long have you been studying social sciences at university?

'[PRON]1ISubjectESS-eat"full verb"WÜNSCH-desire"auxiliary"NICHTSnothingnegation[PRON]1 ESS- WÜNSCH- NICHTSI eat desire nothingSubject {"full verb"} "auxiliary" negation'I don't want to eat anything (at all).

If this is indicated instead by directional verbs, determiners can always be omitted, provided they are not required for other reasons (such as showing possession, pluralisation, etc.)

eyebrows raisedFRAU [DEM]Awoman thatTopicalised object [PRON]1ISubjecthead shakeMÖG-don't-likeVerb{eyebrows raised} {} {head shake}{FRAU [DEM]A} {[PRON]1} MÖG-{woman that} I don't-like{Topicalised object} Subject Verb'I don't like that woman.