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International Sign

Article Discussion

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International Sign (IS) is a pidgin sign language<ref name=":0" /> which is used in a variety of different contexts, particularly as an international auxiliary language at meetings such as the World Federation of the Deaf (WFD) congress, in some<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> European Union settings,<ref name="WASLI-IS">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="ISTerp">Template:Cite journal</ref> and at some UN conferences,<ref name="WASLI-IS"/><ref name="ISTerp"/><ref>Template:Cite report</ref> at events such as the Deaflympics, the Miss & Mister Deaf World, and Eurovision,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> and informally when travelling and socialising.

Linguists do not agree on what the term International Sign means precisely, and empirically derived dictionaries are lacking.

NamingEdit

While the more commonly used term is International Sign, it is sometimes referred to as Gestuno,<ref name=":5" /> or International Sign Pidgin<ref>McKee R., Napier J. (2002) "Interpreting in International Sign Pidgin: an analysis." Journal of Sign Language Linguistics 5(1).</ref> and International Gesture (IG).<ref>Bar-Tzur, David (2002). International gesture: Principles and gestures website Template:Webarchive
Moody, W. (1987).International gesture. In J. V. Van Cleve (ed.), "Gallaudet encyclopedia of deaf people and deafness", Vol 3 S-Z, Index. New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company Inc.</ref> International Sign (IS) is a term used by the World Federation of the Deaf (WFD) and other international organisations.<ref>Mesch, Johanna. Perspectives on the Concept and Definition of International Sign, World Federation of the Deaf, May 2010, wfdeaf.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/Perspectives-on-the-Concept-and-Definition-of-IS_Mesch-FINAL.pdf.</ref>

HistoryEdit

Deaf people in the Western and Middle Eastern world have gathered together using sign language for 2,000 years.<ref>Woll, Bencie and Ladd, Paddy (2003). Deaf communities. In M. Marschark and P. Spencer (eds.), The Handbook of Deaf Studies, Language and Education (pp. 151-163). Oxford: Oxford University Press.</ref> When Deaf people from different sign language backgrounds get together, a variety of sign language arises from this contact, whether it is in an informal personal context or in a formal international context. Deaf people have therefore used a kind of auxiliary gestural system for international communication at sporting or cultural events since the early 19th century.<ref>McKee R., Napier J. (2002), citing:
*Moody, B. (n.d.). International communication among deaf people. Unpublished, undated manuscript.
*Scott Gibson, L. & R. Ojala (1994). “International Sign Interpreting.” Paper presented to the Fourth East and South African Sign Language Seminar, Uganda, August 1994.</ref> The need to standardise an international sign system was discussed at the first World Deaf Congress in 1951, when the WFD was formed. In the following years, a pidgin developed as the delegates from different language backgrounds communicated with each other, and in 1973, a WFD committee ("the Commission of Unification of Signs") published a standardized vocabulary. They selected "naturally spontaneous and easy signs in common use by deaf people of different countries"<ref name=":5">British Deaf Association. (1975). Gestuno: International sign language of the deaf. Carlisle, England: BDA.</ref> to make the language easy to learn. A book published by the commission in 1975, Gestuno: International Sign Language of the Deaf, contains a vocabulary list of 1,470 signs.<ref name=":5" /> The name Gestuno was chosen, referencing gesture and oneness.Template:Citation needed

However, when Gestuno was first used at the WFD congress in Bulgaria in 1976, it was incomprehensible to deaf participants.<ref>Rosenstock, Rachel. International Sign: Negotiating Understanding, Research at Gallaudet, Fall 2005Template:DashWinter 2006. This article was derived from the author's 2004 PhD dissertation:
* Rosenstock, Rachel. (2004). An Investigation of International Sign: Analyzing Structure and Comprehension. Gallaudet University.</ref> Subsequently, it was developed informally by deaf and hearing interpreters, and came to include more grammar, especially linguistic features that are thought to be universal among sign languages, such as role shifting, movement repetitions, the use of signing space, and classifiers. Additionally, the vocabulary was gradually replaced by more iconic signs and loan signs from various sign languages.Template:Citation needed

The first training course in Gestuno was conducted in Copenhagen in 1977 to prepare interpreters for the 5th World Conference on Deafness. Sponsored by the Danish Association of the Deaf and the University of Copenhagen, the course was designed by Robert M. Ingram and taught by Betty L. Ingram, two American interpreters of deaf parents.<ref>Moody, Bill (2002). "International Sign: A Practitioner's Perspective." Journal of Interpretation, 1-47.</ref>

The name Gestuno has fallen out of use, and the phrase International Sign is now more commonly used in English to identify this variety of sign. This may be because current IS has little in common with the signs published under the name Gestuno.Template:Citation needed

DescriptionEdit

International Sign has been described as a highly variable type of signed communication used between two signers who lack a common sign language.<ref name=":2">Template:Cite journal</ref><ref name=":3">Template:Cite journal</ref> Most experts do not technically consider IS to be a full language,<ref name=":2" /> but rather a form of communication that arises on the spot.<ref name=":3" /> It is characterized by a focus on iconic or pantomimic structures; IS signers may also point to nearby objects.<ref name=":3" /> While some degree of standardization takes place at events such WFD and the European Union of the Deaf, it is limited to vocabulary, not grammar.<ref name=":3" />

There is no consensus on what International Sign is exactly. It may either refer to the way strangers sign with each other when they lack a common sign language, or it can refer to a conventionalized form used by a group of people with regular contact.<ref name=":1">Template:Cite book</ref> The use of the term International Sign might also lead to the misconception that it is a standardized form of communication.<ref name=":1" />

Deaf people typically know only one sign language.<ref name=":3" /> Signers from differing countries may use IS spontaneously with each other, with relative success.<ref name=":3" /> This communicative success is linked to various factors. First, people who sign in IS have a certain amount of shared contextual knowledge. Secondly, signers may take advantage of shared knowledge of a spoken language, such as English. Thirdly, communication is made easier by the use of iconic signs and pantomime.<ref name=":3" />

VocabularyEdit

The lexicon of International Sign is made by negotiation between signers. IS signers reportedly use a set of signs from their own national sign language mixed with highly iconic signs that can be understood by a large audience.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Many, not to say most, signs are taken from American Sign Language during the past 30 years.<ref name=":4">Template:Cite book</ref> In 1973, a committee created and standardized a system of international signs. They tried to choose the most understandable signs from diverse sign languages to make the language easy to learn for not only the Deaf but for both interim management and an everyday observer.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web

}}Template:Cbignore</ref> IS interpreter Bill Moody noted in a 1994 paper that the vocabulary used in conference settings is largely derived from the sign languages of the Western world and is less comprehensible to those from African or Asian sign language backgrounds.<ref>Moody, B. (1994). International Sign: Language, pidgin or charades? Paper presented at the "Issues in Interpreting 2" conference, University of Durham, Durham, April 1994. Cited in McKee R., Napier J. (2002)</ref> A 1999 study by Bencie Woll suggested that IS signers often use a large amount of vocabulary from their native language,<ref>Sutton-Spence, Rachel and Woll, Bencie. (1999) The Linguistics of British Sign Language: An Introduction. p. 32. Template:ISBN</ref> choosing sign variants that would be more easily understood by a foreigner.<ref>Day, Linda, (2000) British Sign Language in its Social Context, Session 10: Language Planning and Standardisation Template:WebarchiveTemplate:Dashnotes for students</ref> In contrast, Rachel Rosenstock notes that the vocabulary exhibited in her study of International Sign was largely made up of highly iconic signs common to many sign languages:

Over 60% of the signs occurred in the same form in more than eight SLs as well as in IS. This suggests that the majority of IS signs are not signs borrowed from a specific SL, as other studies found, but rather are common to many natural SLs. Only 2% of IS signs were found to be unique to IS. The remaining 38% were borrowed (or "loan") signs that could be traced back to one SL or a group of related SLs.<ref>Rosenstock, Op cit.</ref>

International Sign has a simplified lexicon. In IS for example, the English who, what, and how are all translated simply to what. Another example of this simplified lexicon is the location of the sign itself. IS will use movements on the chest to indicate feeling signs, and signs near the head will indicate cognitive activity.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> There have been several attempts at making dictionaries for IS. However, these lack detailed information on data collection, nor do they describe the exact meaning or how the signs should be used. This causes difficulty for training and teaching people in IS, as there is no empirical evidence.<ref name=":1" />

Manual alphabetEdit

The manual alphabet of IS belongs to the French family of manual alphabets, specifically in a subgroup around to the modern American manual alphabet. However, some letters differ in a few finger positions to the American alphabet.<ref name=Power2020>Template:Cite journal</ref>

IS numbers larger than five are, unlike in ASL, performed by two hands.

GrammarEdit

Very little is known about the grammar of IS.<ref name=":4" /> It tends to use fewer mouthings and often has a larger signing space. The use of mouth gestures for adverbials is emphasized.<ref name=":4" />

People communicating in IS tend to make heavy use of:

  1. role play,
  2. index and reference locations in the signing space in front of the signer, on the head and trunk, and on the non-dominant hand,
  3. different movement repetitions,
  4. size and shape delineation techniques using handshapes and extensions of movements of the hands (size and size specifiers, or SASS), and
  5. a feature common to most sign languages: an extensive formal system of classifiers used in verbs/predicates (classifiers are handshapes used to describe things, handle objects, and represent a few semantic classes that are regarded by IS signers to be widespread in sign languages, helping them to overcome linguistic barriers).

It has been noted that signers are generally better at interlingual communication than non-signers, even using a spoken lingua franca.Template:Citation needed

A paper presented in 1994 suggested that IS signers "combine a relatively rich and structured grammar with a severely impoverished lexicon".<ref>Allsop, Lorna; Woll, Bencie; Brauti, John Martin (1995). International sign: The creation of an international deaf community and sign language. In: Bos, Heleen F. and Schermer, Gertrude M. (eds): "Sign Language Research 1994: Proceedings of the Fourth European Congress on Sign Language Research, Munich, September 1–3, 1994." (International Studies on Sign Language and Communication of the Deaf; 29) Hamburg : Signum (1995)Template:Dashp. 187</ref> Supalla and Webb (1995) describe IS as a kind of a pidgin, but conclude that it is "more complex than a typical pidgin and indeed is more like that of a full sign language".<ref name=":0">Supalla, T. and Webb, R. (1995). "The grammar of international sign: A new look at pidgin languages." In: Emmorey, Karen / Reilly, Judy S. (eds): Language, gesture, and space. (International Conference on Theoretical Issues in Sign Language Research) Hillsdale, N.J. : Erlbaum (p. 347).</ref>

Recent studies of International SignEdit

Simplification of signs in IS can vary between interpreters (one can choose a simplification over a much longer explanation), and because of this, certain information can be lost in translation.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> Because sign language relies heavily on local influences, many Deaf people do not understand each other's signs. Furthermore, cultural differences in signs can vary even within borders.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> In these cases, many Deaf people revert to fingerspelling and gestures or mime, which has its own variations based on similar sign language properties.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

The World Federation of the Deaf (WFD) has raised concern about the issues with simplification and standardization, and that it limits a sign to a single meaning or word, thus losing all natural forms of the initial meaning.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

An ethnographic study notes that there is some controversy among deaf people about how accessible IS is to deaf people from different places; it also observes that many deaf people are nevertheless highly motivated to do the work of communicating across linguistic and other differences.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

ExamplesEdit

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  • EU sample dictionary of IS (sematos)<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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  • European Union on the Deaf (EUD)Template:DashInformation on IS<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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  • Signs2Cross ProjectTemplate:DashInformation on International Sign<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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See alsoEdit

ReferencesEdit

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External linksEdit

BibliographyEdit

  • McKee R., Napier J. (2002) "Interpreting in International Sign Pidgin: an analysis." Journal of Sign Language Linguistics 5(1).
  • Allsop, Lorna; Woll, Bencie; Brauti, John Martin (1995). International sign: The creation of an international deaf community and sign language. In: Bos, Heleen F. and Schermer, Gertrude M. (eds): "Sign Language Research 1994: Proceedings of the Fourth European Congress on Sign Language Research, Munich, September 1–3, 1994." (International Studies on Sign Language and Communication of the Deaf; 29) Hamburg : Signum (1995)Template:Dashpp. 171–188
  • Webb, Rebecca and Supalla, Ted, (1994). Negation in international sign. In: Ahlgren, Inger / Bergman, Brita / Brennan, Mary (eds): Perspectives on sign language structure: Papers from the Fifth International Symposium on Sign Language Research. Vol. 1; Held in Salamanca, Spain, 25–30 May 1992. Durham : isla (1994)Template:Dashpp. 173–186
  • Moody, W. (1987). "International Gestures." In: van Cleve, J. V. (ed.) Gallaudet encyclopedia of deaf people and deafness. Vol. 3. S-Z,Index. New York, NY [u.a.] : McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc.Template:Dashpp. 81–82.
  • Rubino, F., Hayhurst, A., and Guejlman, J. (1975). Gestuno. International sign language of the deaf. (revised and expanded). Carlisle: British Deaf Association [for] the World Federation of the Deaf.
  • Magarotto, Cesare, (1974). Towards an International Language of Gestures. (Unesco Courier)

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