Editing Nicaraguan Sign Language (section)

==Linguistics==
ISN offers a rare opportunity to study the emergence of a new language. Before ISN, studies of the early development of languages had focused on [[Creole language|creole]]s, which develop from the mixture of two (or more) distinct communities of fluent speakers. In contrast, ISN was developed by a group of young people with only non-conventional [[home sign]] systems and gestures.

Some linguists, such as Kegl<ref>Kegl, J. 2002. "Language Emergence in a Language-Ready Brain: Acquisition Issues". In Morgan, G. and Woll, B., ''Language Acquisition in Signed Languages''. Cambridge University Press, pp. 207–254.</ref> and R. J. Senghas,{{sfn|Senghas|Senghas|Pyers|2005}} view ISN’s development as proof that [[Language acquisition device|language acquisition is hard-wired]] inside the human brain. [[Steven Pinker]], author of ''[[The Language Instinct]]'', claims that "The Nicaraguan case is unique in history ... We've been able to see how it is that children—not adults—generate language, and we have been able to record it happening in great scientific detail. And it's the only time that we've seen a language being created out of thin air."

Since 1990, other researchers including [[Ann Senghas]], Marie Coppola, Richard Senghas, Laura Polich, and Jennie Pyers, have begun to study and report on the development of this unique language and its community. Since then, whilst researchers have their interpretations of the events leading to the language and its development, all agree that to date, the phenomenon being studied is one of the richest sources of data on language emergence discovered.