ISO 639-3 code for International Sign Language--a good idea? How to proceed?

[Albert Bickford]

That's precisely the problem that I'm wondering about.  Normally the ISO 
639-3 codes designate languages that are reasonably well-defined--maybe not 
as standardized as some of the major languages of the world, but with far 
less variation than in what is called "International Sign".  Are we even 
dealing with something that can be given a unitary characterization?  If 
not, then maybe it would be a bad idea to imply that it is, which is what 
assigning it a 639-3 code would do.

The published dictionary by the WFD maybe would be sufficient to 
characterize the system and justify assigning a 639-3 code, if in fact the 
signs in that dictionary are in widespread enough use that they could be 
used as the basis to say that a particular conversation was in 
"International Sign".  But, could it be that the only thing that is shared 
by all the instances of what is called "International Sign" is that it is 
some sort of negotiated signing style between two people who don't have a 
common language?

-- Albert

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Valerie Sutton" <sutton at signwriting.org>
To: "Albert Bickford" <albert_bickford at sil.org>; "A list for linguists 
interested in signed languages" <slling-l at majordomo.valenciacc.edu>
Sent: November 1, 2007 11:09 PM
Subject: Re: [SLLING-L] ISO 639-3 code for International Sign Language--a 
good idea? How to proceed?


> Al -
>
> In my experience....there are several different international signing 
> systems, so there is not just one International Sign system.
...
> So the question is...which international signing system do you mean?  I 
> have seen it change from interpreter to interpreter depending on  the 
> nationalities of the people watching the interpreter...the  interpreter is 
> flexible and works with the people present to make it  a good 
> communication experience for everyone... it is impressive and  amazing to 
> watch - but elusive as well...
>
> Val ;-)
>
> Valerie Sutton
> Sutton at SignWriting.org

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