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

Fri Nov 2 21:22:27 UTC 2007

I would echo Ulrike's comments - I  think there is no single 
International Sign
- there is some degree of agreement among European signers using
cross-linguistic communication, but this is very different from what 
may happen
outside Europe, ,and there is only a limited amount of 
conventionalisation (see
Rachel Rosenstock's PhD thesis for the most recent study of this topic)

Bencie Woll

Quoting Ulrike Zeshan <uzeshan at uclan.ac.uk>:

> I know that the World Federation of the Deaf recently did a survey 
> among some linguists compiling views about the linguistic status of 
> International Sign, so maybe someone can respond who has access to 
> the results?
> To me, International Sign is a pidgin, which has a 
> semi-conventionalised status - less conventionalised than national 
> sign languages typically are, but, to me, enough so that I would call 
> it a language. It is certainly not something artificial, but has 
> developed naturally in cross-sign interactions over time. This use of 
> International Sign is, however, different from improvised ad hoc 
> communication that may happen between any two individuals who do not 
> have a sign language in common and try to communicate across 
> linguistic boundaries in the signed medium.
> I have never heard of Signuno, did you mean to say that this is 
> something devised artificially, in parallel with Esperanto?
> Ulrike
>
>
> Prof. Ulrike Zeshan
> Director, International Centre for Sign Languages and Deaf Studies
> Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences
> Livesey House, LH212
> University of Central Lancashire
> Preston PR12HE, UK
> uzeshan at uclan.ac.uk
> Ph. +44-1772-893104
>
>>>> "Albert Bickford" <albert_bickford at sil.org> 02/11/07 3:16 PM >>>
> In what I've read, Signuno and "International Sign" are generally 
> regarded as distinct.  The relationship of Gestuno to International 
> Sign is less clear--sometimes they are talked about as if they are 
> different names for the same thing, sometimes they are talked about 
> as different.  Not having personal experience with either, I'm in 
> doubt.
>
> Is there anyone on this list who uses one or both on a regular basis 
> who could comment?
>
> Albert
>  ----- Original Message -----
>  From: GerardM
>  To: A list for linguists interested in signed languages
>  Sent: November 2, 2007 9:27 AM
>  Subject: Re: [SLLING-L] ISO 639-3 code for International Sign 
> Language--a good idea? How to proceed?
>
>
>  Hoi,
>  Esperanto does have a code and it does not make sense to lump all 
> distinct international sign languages together in one ccode. When 
> there is sufficient clarity what distinct languages exist and to what 
> extend they are used, they can get their own codes.
>
>  I am quite happy to help where I can.
>
>  Thanks,
>      Gerard
>
>
>  On 11/2/07, Valerie Sutton <sutton at signwriting.org> wrote:
>    Does Esperanto have a code? If it does, then these International
>    signing systems could have a unique code too. Each International
>    signing system should have its own unique code...to lump them all
>    together into one code representing "all International signing"
>    doesn't make sense to me, because the codes are used to refer to a
>    specific language, and the World Federation of the Deaf's
>    International signing system is not the same as Signuno, for example...
>
>    So it is a matter of pinning down what systems are current today and
>    assigning different language codes to each one...
>
>    Val ;-)
>
>    Valerie Sutton
>    Sutton at SignWriting.org
>
>    ----------
>
>
>    On Nov 2, 2007, at 1:31 AM, GerardM wrote:
>
>    > With Signundo having an active community, it can have its own
>    > language code as well. When Gestuno has no active community, it is
>    > unlikely that there is an immediate need for an ISO 639 code for it.\
>    >
>    > Thanks,
>    >      Gerard
>
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-- 
Professor Bencie Woll, BA, MA, PhD
Chair of Sign Language and Deaf Studies & Director, DCAL Centre
University College London
49 Gordon Square
London WC1H 0PD
Tel: 020 7679 8670
Fax: 020 7679 8691
b.woll at ucl.ac.uk  www.dcal.ucl.ac.uk

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