sign language
English
Noun
sign language (countable and uncountable, plural sign languages)
- (countable) One of several natural languages, typically used by the deaf, where the words and phrases consist of hand shapes, motions, positions, and facial expressions.
- 2000: Wendy Sandler and Diane Lillo-Martin, in The Handbook of Linguistics (edited by Mark Aronoff and Janie Rees-Miller)
- It is safe to say that the academic world is now convinced that sign languages are real languages in every sense of the term.
- 2000: Wendy Sandler and Diane Lillo-Martin, in The Handbook of Linguistics (edited by Mark Aronoff and Janie Rees-Miller)
- (uncountable) The sign language (sense 1) that is used locally or that is mistakenly believed to be the only one.
- I'm taking night classes to learn sign language.
- (uncountable) Sign languages (sense 1) considered collectively.
- There are some unique properties found in sign language compared to spoken language.
- (countable or uncountable) Communication through gestures used when speech is impossible, for example, between monks under a vow of silence or people speaking different languages.
- 1847, Francis Parkman, The Oregon Trail:
- Even Maxwell the trader, who has been most among them, is compelled to resort to the curious sign language common to most of the prairie tribes.
- 1847, Francis Parkman, The Oregon Trail:
Related terms
- sign
- International Sign, IS
- American Sign Language, ASL
- Bolivian Sign Language
- British Sign Language, BSL
- Norwegian Sign Language, NSL
Translations
sign language
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