International Sign Disclaimer
The purpose of the EUD website is to provide information to online visitors.
The IS signs contained within are for information purposes only and are not intended to provide specific IS vocabulary tuition.
Choice of IS signs will vary depending on a number of factors, some of which include: native sign language of the individual, exposure to other sign languages, contact with various Deaf communities and cultural understanding and knowledge.
Those individuals wishing to learn IS are strongly encouraged to associate with Deaf communities and attend events where Deaf people from a number of countries are present.
Background information on IS
International Sign (IS) is an international auxiliary language sometimes used at international meetings such as the World Federation of the Deaf (WFD) congress, events such as the Deaflympics, and informally when travelling and socialising.
Deaf people have used a kind of auxiliary gestural system for international communication at sporting or cultural events since the early 19th century. 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" to make the language easy to learn. A book published by the commission in the early 1970s, Gestuno: International Sign Language of the Deaf, contains a vocabulary list of about 1500 signs. The name "Gestuno" was chosen, referencing gesture and oneness.
However, when Gestuno was first used, at the WFD congress in Bulgaria in 1976, it was incomprehensible to deaf participants. 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 playing and the use of classifiers. Additionally, the vocabulary was gradually replaced by more iconic signs and loan signs from different sign languages.
