Noun []. Sign components include: British Sign Language (BSL) BSL is a language in its own right, with grammatical structure and linguistic features. Find more similar words at wordhippo.com! about language, but as a first step towards a definition we can say that it is a system of communication based upon words and the combination of words into sentences. Fingerspelling See more. sign language (countable and uncountable, plural sign languages) One of several natural languages, typically used by the deaf, in which words and phrases are represented by hand shapes, motions, positions, and facial expressions2000: Wendy Sandler and Diane Lillo-Martin, in The Handbook of Linguistics (edited by Mark Aronoff and Janie Rees-Miller) It cannot be used simultaneously with spoken English. sign language, gestural communication used as an alternative or replacement for speech. The practice is probably older than speech. Sign language may be as coarsely expressed as mere grimaces, shrugs, or pointings; or it may employ a delicately nuanced combination of coded manual signals reinforced by ⦠British sign language (BSL) is not easily intelligible to users of American sign language (ASL). Alternate definition, to interchange repeatedly and regularly with one another in time or place; rotate (usually followed by with): Day alternates with night. There are many different sign languages as, for example, British and American sign languages. Communication by means of language may be referred to as linguistic communication, the other ways mentioned above â ⦠Similarities in language processing in the brain between signed and spoken languages further perpetuated this misconception. Sign language definition is - any of various formal languages employing a system of hand gestures and their placement relative to the upper body, facial expressions, body postures, and finger spelling especially for communication by and with deaf people. As with oral What does sign-language mean? How to use sign language in a sentence. Ask your local Hearing Therapist or Audiologist for details of local BSL Classes. Sign Language 1 2015 The Deaf Society Updated: Version 2, July 2015 INSIGHTS INTO AUSLAN Established and Productive Signs (Adapted by Anne Horton from âAustralian Sign Language: An introduction to sign language linguisticsâ by Johnston and Schembri) Established Signs These signs are âfrozenâ and form the basis of the vocabulary listed in dictionaries Makaton: The alternative Sign Language Today over 100,000 people use Makaton as a method of communication, either to support their speech or as their main communication language. Sign language, any means of communication through bodily movements, especially of the hands and arms, used when spoken communication is impossible or not desirable. There is a common misconception that sign languages are somehow dependent on spoken languages: that they are spoken language expressed in signs, or that they were invented by hearing people. A one handed supplement to spoken language. Cued Speech. Sign languages resemble oral languages in every way other than their modality. Definition of sign-language in the Definitions.net dictionary. Sign language: A language that employs signs made with the hands and other movements, including facial expressions and postures of the body, used primarily by people who are deaf. Hearing teachers in deaf schools, such as Charles-Michel de l'Épée ⦠Meaning of sign-language. Information and translations of sign-language in the most comprehensive dictionary definitions resource on the web. Synonyms for sign language include American Sign Language, ASL, chironomy, dactylology, deaf-and-dumb alphabet, finger alphabet, fingerspelling, gesture language, manual alphabet and signing.