Home sign (or kitchen sign) is a gestural communication system, often invented spontaneously by a deaf child who lacks accessible linguistic input.[1] Home sign systems often arise in families where a deaf child is raised by hearing parents and is isolated from the Deaf community. Because the deaf child does not receive signed or spoken language input, these children are referred to as linguistically isolated.[2][3]
Because home sign systems are used regularly as the child's form of communication, they develop to become more complex than simple gestures.[4] Though not considered to be a complete language, these systems may be classified as linguistic phenomena that show similar characteristics to signed and spoken language. Home sign systems display significant degrees of internal complexity, using gestures with consistent meanings, word order, and grammatical categories. Linguists have been interested in home sign systems as insight into the human ability to generate, acquire, and process language.[3][5]
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
:13was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Torigoe, Takashi; Takei, Wataru (2002). "A Descriptive Analysis of Pointing and Oral Movements in a Home Sign System". Sign Language Studies. 2 (3): 281–295. doi:10.1353/sls.2002.0013. ISSN 1533-6263. S2CID 144022392.
- ^ a b Hoff, Erika (2013). Language Development (Fifth ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Cengage Learning. ISBN 9781133939092. OCLC 843489860.
- ^ Walker, J. "Home Signs". www.signedlanguage.co.uk. Retrieved 2020-03-23.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
Begby 2016was invoked but never defined (see the help page).