Sign Language & Linguistics - Volume 29, Issue 1-2, 2026

The relation between gestures and signs is highly debated both in gestures and sign language studies. Addressing the common symbolic ground from which both gestures and signs arise could improve our general knowledge about the body’s role in meaning construction and in shaping communication. To effectively compare how signers and speakers employ their bodies to convey meanings, we investigated how actions are depicted in gestures and signs by collecting and comparing data from 15 hearing Italian speakers and 10 Deaf LIS signers. Specifically, the present study addresses the use of representational strategies (i.e., own body, hand-as-hand, hand-as-object) in co-speech gestures and signs in different action domains (i.e., to break, to take, to attach, to open, to turn). We aim to look at how different action domains affect the distribution of representational strategies in gestures and signs. Our results showed that action domains influenced the use of representational strategies similarly among signers and speakers, suggesting that action events are conceptualized alike. Nevertheless, there are qualitative differences in action depiction, discussed throughout the paper, as well as in the combination of different representational strategies, used less by Italian speakers, compared to LIS signers.

This paper presents a protocol for annotating Italian Sign Language (LIS) that merges cognitive and socio-semiotic principles with the technical demands of sign language processing for automatic sign recognition. The protocol is applied to a preliminary LIS dataset and integrates insights from both formalist and functionalist frameworks in sign language processing, aiming to leverage their respective strengths to create a comprehensive and accessible documentation of LIS. Unlike traditional gloss translations, which often introduce ambiguity by not directly associating signs with their meanings and relying on verbal language categories, the proposed annotation model incorporates a multi-layered approach that includes vocal language labels in written Italian and English, information on the Unit of Meaning performed combined with the implementation Typannot, a language-specific system sign languages annotation. This hybrid approach ensures that the annotated data is both human- and computer-readable, enhancing accessibility for both signers and non-signers. The presented multi-layered annotation model not only mitigates ambiguity but also provides a richer, more precise annotation. Initial findings suggest that this protocol can enhance the clarity and usability of annotated data, positioning it as a valuable resource for both linguistic research and technological applications.

This article investigates different uses of the pointing sign directed at the signer (pt^→1) in Finnish Sign Language (FinSL). It suggests that pt^→1 has a variety of references that have not previously been identified. Prior research has shown that, in FinSL, pt^→1 is used in referring to the signer of an utterance, a person quoted within quotative constructed action (CA), or for agent defocusing. The present corpus-based study provides a more extensive picture of different uses of this sign, which include, in addition to the uses just mentioned, reference to ‘first-person plural’, (i.e., a group including the signer), a group excluding the signer, a person other than the current signer without quotative CA and as a generic reference. The study also shows that pt^→1 is used not only as a pronoun but also as a determiner.

This article traces the early history and formation of Czech Sign Language in the broader European context of deaf education. Drawing on nineteenth-century pedagogical texts, dictionaries, and archival records, it examines how sign language developed within the Prague Institute for the Deaf and Dumb, founded in 1786, and how it was shaped by contact with other sign traditions. Particular attention is paid to the influence of the Viennese Institute, which mediated elements of the French manual method while integrating German educational practices. Through comparison of early Czech and Austrian sources with French materials, the study identifies overlapping but distinct sign repertoires and shows that Czech Sign Language emerged as an independent linguistic system within the Austrian milieu. The findings highlight the interplay of institutional, linguistic, and cultural factors underlying the genesis of Central European sign languages and contribute to diachronic sign language linguistics through the application of sign language archaeology.

This article describes the use of a specific type of enactment — constructed action (CA) — by children acquiring Finnish Sign Language (FinSL) and adults who use FinSL as their first language. Constructed action was investigated from the recordings of two narrative tasks performed by the children and the adults. In the tasks, the signers were shown still-image and video materials and asked to retell the events happening in the materials. The children’s recordings were part of a larger cross-sectional dataset that evaluated the language development of children acquiring FinSL. The adults’ recordings were part of the Corpus of Finnish Sign Language. In the present study, the children’s and adults’ data were systematically annotated and analyzed for CA tokens. The corresponding analysis provided the opportunity to compare CA use practices between the two age groups. Statistical tests were conducted to examine whether any statistically significant differences could be found between the two narrative tasks and the two age groups regarding CA use. The results showed clear differences between the use of CA by the children and the adults. The children used CA significantly less than the adults did in both narrative tasks. However, the findings also showed similarities in the patterns of CA use. Both groups used CA significantly more when they were shown video materials than when they were shown still images. The differences found between the groups support the view that CA is a gradually acquired skill, whereas the similarities show how viewing the dynamic actions of human referents encourages the use of enactment in narrative discourse contexts.

The recognition of sign languages’ literary potential is relatively recent. A movement in the late 1960s and early 1970s, starting with literary translation and expanding to original works (see Sutton-Spence 2005), established the concept of deaf literature. Jakobson (1959) identified three translation types: intralinguistic, interlinguistic, and intersemiotic. Scholars have examined translations involving sign languages, highlighting interlinguistic, intersemiotic (Buonomo 2009; Buonomo & Celo 2010), and intermodal aspects (Gambini & Fontana 2016). This study explores the intermodal/intersemiotic processes in translating poems between vocal and sign languages, emphasizing the body’s role in embodied cognition and simulation (Gallese & Sinigaglia 2011). We discuss “intersensoriality” — the blending of senses in translation — and its impact on linguistic choices, illustrated with translations from Italian to Italian Sign Language (LIS) and vice versa. Specifically, we analyse translations of Giuseppe Giuranna’s “Musica” into Italian and Giacomo Leopardi’s “L’Infinito” into LIS, aiming to understand the sensory dialogue in translation.

This paper presents an analysis of four discourse genres in French Sign Language (LSF): narrative, explanatory, argumentative and dialogical. We examine the association between the frequency and type of linguistic categories with regard to the discourse genres considered. The linguistic categories used are based on the Semiological Approach (Cuxac 2000), which suggests the existence of two main types of units: units stemming from an illustrative intent, grouped under the name ‘Transfer Units’, in contrast with units without any illustrative intent, i.e., Lexical Units, Pointing Units, and Fingerspelling Units. The data for this study were taken from two corpora and annotations were performed using the ELAN software. A range of descriptive statistics were used to complement the overall qualitative view of the data. One of the main outcomes of the quantitative approach is the identification, through Principal Component Analysis and Specificity Analysis, of an association between the two main types of units and different discourse genres. These findings deepen our understanding of genre-based variation in sign language, and hold potential for practical applications in areas such as bilingual education and automatic sign language processing.

Work within variationist corpus-based sign language linguistics often has implications for linguistic theory in general, as this quantitative data-driven approach can be used to test claims in any linguistic theory. In this paper, I discuss a number of previous findings on variation in specific phonological, morphological, and syntactic features in Auslan, New Zealand Sign Language (Schembri et al. 2009; de Beuzeville et al. 2009; McKee et al. 2011) and British Sign Language (Fenlon et al. 2013) that appear to provide some support for usage-based theories of language. First, I discuss the role of lexical frequency effects and phonological reduction in Auslan, NZSL, and BSL. Second, I explore lexical frequency and the modification of indicating verbs in Auslan (de Beuzeville et al. 2009). Third, I discuss evidence for short-term structural priming in variable subject noun phrase expression (McKee et al. 2011) in Auslan. All of these different sources of evidence provide support for a usage-based theory of sign language grammar.

One aspect of the author’s dissertation (Sheneman 2018) was the use of cognitive linguistics as a theoretical framework to address a relevant research question regarding how key cancer terms are translated from written English to American Sign Language (ASL). This study examined ASL translations by two Deaf interpreters and compared them with an ASL narrative about cancer by a deaf oncologist in the United States. The key difference between these two Deaf interpreters was that one was familiar with cancer and oncology, while the other was not. Cognitive linguistics was the approach for analyzing the three ASL texts following Fillmore’s (1982, 1985) frame-semantic model, examining what knowledge is evoked when expressing meaning in their utterances.

This study investigates the role of action bias in the acquisition of classifier constructions by deaf children acquiring Turkish Sign Language (TİD). While classifier handshapes are morphologically complex and iconic, deaf children (aged 7–9) were found to prefer handling classifiers (reflecting the actions performed by agents) more than signing adults, even in contexts requiring entity classifiers (reflecting the visual properties of their referents). The findings reveal that children’s frequent use of action-based lexical signs for nouns influenced their classifier preferences, suggesting a cognitive bias toward motoric representations. Furthermore, our results suggest the use of handling classifiers in intransitive contexts — even by adult signers — thus indicating a new type of variability in classifier use, which has not been reported for other sign languages before. These results provide new insights into how iconicity and lexical context shape the developmental trajectory of classifier constructions in sign language acquisition.