Pocket Edition (Sign Language Link: A Dictionary of Signs) - Softcover

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INTRODUCTION Sign languages exist the world over wherever groups of Deaf* people come together, but although they are different languages, they share structures based on visual/spatial grammars that enable Deaf people from different countries to quickly establish common ground and understand each other. British Sign Language (BSL) is the language of Britain's Deaf community, and in spite of regional variation (similar to dialect and accent in spoken language) it is used and understood by Deaf people throughout England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. With its two-handed fingerspelling system it is even found on the other side of the world in Australia and New Zealand where it forms the basis of Auslan (Australian Sign Language). Early childhood deafness, with its profound effects on language and communication, is a shared experience, and Deaf people whose dominant language is BSL and not English represent the majority of Deaf community members. *The convention of the upper case 'D' in Deaf refers to people who identify themselves as culturally Deaf sign language users.

However, the situation for most Deaf individuals is unusual compared to other language minority groups. For example, language is usually passed on from one generation to the next within families in a local community of language users. This rarely happens with BSL. The incidence of infant deafness is roughly one child in every thousand randomly distributed across the country, with the majority (90%) born to families who know nothing of deafness and are not themselves sign language users, at least in the early stages after diagnosis.

In addition, BSL was believed to deter deaf children's development of spoken language and actively discouraged by deaf educationalists for over 100 years, an attitude still endorsed by many hearing professionals in spite of strong opposition from Deaf people. Deaf children need access to fluent and natural sign language users both within their own peer group, and through contact with adult sign language users - the Deaf role models who understand what it is like to be a deaf child in a hearing world.

Deaf people themselves greatly value their language and community with the whole shared experience of growing up deaf giving a totally different perspective on life, even to the extent that deafness itself is rarely seen as a problem. This can bring about the shared feeling belonging and sense of closeness that leads Deaf people to seek each other out, and which can make people who aren't Deaf feel like outsiders. Deaf people also live and work in the hearing world, and need and value their skills in English too. From their birth into a hearing family, to the birth of their own hearing children (90% of children born to Deaf couples are hearing), contact with the hearing world is inescapable and is handled with competence and confidence based on a lifetime's experience. It is hearing people who might feel inadequate, or suffer from culture shock when they encounter the Deaf world, driving greater and greater numbers to learn more about sign language.

This pocket book of sign language vocabulary is designed to assist such people, by providing an easily accessible form of reference for the numerous everyday situations in which Deaf and hearing people interface. To fulfil the most constant requests from Deaf people, it is packed with as much information on context and variation as possible within this convenient format. This gives a glimpse of the complexities of the language but the grammatical constructions of BSL require a visual way of thinking and of structuring thought that are outside the scope of a pocket dictionary (see SOURCES AND RECOMMENDED READING for further study). The best way to learn is through sign language classes and contact with Deaf people.

The signs contained within are the building blocks of the language, capable of being inflected, modified and combined to express all the ideas, feelings and opinions that spoken language gives to those who are not Deaf. It is intended to give hearing people equal responsibility for successful communication - sharing ideas and information in a way that is neither patronising nor condescending, but which offers equality and respect.

Even for those who have not yet had contact with Deaf people, BSL is a language worthy of study in its own right - a testament to the human mind's ability, when denied access to spoken language, to fulfil its basic need and instinct for language construction - in an entirely different medium.