International Sign

International Sign is a pidgin sign system used at international gatherings such as World Federation of the Deaf congresses, European Union and United Nations settings, academic conferences, the Deaflympics and Eurovision, arising from contact between deaf people who do not share a common sign language. Most linguists do not consider it a full language but a form of communication of unusual complexity for a pidgin, and there is no consensus on its precise definition or a comprehensive dictionary. Deaf communities have used gestural systems for international communication since the early nineteenth century, and a 1973 World Federation of the Deaf committee published a standardized vocabulary of 1,470 signs called Gestuno, but when first used at a congress in Bulgaria in 1976 it proved incomprehensible to many participants. International Sign subsequently developed informally, incorporating more grammar and drawing on mutually intelligible, iconic signs from various national sign languages.