wordsigns

Wordsigns are signs that stand for individual words or short phrases in sign languages and in manually coded English systems. In natural sign languages, the term is often lexical signs, which function as single words within the signer’s lexicon and participate in the language’s grammar, rather than being formed by spelling the word letter by letter. Wordsigns can be highly iconic or arbitrary in form, and their use supports rapid communication and conceptualization within sentences.

In manually coded English systems, such as Signed Exact English or other strategies for teaching Deaf students, wordsigns refer to signs that map to English words rather than to alphabetic letters. These systems sometimes pair wordsigns with fingerspelled representations to convey full English morphology and word order, producing a sign- and spell-out hybrid. The specific inventory of wordsigns can vary between systems and communities, and not all sign-language educators accept this approach.

The concept is debated among linguists and educators. Proponents argue that wordsigns can aid literacy and learning by providing recognizable vocabulary; critics contend that reliance on wordsigns can undermine acquisition of natural sign-language grammar and fluency. Today, many Deaf communities favor natural sign languages with their own grammar and lexicon, while manually coded English systems are used in some educational contexts.

See also: sign language, lexical sign, fingerspelling, manual alphabet, manually coded English, Signed Exact English.