Glossary

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Ableist Language(also: Disability Slurs, Derogatory Disability Language)

Ableist language refers to words, phrases, and framings that demean, stereotype, or pathologize people with disabilities — from explicit slurs such as 'cripple,' 'handicap,' 'retard,' or 'lame' used pejoratively, to subtler framings like 'suffers from,' 'wheelchair-bound,' or…

Bilingual Education(also: Bilingual-Bicultural Education, Bi-Bi Education)

Bilingual education in the context of deaf education refers to teaching approaches that use both sign language and the written form of a spoken language as languages of instruction. Often called bilingual-bicultural (Bi-Bi) education, this model recognizes sign language as the…

Blissymbols(also: Blissymbolics, Bliss Language)

A symbolic language created by Charles K. Bliss, consisting of several hundred basic symbols that can be combined to create new meanings. Unlike pictographic symbol sets where each image represents a specific word, Blissymbols are ideographic — they represent concepts rather…

British Sign Language(also: BSL)

The primary sign language used by deaf communities in the United Kingdom, recognized as an official language under the British Sign Language Act 2022. BSL is distinct from American Sign Language (ASL) and other sign languages, with its own grammar, syntax, and vocabulary. A key…

Chinese Sign Language(also: CSL, Zhongguo Shouyu)

Chinese Sign Language (CSL) is the primary sign language used by the deaf community in mainland China. Like all sign languages, CSL has its own grammar, syntax, and vocabulary that are distinct from spoken and written Mandarin Chinese. CSL is used by an estimated 20 million deaf…

Cypriot Sign Language(also: CSL)

The sign language used by the Deaf community in Cyprus, distinct from other sign languages such as American Sign Language (ASL), British Sign Language (BSL), or Greek Sign Language. Like all natural sign languages, Cypriot Sign Language has its own grammar, vocabulary, and…

French Sign Language(also: LSF, Langue des Signes Française)

French Sign Language (Langue des Signes Française, or LSF) is the primary sign language used by the Deaf community in France. Legally recognized by the French Handicap Law of 2005 as having educational, pedagogical, and cultural legitimacy, LSF is a complete natural language…

Halant(also: Virama, Hasanta)

A diacritical mark used in Indian (Indic) scripts to suppress the inherent vowel of a consonant, enabling the formation of consonant clusters or conjuncts. When a halant follows a consonant, it indicates that the consonant should combine with the following consonant rather than…

Identity-First Language(also: IFL)

Language that places the disability or condition before the person (e.g., "autistic person," "deaf person," "disabled person"), in contrast to person-first language ("person with autism," "person with a disability"). Many autistic self-advocates prefer identity-first language…

Ideographic Characters(also: Ideographs, Logograms, CJK Characters)

Ideographic characters are written symbols that represent a word, morpheme, or concept rather than an individual sound, as used in Chinese (Hanzi), Japanese (Kanji), and historically Korean (Hanja). Because a single writing system can include thousands of distinct characters —…

Indian Sign Language(also: ISL, Indo-Pakistani Sign Language, IPSL)

The sign language used predominantly by the Deaf community in India. Indian Sign Language has its own distinct grammar and vocabulary that differs substantially from American Sign Language (ASL) and other sign languages. ISL is used by millions of Deaf individuals across India…

Japanese Sign Language(also: JSL, Nihon Shuwa)

The primary sign language used by the Deaf community in Japan. Japanese Sign Language (JSL) is a distinct natural language with its own grammar, vocabulary, and syntax that differs significantly from spoken Japanese. JSL uses spatial relationships rather than particles to…

Language-Based Learning Impairment(also: LLI, Language Learning Impairment, Language Learning Disability)

A developmental condition in which children have difficulty acquiring language and later reading skills while other cognitive abilities appear relatively intact. Language-based learning impairments affect an estimated 20% of preschool and school-aged children, and more than 50%…

Lexical Semantics

The branch of linguistics concerned with the meaning of words and the relationships between word meanings, including synonymy, antonymy, and the semantic roles words can fill in sentences. In assistive technology, lexical semantic knowledge is used in AAC systems and text…

Narrative Skills(also: Narrative Competence, Storytelling Skills)

The ability to recount events — real or imagined — as a coherent, temporally ordered, causally linked story that another person can follow. Narrative skills rest on autobiographical memory retrieval, event sequencing, referential clarity (introducing and tracking characters),…

Orthographic Depth(also: Orthographic Transparency, Spelling Transparency)

A measure of how consistently a written language maps between its spelling (graphemes) and pronunciation (phonemes). Shallow or transparent orthographies like Spanish, Finnish, and Italian have highly consistent letter-to-sound correspondences, while deep or opaque orthographies…

Orthography(also: Spelling System, Writing System)

The conventional spelling system of a language, including the rules and patterns that govern how sounds (phonemes) are represented by written symbols (graphemes). Languages vary in orthographic depth: shallow or transparent orthographies like Spanish and Italian have consistent…

Person-First Language(also: People-First Language, PFL)

Person-first language is a linguistic convention that places the person before the disability or condition, such as "person with a disability" or "person with autism," with the intent of emphasizing personhood over diagnosis. While widely adopted in professional and medical…

Personal Narrative(also: Storytelling, Conversational Narrative)

The act of telling others about one's own experiences, events, and feelings — a fundamental aspect of human social interaction. Personal narrative serves multiple functions: building and maintaining relationships, developing identity and sense of self, processing experiences…

Polysemy(also: Polysemous Words)

The property of a word having multiple related meanings or senses. For example, the word "bank" can refer to a financial institution or the edge of a river. Polysemy creates particular challenges for text simplification and accessibility tools because choosing an appropriate…

Pragmatic Language(also: Pragmatics, Social Language)

The aspect of language that deals with how context, social norms, and communicative intent shape how language is used and interpreted in real social interactions. Pragmatic language skills include understanding conversational turn-taking, using appropriate backchanneling,…

Pragmatics(also: Pragmatic Language)

The social use of language—how context, relationship, and conversational norms affect what we say and how we interpret others. Pragmatics includes understanding implied meaning, adjusting speech for different audiences, taking turns in conversation, and recognizing non-literal…

Protactile Language(also: Pro-Tactile, PT)

A fully touch-based language developed by the DeafBlind community that redefines communication through physical contact, including taps, squeezes, and shared contact space. Protactile Language represents a striking example of a communication micro-culture, where a community…

Rapid Auditory Processing(also: RAP, Auditory Temporal Processing)

The ability to perceive and process rapidly changing auditory signals that occur within tens of milliseconds, such as the rapid frequency and amplitude transitions that characterise speech sounds. Rapid auditory processing is a fundamental skill for language acquisition, as…

Second Language Acquisition(also: SLA, L2 Acquisition)

The process by which a person learns a language other than their first (native) language. In deaf education and accessibility, second language acquisition theory is particularly relevant because written English is effectively a second language for native signers of American Sign…

Semantic Relatedness(also: Semantic Similarity, Semantic Association)

A measure of how closely related two words or concepts are in meaning, encompassing various types of relationships including synonymy, hyponymy, meronymy, and general topical association. In assistive technology, semantic relatedness is used to improve word prediction and…

Sign Language

A visual-gestural language system that uses hand shapes, movements, body language, and facial expressions to convey meaning. Sign languages are complete, natural languages with their own grammar and vocabulary and are not visual representations of spoken languages. There are…

Sign Language Writing System(also: Sign Language Script, Sign Language Notation, Sign Language Character System)

A system of symbols or characters designed to represent sign language in written form. Unlike spoken languages, which have well-established writing systems, sign languages generally lack a standard written form — meaning the approximately 70 million people worldwide who use sign…

Sign Writing(also: SignWriting, Sutton SignWriting)

A graphical notation system for writing sign languages, developed by Valerie Sutton in 1974. Sign Writing uses visual symbols to represent hand shapes, movements, facial expressions, and body positions used in signing, enabling sign languages to be written and read in a visual…

Social Communication Disorder(also: SCD, Pragmatic Language Impairment)

A condition characterized by persistent difficulties with the social use of verbal and nonverbal communication. Individuals with social communication disorder struggle with using communication for social purposes, adjusting communication to match context, following…

South African Sign Language(also: SASL)

The primary sign language used by the Deaf community in South Africa, recognized as one of the country's official languages under the Constitution. SASL has its own grammar, syntax, and vocabulary distinct from spoken South African languages. Like all sign languages, SASL is a…

Specific Language Impairment(also: SLI, Developmental Language Disorder)

A neurodevelopmental condition characterised by significant difficulties in acquiring and using language that cannot be attributed to hearing loss, intellectual disability, neurological damage, or environmental deprivation. Children with specific language impairment may have…

Telegraphic Speech(also: Telegraphic Input, Compressed Speech)

A simplified form of communication that uses only essential content words (nouns, verbs, adjectives) while omitting function words (articles, prepositions, conjunctions) and grammatical inflections. In AAC and assistive technology contexts, telegraphic input allows users with…

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