homesigner
English
[edit]Etymology
[edit]Noun
[edit]homesigner (plural homesigners)
- A deaf person who has not properly acquired a signed or spoken language, due to lack of instruction and isolation from an established signing community, who instead uses a self-generated gesture system called a home sign.
- Because Julio is a child homesigner, we have the unique opportunity to track the changes in his homesign system as it acquires more linguistic structure, from its roots in the non-linguistic gestures produced by the hearing individuals around him.