ABSTRACT
The primary motive for studying contact language phenomena has been to further our understanding of language evolution and, eventually, of language universals. However, what we currently know about the development of pidgins and creoles is based almost completely on spoken language contact situations. There is some research on contact languages in the visual-gestural medium, but these studies have examined the structure of contact languages that have developed between hearing speakers and deaf signers. The objective of the current study of International Sign is to provide new information on the natural evolution and structure of a contact language that has developed entirely between and among signed languages. Our goal is to discover the linguistic status of International Sign and to investigate whether there is an influence of modality on language contact.
