International Sign (IS) and American Sign Language (ASL) have both been used as lingua francas within international deaf contexts. Perspectives on the uses of IS and ASL as lingua francas in such contexts are connected to discourses pertaining to the form, function, status, value, languageness, and global reach of IS and ASL. While there are some…

The impact of DPN on South Africa is remarkable particularly the profound transformations in the country since 1988. When citizens find that their civil rights are not being granted, they may form movements to claim equal protection for all citizens. They may also call for new laws to stop current discrimination. In 1988 it was the "Deaf…

This article presents a portrait of two community-level and legal efforts in Canada to obtain official recognition of ASL and LSQ (Langue des signes quebecoise), both of which are recognized as official languages by the Canadian Association of the Deaf (CAD). In order to situate this issue in the Canadian linguistic context, the authors first…