Maritime Sign Language (MSL) emerged in the easternmost provinces in Canada with origins traced as far back as to the Weald, a region in Southeastern England. Therefore, British sign language is a root language that led to the creation of MSL. This type of language emersion is known as a Deaf community sign language, which occurs when Deaf people from different places and cultures share a common location (Padden, 2010). Given changes in history, Glottolog 4.3, a bibliographic database of the world's lesser-known languages, now categorizes MSL as an endangered language. Thus, linguistic documentation and analysis of MSL are imperative given the depleted number of current native MSL signers. In this study, documentation of a number of native MSL signs occurred based on videos created between 1995 and 2000. The primary purpose of such documentation was to reflect the most common signs of the MSL users. The research found a difference between genders in how many American Sign Language (ASL). Influenced signs were found among men in comparison to women. This difference showed their daily life experiences of men as being more involved in the community and outside of the home whereas women stayed at home. Therefore, ASL-MSL language contact and interference were detected as the signers keep correcting themselves by shifting from ASL to MSL signs. The aim of this study is to set the stage for the creation of an online MSL dictionary that is stored digitally at the Department of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education at Lamar University for future research. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]