Glossary (Version 8.4)

Responses given by the receiver of a message in a conversation that serve a social function, such as showing attention or nodding without interrupting the signer or giver of the message.

The family of sign languages which encompass British, Australian and New Zealand Sign Languages.

The ability to use two or more languages.

A detailed account of an individual’s life; a text genre that lends itself to different modes of expression and construction. In the context of intercultural language learning, the concept of biography can be considered in relation to identity, to the formation of identity over time and to the understanding that language is involved in the shaping and expressing of identity.

Signs that make contact with a location on the body or use the whole body and therefore cannot easily be moved around in space.

British Sign Language.

A sign produced with the non-dominant hand held in place to represent something while the dominant hand continues to sign something else.