Editorial Policy
Last updated October 20, 2024
Overview
Each year the lexicon of every language grows, and signed languages are no exception. Neologisms are coined and added as advances in science and technology are made. As cultures change, lexical items undergo semantic change. The effort to document new words and specialized vocabulary in American Sign Language (ASL) began with an early attempt at an ASL-English dictionary published in 1860. Since then, communication technology has transformed. Starting in 1989, public access to the internet became available, and in 1997 hosting of online video platforms began. As of now, many similar bodies of work documenting various signed languages can be accessed online. The Sign Language Dictionary (SLD) is focused on collecting all documented signed words and recording Sign language lexicons as they expand and change. Please see the About SLD page for details regarding our mission statement.
On this page, we describe our policy for recording signed language, beginning with ASL, which can be summarized as follows:
- Prioritize research and inclusion towards the most frequently cross-referenced words and phrases.
- Provide users with access to all our databases.
- Have completed research for every word or phrase included in the Main ASL Dictionary.
- Provide users with at least one reference for every word or phrase.
- Record spellings of all variants observed.
- Use non-verb spellings as headwords when available.
- Cross-reference each word or phrase in the Main ASL Dictionary with the Companion English Dictionary.
- Provide definitions in written ASL for every word or phrase in the Main ASL Dictionary.
- Record all documented language use, whether or not a usage is considered inappropriate or pejorative.
- Provide an etymology for every word in the Main ASL Dictionary.
Building the Main ASL Dictionary
To build the Main ASL Dictionary, we rely on three processes: Transcription of Language Sources, Researching of Words, and the Addition of Content. Published ASL language sources provide evidence of different word forms in the language. These language sources may be in varying formats, including books, videos, and websites. From each language source, we create a unique dictionary file that contains entries for each lexical item from that source.
Transcription of Language Sources
In order to record the lexicon contained in a language source, whether it is video or text, we identify and transcribe each word form and phrase into the source's dictionary file that is then stored in our Library. Generally, all of these individual dictionary files will also be used to populate and/or expand the Main ASL Dictionary. For each language source we have fully transcribed, it is our policy to provide users access to those dictionary files. We provide this so that users can independently cross-examine our work.
In line with that policy, the SLD Library page is available to users, and these sources can be searched via the Advanced Search tool. The Library page is presented as an annotated bibliography that contains descriptive abstracts about each source, which include brief descriptions of the major challenges we encountered during the transcription process. The Advanced Search tool allows users to apply filters and search each dictionary file individually. The majority of their entries are cross-referenced with the Companion English Dictionary based on the English glosses or prose descriptions included in the original source material.
As of September 2024, the first five published text sources for ASL and one for LSF had been fully transcribed and stored in our Library. Those initial five ASL sources contain approximately 5,000 words and phrases, and many of those are currently pending inclusion into the Main ASL Dictionary.
Researching Words
It is our policy to research every ASL word or phrase prior its inclusion in the Main ASL Dictionary. The Researching of Words occurs in three main steps: Acquiring Evidence, Spelling, and Cross-Referencing, which must be performed in sequence before the research of that word or phrase is considered complete. The first step is to acquire evidence of the word or phrase in the language. The next step is to choose a spelling for the word or phrase that is representative of the evidence found. The last step is to cross-reference that spelling with the Companion English Dictionary. To review our policy regarding each step, please refer to the following subsections.
The most cross-referenced Companion English Dictionary entries represent distinct concepts that have existed in ASL over the collective timespan of our language sources. Because of that, our policy is to prioritize the research and inclusion of ASL words in order of the most frequently cross-referenced words and phrases. We do this by cross-referencing each ASL entry with relevant entries in the Companion English Dictionary, which we also add to and expand on to accommodate new concepts introduced by source material. Next, within the Companion English Dictionary, we sort all of the cross-referenced entries to determine the frequency of corresponding ASL entries.
As an example, with the first deployment of the SLD website in 2024, only five of the six language sources in our library referenced the same five glosses: bird, cat, night, old, and water. Still further, only four of the six language sources referenced the same thirteen glosses, and only three sources referenced the same 208 glosses. Therefore, in line with our policy, our initial research was focused on including ASL entries for the five most cross-referenced glosses. We then focused on adding entries for the set of thirteen glosses, and we are now focusing on adding entries for the set of 208 glosses, and so on. As we continue to expand our collection of language sources, the frequency of cross-references will change and we will continue to add entries according to those new results.
Acquiring Evidence
Reference and citation of language source content is important to avoid plagiarism, give attribution to the creator(s) of the original source material, point to existing evidence, demonstrate the extent of past or current research, and provide social or linguistic context, as well as to help users find and access external content. For these reasons, it is our policy to cite at least one language source for every sense of every entry in the Main ASL Dictionary. Doing so ensures that all entries can be cross-examined by the user.
In line with our policy, we ensure that an ASL word form or phrase is documented in at least two stable video sources that are available to the public before it is included in the Main ASL Dictionary. By stable, we mean that the external website hosting the video content must be updated annually. However, there are two situations when an exception is made. The first occurs when one of the two video sources exists online, but is not publicly available (e.g., behind a paywall). The second occurs when a word form has been used in writing a definition for another entry's sense or another page's content of the SLD website, but only one stable video source was found. These exceptions are made so that all the signed word forms used as examples across the website are also included in the Main ASL Dictionary.
Spelling
In researching words or phrases for inclusion in the Main ASL Dictionary, it is our policy to record spellings of all variants observed in our source materials. Writing a language organizes it by summarizing various human expressions into the discrete spellings of words. A dictionary organizes the resulting lexicon into entries, where each entry contains a summary of alternate forms based on a given morphology. In an entry, the headword or lemma serves as a heading under which the rest of the content is organized. Whereas a lexeme of that same entry serves as a subheading associated with a distinct meaning or sense for the lemma. We group lexemes by their meaning, and choose one spelling to title each sense, and variant forms are listed within their respective sense. The spelling of the lemma and its corresponding lexeme(s) is based on forms found in our source material.
Spelling the Lexeme
It is our policy to record the spellings for all variants and make them available to users. Signed words or phrases from different sources that describe the same concept sometimes vary phonologically, but share several root features, reflecting their relatedness. That phonological variation is the linguistic process of one (or more) different features being changed in the production of a word without causing a change in meaning and without being considered incorrect by native users of the language.
In line with this policy, we list phonological variants (abbreviated as ph.) within each sense. For the spelling of a sense's lexeme, we choose the shortest spelling that captures the root features seen among all the variants for that sense.
Spelling the Lemma
We broadly categorize ASL lexemes into two parts of speech or word classes:
- verbs (abbreviated as v.), and
- non-verbs (abbreviated as nv.).
The verb category contains words that are as Joseph Wheeler (2017) describes fluátest-a luébaatpj-i-ai lfaat-j buoia~re
(typically once, [a] large movement) and may, therefore, be distinguished by their phonology. In contrast, the non-verb category contains words that Wheeler describes as fluátest-a baat-t buábaat=pj buoia~re
(typically small, repeated movement) and are, in turn, those words that are not in the verb category. The verb category may encompass signed words that traditionally were interpreted as verbs based on their traditional English glosses. In contrast, for our purposes, the verb category has been expanded to include all signed words that are produced as Wheeler describes, independent of their English glosses.
Many verbs and non-verbs are related by the phonological feature of buoia~re (movement). An example of this is the verb/non-verb pair hcéheak-fuj (sit) and hcéheak=fuj (chair). The spellings of the two words are similar, but they have distinct meanings, and neither is simply a phonological variant of the other. Since the two words are uniquely related by reduplication, we have organized them as different senses of the same entry.
However, we find that not all verb/non-verb pairs display themselves in the same way with reduplication. Examples of this are the two pairs bcóie-oi (eat) and bcóie=oi (food), and bbáak-sj (on a surface) and bbáaksj-rk (surface). Here, both verb forms act to touch the body once and are paired with non-verb forms that contact the body with different movement patterns. Based on examples like these, we find that the non-verb form of a pair tends to be more phonologically diverse. For this reason, when such a pair is identified, it is our policy to choose the spelling of the non-verb form for an entry's lemma.
Joseph Wheeler, 2017Cross-Referencing
To parallel the Main ASL Dictionary and our other language sources, a corresponding Companion English Dictionary has been created. Cross-referencing entries between these two resources aids users in understanding the corresponding ASL content.
It is our policy to cross-reference each lexeme in the Main ASL Dictionary to at least one lexeme in the Companion English Dictionary via hyperlink. We do this for two reasons. First, signed languages have been largely documented using the orthography of the majority spoken language in which they exist. In English, this practice has gone on for over a century for various Sign languages, including Auslan, ASL, BSL, and NZSL. To maintain consistency in documentation, we provide the cross-referencing to help users who are unfamiliar with our writing system. Second, many entries in the Main ASL Dictionary do not yet have definitions written in ASL. For these entries, cross-referencing to English glosses also allows us to at least provide some supplemental meaning to those word forms or phrases.
In line with our policy, we include all English lexemes, in the form of words or phrases, that serve as semantic equivalents of a given ASL lexeme and cross-reference them via hyperlinks. Cross-referencing to more than one English lexeme often occurs due the fact that the words of different languages do not always have a one-to-one semantic equivalence with each other. This means that multiple English lexemes may be mapped onto a single lexeme of ASL.
English lexemes are categorized based on traditional English parts of speech, with a few minor modifications. The following list labels these categories and briefly explains what they include.
- Adjective: a word that describes qualities or characteristics of nouns.
- Adverb: a word that describes qualities or characteristics of verbs; which includes interjections, such as commands and greetings.
- Conjunction: a word that connects two or more words, phrases, or clauses.
- Preposition: a word that describes spatial or temporal relations of nouns.
- Proper Noun: a word or phrase that is the proper name or title of a noun.
- Noun: a word that represents an abstract or concrete thing, such as a person or place.
- Verb: a word that represents an action or state of being.
When a particular English word or phrase that best describes the meaning of an ASL lexeme cannot be identified in our English language sources, we may decide to add an original sense to the Companion English Dictionary and cross-reference to any relevant ASL lexeme(s).
Addition of Content
After we have researched an ASL a lemma, it is then included as an entry in the Main ASL Dictionary and made available to users. Semantic content is then added to its sense in the form of definitions and etymologies. Adding ASL definitions to each sense gives users a precise meaning of the corresponding lexemes and a better understanding of their usage. Definitions also distinguish between two or more phonologically similar lexemes. Etymological content provides users with a history and phonological origin of a sense's lexeme. This type of content can implicitly offer insight into why two similar concepts are expressed differently in the language. In the following subsections, we discuss our policies for each type of content.
Definitions
Definitional content is important because it provides users with clarity, helps to avoid confusion or misunderstanding, and ensures that the categorization of words is accurate. Therefore, it is our policy to provide definitions written in ASL for every sense in the Main ASL Dictionary. This is an ongoing process, since we are continuously adding newly researched words and phrases. The ASL definitions we provide are written using our recently developed writing system. Because of this, we anticipate that the reading of definitions may be difficult for new users and, in some respects, the comprehension of definitions may be even more challenging.
In line with our policy, we will be continuously updating the Writing System and Sentence Structure pages, which are both instrumental in constructing our definitions. We also monitor the length of definitions, so that they are short enough to be read with relative ease, but long enough for the prose to be accurate.
Sensitive or Offensive Content
In lexicography, the decision whether or not to include words and phrases in a dictionary or bilingual glossary that are considered taboo is a common one. This is due to the fact that language users may find some linguistic content inappropriate or personally offensive.
Since a primary goal of the SLD is to provide a descriptive dictionary for its users, rather than a purely prescriptive one, it is our policy to record all documented language use. We do this in part to provide users a detailed historical resource, and omitting taboo words and phrases would be a disservice to current and future language users. Including taboo words also enables us to provide more complete and accurate etymologies for newer, inoffensive lexical items that may have been derived from them.
To satisfy our policy, we endeavor to record current and historic use of signed languages as documented by signers and fellow researchers. In this way, older words and phrases, which may no longer be considered appropriate in modern use, would not be excluded from being added to the Main ASL Dictionary, Companion English Dictionary, or SLD Library. Instead, we label such lexical items to inform and educate users that they have been considered pejorative or profane in the past.
Finally, with the preceding in mind, it is important to note that the SLD is designed as a resource for mature individuals. As stated in our Terms of Use, this website and the material therein is not intended for children, and it is at the discretion of parents or guardians to monitor their child's internet activity.
Etymologies
Etymological content is important to include in a dictionary, because it distinguishes the historical and cultural significance of a lexical item by providing insight into factors that may have influenced its meaning.
It is our policy to provide an etymology for every lexeme in the Main ASL Dictionary. As of September 2024, etymological information is pending for the existing set of entries, however, we are developing a consistent method to satisfy this criterion.
Glossary of Terms
| Term | Meaning |
|---|---|
| entry | a separate item listed in a dictionary, containing one or more senses |
| gloss | a semantic equivalent found in another language, either as a word or phrase |
| headword | the main heading of an entry; a lemma |
| lemma | a canonical word that can carry inflection or conjugation; a headword |
| lexeme | a canonical word that represents a set of related forms, can be equivalent to its lemma or headword |
| lexical item | a single word, a part of a word, or a chain of words that forms the basic elements of a language's vocabulary (i.e., lexicon). |
| non-verb | a part of speech or word category that describes ASL lexemes that are typically signed with a single, large movement; abbreviated as nv. |
| phonology | the study of the small, meaningless segments of a language |
| verb | a part of speech or word category that describes ASL lexemes that are typically signed with repeated, small movements; abbreviated as v. |
| variant | a word form contained within the set of related forms represented by a lexeme, differs by one or more phonological features without changing meaning |
| source material | the primary or original source of information, which can appear in several forms, including written texts, drawings, and video recordings |
| sense | a subitem listed in an entry, each differs from each other in meaning and often part of speech |
| word | a meaningful unit of language, can be composed of one or morphemes |
| word form | a representation of a word, can be canonical or variant |