Creating Artificial Sign Languages: Guidelines & Constraints

There may be instances in which the creation of an artificial sign language will be both defensible and desirable. One such case is in South Africa. With many diverse spoken and signed languages in the country, there is a compelling case for developing a unified national sign language for use by and with the deaf of all ethnolinguistic groups. The Communication Committee of the South African National Council for the Deaf is engaged on such a project; however, sound principles of linguistic engineering ought not to be ignored, and so a number of guidelines are here presented that ought to be observed both in the process of devising such an artificial language and in the product itself.