Dictionary of British Sign Language: Compiled by the British Deaf Association

by Liz Scott-Gibson

British Sign Language (B.S.L.) is the visual gestural language of the Deaf community in Britain and is the first or preferred language of over 70,000 people.

This is the first major B.S.L./English Dictionary to be published. It contains over 1,800 photographed sign entries ordered by linguistic principles according to the visual characteristics of the language. Each entry is notated with a description of how to produce the sign. A guide to the meaning(s) of each sign is provided in English.

The dictionary will be of particular interest to hearing and Deaf people (and their tutors) engaged in learning B.S.L. or English as a second language. Whether you want to learn B.S.L or teach it - or just improve your vocabulary - the Dictionary of British Sign Language is the authoritative place to begin.

The Dictionary of British Sign Language was compiled for the British Deaf Association by the Deaf Studies Research Unit at the University of Durham.

Genres: Reference, Nonfiction, Language

1088 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 1993

Reviews

[Kate · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's a very big dictionary and a seminal text that led to the recognition of BSL as a language. Takes a bit of getting used to the handshape system of ordering the signs.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Easily one of the best resources I've come across. Has some information on linguistics but is also just a great resource for translating signs in both directions. A very difficult task to make all this so organised.

[Gitta · Rating 5 out of 5]

One I'll be reading for a long time!