homesigner

English

Etymology

home sign +‎ -er

Noun

homesigner (plural homesigners)

1. A deaf person who has not properly acquired a signed or spoken language, due to lack of instruction and isolation from an established signing community, who instead uses a self-generated gesture system called a home sign.

   Because Julio is a child homesigner, we have the unique opportunity to track the changes in his homesign system as it acquires more linguistic structure, from its roots in the non-linguistic gestures produced by the hearing individuals around him.