Editing International Sign (section)

==History==
Deaf people in the Western and Middle Eastern world have gathered together using sign language for 2,000 years.<ref>Woll, Bencie and Ladd, Paddy (2003). Deaf communities. In M. Marschark and P. Spencer (eds.), The Handbook of Deaf Studies, Language and Education (pp. 151-163). Oxford: Oxford University Press.</ref> When Deaf people from different sign language backgrounds get together, a variety of sign language arises from this contact, whether it is in an informal personal context or in a formal international context. Deaf people have therefore used a kind of auxiliary gestural system for international communication at sporting or cultural events since the early 19th century.<ref>McKee R., Napier J. (2002), citing:<br>*Moody, B. (n.d.). International communication among deaf people. Unpublished, undated manuscript.<br>*Scott Gibson, L. & R. Ojala (1994). “International Sign Interpreting.” Paper presented to the Fourth East and South African Sign Language Seminar, Uganda, August 1994.</ref> The need to standardise an international sign system was discussed at the first [[World Deaf Congress]] in 1951, when the WFD was formed. In the following years, a [[pidgin]] developed as the delegates from different language backgrounds communicated with each other, and in 1973, a WFD committee ("the Commission of Unification of Signs") published a standardized vocabulary.  They selected "naturally spontaneous and easy signs in common use by deaf people of different countries"<ref name=":5">British Deaf Association. (1975). ''Gestuno: International sign language of the deaf.'' Carlisle, England: BDA.</ref> to make the language easy to learn. A book published by the commission in 1975, ''Gestuno: International Sign Language of the Deaf'', contains a vocabulary list of 1,470 signs.<ref name=":5" /> The name ''Gestuno'' was chosen, referencing ''gesture'' and ''oneness''.{{Citation needed|date=July 2019}}

However, when Gestuno was first used at the WFD congress in Bulgaria in 1976, it was incomprehensible to deaf participants.<ref>Rosenstock, Rachel. ''International Sign: Negotiating Understanding'', Research at Gallaudet, Fall 2005{{dash}}Winter 2006. This article was derived from the author's 2004 PhD dissertation:<br>* Rosenstock, Rachel. (2004). ''An Investigation of International Sign: Analyzing Structure and Comprehension.'' Gallaudet University.</ref> Subsequently, it was developed informally by deaf and hearing interpreters, and came to include more grammar, especially linguistic features that are thought to be universal among sign languages, such as role shifting, movement repetitions, the use of signing space, and classifiers. Additionally, the vocabulary was gradually replaced by more [[iconicity|iconic]] signs and [[loanword|loan signs]] from various sign languages.{{Citation needed|date=October 2018}}

The first training course in Gestuno was conducted in Copenhagen in 1977 to prepare interpreters for the 5th World Conference on Deafness. Sponsored by the [[Danish Deaf Association|Danish Association of the Deaf]] and the University of Copenhagen, the course was designed by Robert M. Ingram and taught by Betty L. Ingram, two American interpreters of deaf parents.<ref>Moody, Bill (2002). "International Sign: A Practitioner's Perspective." Journal of Interpretation, 1-47.</ref>

The name ''Gestuno'' has fallen out of use, and the phrase ''International Sign'' is now more commonly used in English to identify this variety of sign. This may be because current IS has little in common with the signs published under the name ''Gestuno''.{{Citation needed|date=July 2019}}