Editing International Sign (section)

==Recent studies of International Sign==
Simplification of signs in IS can vary between interpreters (one can choose a simplification over a much longer explanation), and because of this, certain information can be lost in translation.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Rosenstock|first=Rachel|date=2008|title=The Role of Iconicity in International Sign|journal=Sign Language Studies|language=en|volume=8|issue=2|pages=144–146|doi=10.1353/sls.2008.0003|s2cid=145192212|issn=1533-6263}}</ref> Because sign language relies heavily on local influences, many Deaf people do not understand each other's signs. Furthermore, cultural differences in signs can vary even within borders.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Battison|first1=Robbin|last2=Jordan|first2=I. King|date=1976|title=Cross-Cultural Communication with Foreign Signers: Fact and Fancy|journal=Sign Language Studies|volume=1010|issue=1|pages=57–59|doi=10.1353/sls.1976.0018|s2cid=144987587|issn=1533-6263}}</ref> In these cases, many Deaf people revert to fingerspelling and gestures or mime, which has its own variations based on similar sign language properties.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Battison|first1=Robbin|last2=Jordan|first2=I. King|date=1976|title=Cross-Cultural Communication with Foreign Signers: Fact and Fancy|journal=Sign Language Studies|volume=1010|issue=1|pages=60|doi=10.1353/sls.1976.0018|s2cid=144987587|issn=1533-6263}}</ref>

The World Federation of the Deaf (WFD) has raised concern about the issues with simplification and standardization, and that it limits a sign to a single meaning or word, thus losing all natural forms of the initial meaning.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Adam|first=Robert|date=2015-07-08|title=Standardization of Sign Languages|journal=Sign Language Studies|language=en|volume=15|issue=4|pages=432–445|doi=10.1353/sls.2015.0015|s2cid=145518387|issn=1533-6263}}</ref>

An ethnographic study notes that there is some controversy among deaf people about how accessible IS is to deaf people from different places; it also observes that many deaf people are nevertheless highly motivated to do the work of communicating across linguistic and other differences.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Green|first=E. Mara|date=2014-08-13|title=Building the tower of Babel: International Sign, linguistic commensuration, and moral orientation|journal=Language in Society|volume=43|issue=4|pages=451–452|doi=10.1017/s0047404514000396|s2cid=147662111|issn=0047-4045}}</ref>