Glossary
Searchable terminology from accessibility, web standards, and related fields.
19 results found in language.
- Blissymbols (Blissymbolics, Bliss Language)
- A symbolic language created by Charles K. Bliss, consisting of several hundred basic symbols that can be combined to create new meanings. Unlike pictographic symbol sets where each image represents a …
- British Sign Language (BSL)
- The primary sign language used by deaf communities in the United Kingdom, recognized as an official language under the British Sign Language Act 2022. BSL is distinct from American Sign Language (ASL)…
- Cypriot Sign Language (CSL)
- The sign language used by the Deaf community in Cyprus, distinct from other sign languages such as American Sign Language (ASL), British Sign Language (BSL), or Greek Sign Language. Like all natural s…
- Identity-First Language (IFL)
- Language that places the disability or condition before the person (e.g., "autistic person," "deaf person," "disabled person"), in contrast to person-first language ("person with autism," "person with…
- Indian Sign Language (ISL, Indo-Pakistani Sign Language, IPSL)
- The sign language used predominantly by the Deaf community in India. Indian Sign Language has its own distinct grammar and vocabulary that differs substantially from American Sign Language (ASL) and o…
- Japanese Sign Language (JSL, Nihon Shuwa)
- The primary sign language used by the Deaf community in Japan. Japanese Sign Language (JSL) is a distinct natural language with its own grammar, vocabulary, and syntax that differs significantly from …
- Lexical Semantics
- The branch of linguistics concerned with the meaning of words and the relationships between word meanings, including synonymy, antonymy, and the semantic roles words can fill in sentences. In assistiv…
- Orthographic Depth (Orthographic Transparency, Spelling Transparency)
- A measure of how consistently a written language maps between its spelling (graphemes) and pronunciation (phonemes). Shallow or transparent orthographies like Spanish, Finnish, and Italian have highly…
- Orthography (Spelling System, Writing System)
- The conventional spelling system of a language, including the rules and patterns that govern how sounds (phonemes) are represented by written symbols (graphemes). Languages vary in orthographic depth:…
- Person-First Language (People-First Language, PFL)
- Person-first language is a linguistic convention that places the person before the disability or condition, such as "person with a disability" or "person with autism," with the intent of emphasizing p…
- Polysemy (Polysemous Words)
- The property of a word having multiple related meanings or senses. For example, the word "bank" can refer to a financial institution or the edge of a river. Polysemy creates particular challenges for …
- Pragmatic Language (Pragmatics, Social Language)
- The aspect of language that deals with how context, social norms, and communicative intent shape how language is used and interpreted in real social interactions. Pragmatic language skills include und…
- Pragmatics (Pragmatic Language)
- The social use of language—how context, relationship, and conversational norms affect what we say and how we interpret others. Pragmatics includes understanding implied meaning, adjusting speech for d…
- Protactile Language (Pro-Tactile, PT)
- A fully touch-based language developed by the DeafBlind community that redefines communication through physical contact, including taps, squeezes, and shared contact space. Protactile Language represe…
- Sign Language
- A visual-gestural language system that uses hand shapes, movements, body language, and facial expressions to convey meaning. Sign languages are complete, natural languages with their own grammar and v…
- Sign Writing (SignWriting, Sutton SignWriting)
- A graphical notation system for writing sign languages, developed by Valerie Sutton in 1974. Sign Writing uses visual symbols to represent hand shapes, movements, facial expressions, and body position…
- Social Communication Disorder (SCD, Pragmatic Language Impairment)
- A condition characterized by persistent difficulties with the social use of verbal and nonverbal communication. Individuals with social communication disorder struggle with using communication for soc…
- South African Sign Language (SASL)
- The primary sign language used by the Deaf community in South Africa, recognized as one of the country's official languages under the Constitution. SASL has its own grammar, syntax, and vocabulary dis…
- Telegraphic Speech (Telegraphic Input, Compressed Speech)
- A simplified form of communication that uses only essential content words (nouns, verbs, adjectives) while omitting function words (articles, prepositions, conjunctions) and grammatical inflections. I…