International Sign (IS) is a pidgin sign language[1] which is used in a variety of different contexts, particularly as an international auxiliary language at meetings such as the World Federation of the Deaf (WFD) congress, in some[2] European Union settings,[3][4][5] and at some UN conferences,[3][5][6] at events such as the Deaflympics, the Miss & Mister Deaf World, and Eurovision,[7] and informally when travelling and socialising.

Linguists do not agree on what the term International Sign means precisely, and empirically derived dictionaries are lacking.

[11] Deaf people in the Western and Middle Eastern world have gathered together using sign language for 2,000 years.

Deaf people have therefore used a kind of auxiliary gestural system for international communication at sporting or cultural events since the early 19th century.

[13] 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.

[citation needed] However, when Gestuno was first used at the WFD congress in Bulgaria in 1976, it was incomprehensible to deaf participants.

[citation needed] The first training course in Gestuno was conducted in Copenhagen in 1977 to prepare interpreters for the 5th World Conference on Deafness.

[17] While some degree of standardization takes place at events such WFD and the European Union of the Deaf, it is limited to vocabulary, not grammar.

[23] A 1999 study by Bencie Woll suggested that IS signers often use a large amount of vocabulary from their native language,[24] choosing sign variants that would be more easily understood by a foreigner.

The remaining 38% were borrowed (or "loan") signs that could be traced back to one SL or a group of related SLs.

[citation needed] A paper presented in 1994 suggested that IS signers "combine a relatively rich and structured grammar with a severely impoverished lexicon".

[31] In these cases, many Deaf people revert to fingerspelling and gestures or mime, which has its own variations based on similar sign language properties.