sight vocabulary n
(in teaching reading in the mother tongue) those words which a child can
recognize at sight in a reading passage or text and which he or she does not
need to decode using phonic or other reading skills (see phonics).
signal n
see information theory
significance level n
see statistical significance
significant difference n
seestatistical significance
signification n
see signs, usage^2
signify v
seesigns
sign language nsign v
a language used by many hearing impaired people and by some who com-
municate with hearing impaired people, which makes use of movements of
the hands, arms, body, head, face, eyes, and mouth to communicate meanings.
Different sign languages have developed in different parts of the world, for
example American Sign Language or Ameslan, British Sign Language,
Danish Sign Language, French Sign Language. These are true languages
with their own grammars and are not simply attempts to “spell out” the
language spoken in the country where they are used. The visual-gestural
units of communication used in sign languages are known as “signs”.
Within the deaf community and those concerned with the education of the
hearing-impaired, there is a controversy between those who are in favour
of signing (people arguing this position are referred to as manualists) and
those who oppose it (the oralists). Oralists argue that teaching the hearing-
impaired sign language prevents them from communicating with the
outside world and limits their interaction to other people who know sign
language.
signs n
in linguistics, the words and other expressions of a language which signify,
that is, “stand for”, other things. In English, the word table, for instance,
stands for a particular piece of furniture in the real world. Some linguists
signs