Australia's most user friendly Auslan Dictionary - with images, photos, descriptions on how to perform the sign, usage notes and national dialects
The release of this book was a momentous step forward for Auslan (Australian Sign Language) in Australia; and sees a significant improvement on dictionaries of the past.
This dictionary remains the only one to include descriptions of how to perform the sign, and the vital context notes that allow the user to understand when a sign should, or should not be used.
For example there are two listings for can: One represents a can of drink; the other "I can ...". This information is crucial and set the first edition of this dictionary apart in 2009.
This new edition of the dictionary documents over 1000 new signs, including a large array of modern technology signs like upload, download and iPad. Plus lots of new gaming terms, like wii, MMO and AFK. These are especially important for younger generations; who so often find gaming and technology a link to social inclusion and peer relationships that can be especially difficult when communication barriers exist.
Sample Sign for AuslanThis dictionary sees an improved style of illustrations, so that second handshapes and end positions are now highlighted in a box, like the "Auslan" sign example pictured right; to help clarify these signs and make learning easier.
This dictionary also expands the introduction sections to include more information about fingerspelling, numbers, ordinals, cardinals and modified numbers; areas that have been shown to provide some degree of confusion for novice signers.
In addition to the ground breaking listing format that has made learning easier; this dictionary also includes an extensive introduction to Lexicology (why a word/sign has its meaning), and Linguistics (how words come together in sentences) sections.
Within this section we explain how handshapes, locations and movements are more than just parts of the sign, they are vital contributors to the meaning as well. Lee Bilby is the first, to explore Auslan lexicology at this level of detail, although the work did begin with the British Deaf Associations' BSL dictionary in 1992.