How are signs for new words, phrases, and locations – such as shiok, nasi lemak, Marina Bay Sands, GRAB, Instagram – developed?
Members of the Deaf community use their creativity to develop the signs for such terms. Just like any language, the creation of new words or signs are based on the linguistic rules of the respective language and are not random creations. For signed languages, the strategies in creation of new signs include physical qualities of the target and its corresponding word in the spoken language.
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