International Sign and American Sign Language as Different Types of Global Deaf Lingua Francas

International Sign (IS) and American Sign Language (ASL) have both been used as lingua francas within international deaf contexts. Perspectives on the uses of IS and ASL as lingua francas in such contexts are connected to discourses pertaining to the form, function, status, value, languageness, and global reach of IS and ASL. While there are some historical and usage-based parallels between IS and ASL, they are different types of lingua francas, and their uses as lingua franca are evaluated differently in different contexts.