Chapter 2. The non-native lexicon
The present chapter describes the part of the LIS lexicon which derives from the contact with other languages, both signed and spoken. The lexical entries belonging to this set of signs, generally known as non-native lexicon, did not develop naturally within the community of LIS signers and thus can be regarded as borrowed forms.
This chapter provides illustrative examples of borrowings from other sign languages (LEXICON 2.1) and from surrounding spoken languages (LEXICON 2.2). The most common sources of loan forms in LIS are Italian, the dominant spoken language used in Italy, and ASL, the most influential sign language in the world.
