Abstract
[Lexical Variation in Belgian Sign Language]
Ten congenitally deaf adults with profound deafness from several regions of the French-speaking part of Belgium were requested to sign 80 substantive referents randomly selected from the Dictionnaire de la Langue des Signes recently published by the Commission Francophone du Langage des Sourds in an attempt to evaluate the degree of agreement between the suggestions of the Dictionnaire and the spontaneous practices of the deaf communities. A moderate to low degree of agreement was observed (28% to 70% agreement depending on the particular subjects). An analysis of the differences encountered is offered.
