1. How does this German/ Swiss German Sign Language (DSGS) Web-Lexicon function?
(A) Basic Information about the technical term:
The lexicon webpage contains the following basic information:

(1) Technical term in the form of a German word and a video of the DSGS sign for the term. For some of the terms, more than one form variant may be available, which are noted by the endings _1, _2, etc.

(2) Definition of the term in DSGS video and German text

(3) German synonyms of the German term

(4) Status of the sign
Each of the terms in the list is shown with one of the following three symbols, which indicate whether the DSGS sign for this term already exists or if a new sign has been developed by the research team for this term.

“conventionalized” – means that this sign is already in use by more than 3 DSGS signers

“known” – this sign has been reported to be used by 1 – 2 DSGS signers

“new” – as no existing sign could be found, the research team, together with experts in the technical field, developed this new sign for this term

Clearly the status of a sign can change over time: Signs that are ”new” in 2008 might become ‘conventionalized’ by 2012. Feedback from the web- lexicon users will contribute to the ongoing modification of sign status.

(B) Key Actions
• Word List: The up /and down arrow keys makes active the previous / or next sign on the word list.

• Extra Materials: The M Key will bring up the 'extra material'; pressing the M again will then hide the Material