Sign Linguistics

Signs can have one morpheme (so are “monomorphemic”) or have more than one morpheme (so are “dimorphemic” or “polymorphemic”). Grammatically, English is basically a monomorphemic language and BSL is essentially a polymorphemic language. However, in building its vocabulary, English will often combine two morphemes to make compounds.

Monomorphemic signs: TRUE, MOUSE, SISTER or HAPPY

Dimorphemic or Polymorphemic signs: PROMISE, SCRATCH-HEAD, WRITE-FIRMLY, THREE-POUNDS, AGE-SIX.