Gestuno

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"Gestuno" is a somewhat [outdated] term for [International Sign Language]. The term itself was created, a rough blending of [Italian] words that is supposed to mean "[oneness] of [sign language]s."

The signed equivalent of [Esperanto], it was [artificial]ly designed because each [country] of the [world] has its own signed language. A [universal] sign language was discussed at the 1951 World Congress of the [World Federation of the Deaf], and the organization established a Commission of [Unification] of Signs. In the mid-1970s, that group developed the ISL at those meetings, the [World Games for the Deaf], and other gatherings such as the 1989 [Deaf Way] conference at [Gallaudet University]. Each word was chosen by selecting the most [iconic] sign from existing [national] sign languages - for example, the sign for "government" was chosen from a [Scandinavian] sign language because most [fluent] signers thought the indication of a crown was the best way to show the [concept]. <P> Gestuno/ISL is not actually a proper language, like [American Sign Language|ASL]. Instead, Gestuno is mostly a [vocabulary] that can be used in appropriate situations; its closest [linguistics|linguistic] equivalent is probably [Basic English]. <P> Sources
http://www.handspeak.com/isl/info.html
http://www.karenika.com/book/hearing_only.html
http://www.deaflibrary.org/asl.html