Classifications and typologies: Labeling sign languages and signing communities

This commentary examines the growing trend of documenting the variety and complexity of signing practices in the context of diverse sociolinguistic ecologies in which the practices occur in different parts of the world. Signing may be classified using a variety of labels, and this commentary inquires on whether the existing classifications are most appropriate for referring to different signing practices and what the field of sign language linguistics benefits from such a typology.