Recent lexical expansion and change in New Zealand Sign Language

In the past few decades, New Zealand Sign Language (NZSL) has seen changes in status, wider contexts of use, and ongoing contact with other (spoken and signed) languages. As a result, the NZSL lexicon is expanding and changing in nature. Using our analysis of close to 1,000 NZSL neologisms documented in the past five years, we discuss which semantic domains are showing the strongest growth; the linguistic mechanisms used to create new signs; and differences between planned (curriculum-related) terminology and community-generated neologisms.