Reiteration refers to the sequential production of two semantically identical lexical items, either from two different languages (e.g., MOTHER_KQSL^MOTHER_ISL, see Figure 1) or two different language varieties (e.g., CHOCOLATE1_ISL^CHOCOLATE5_ISL). Several spoken language studies suggest that reiteration functions as a form of accommodation, emphasis, or clarification, however, the function in signed languages seems less clear. In this study, we investigate reiteration in two different contexts. The first context is a situation of language contact between Kufr Qassem Sign Language (KQSL), a local sign language used in central Israel, and Israeli Sign Language (ISL), the national sign language of Israel. Twelve ISL-KQSL bilinguals participated in semi-spontaneous conversation, in three language conditions: (1) with another bilingual, (2) a monolingual KQSL signer, and (3) a monolingual ISL signer, and with two different topics (local, global). A total of 673 code-switches were found in the data, of which 65 were reiterative. Reiterative code-switches were most frequent when discussing a local topic or when interacting with a KQSL monolingual, suggesting that reiteration plays an accommodative function in the bilingual context.

         The second context looks at 120 ISL signers collected as part of the Corpus of ISL, with signers filmed from three generations (18-39, 40-59, 60+). The findings show that reiterations, within the same language (reiterative variants), can function to show multiple identities. In other words, signers combine two variants into a compound structure, in which the first variant projects one facet of their identity, (e.g., CHOCOLATE 5_ISL as an older signer) and the second variant projects another facet of their identity as ‘hip’ (e.g., CHOCOLATE 1_ISL associated with younger signers). We show how these two contexts tease apart the differing functions of reiterations.