Taiwanese Sign Language (TSL) is the sign language most commonly used in Taiwan. It is the native language of some 50,000 people in the nation. Serious linguistic research on TSL began in the 1970s and is continuing at present. The first International Symposium on Taiwan Sign Language Linguistics was held on March 1-2, 2003, at Chung Cheng University in Minhsiung , Chiayi Co., Taiwan.