Anyone who reads a book from the 19th century will immediately notice that languages evolve. New social phenomena, for example, require new words, and grammatical structures also change over time. This study focuses on language change. We approach this from two angles: language variation and language contact, and study how the interaction between the two shapes language change. We focus on Flemish Sign Language (VGT). Until the 1980s, it was assumed that there was one single Belgian Sign Language, but today it is generally accepted that there are two sign languages: VGT and French-Belgian Sign Language (LSFB). Research from 25 years ago showed that there are five regional varieties within VGT, but also that a process of standardisation seemed to have begun. How different are LFSB and VGT today? Is what Flemish Sign Language users suggest indeed correct, and is the regional variation that was so prevalent in VGT in the past, disappearing rapidly? And is Flemish Sign Language indeed adopting more and more stuctures from spoken Dutch? How is the language contact with LFSB and other sign languages visible in VGT? These are the types of questions this project seeks to answer. By analysing and documenting the accelerated process of language change that we currently believe to be taking place in VGT and studying its causes, we want to arrive at innovative models of language change, which are valid for all natural languages, signed and spoken languages.