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Handshape
In sign languages, handshape, or dez, refers to the distinctive configurations that the hands take as they are used to form words. In Stokoe terminology it is known as the , an abbreviation of ''designator''. Handshape is one of five components of a sign, along with location (), orientation (), movement (), and nonmanual features. Different sign languages make use of different handshapes. Constraints Possible handshapes are constrained by a variety of mechanic and neural factors. Evolutionary forces have led to some handshapes being easier or more natural for humans to produce than others. These tendencies can be summarized as follows: # The selected (extended) finger is either the thumb or the index finger # Neighboring fingers are coupled # All fingers have the same shape A 2022 study of handshapes found that 85.6% of handshapes in 33 sign languages conform to these biological tendencies. Additionally, 35 handshapes were found to be represented in 89.2% of the 33 language ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Classifier Handshape
In sign languages, the term classifier construction (also known as classifier predicates) refers to a morphological system that can express events and states. They use handshape classifiers to represent movement, location, and shape. Classifiers differ from signs in their morphology, namely in that signs consist of a single morpheme. Signs are composed of three meaningless phonological features: handshape, location, and movement. Classifiers, on the other hand, consist of many morphemes. Specifically, the handshape, location, and movement are all meaningful on their own. The handshape represents an entity and the hand's movement iconically represents the movement of that entity. The relative location of multiple entities can be represented iconically in two-handed constructions. Classifiers share some limited similarities with the gestures of hearing non-signers. Those who do not know the sign language can often guess the meaning of these constructions. This is because they are ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
American Sign Language
American Sign Language (ASL) is a natural language that serves as the predominant sign language of Deaf communities in the United States of America and most of Anglophone Canada. ASL is a complete and organized visual language that is expressed by employing both manual and nonmanual features. Besides North America, dialects of ASL and ASL-based creoles are used in many countries around the world, including much of West Africa and parts of Southeast Asia. ASL is also widely learned as a second language, serving as a lingua franca. ASL is most closely related to French Sign Language (LSF). It has been proposed that ASL is a creole language of LSF, although ASL shows features atypical of creole languages, such as agglutinative morphology. ASL originated in the early 19th century in the American School for the Deaf (ASD) in West Hartford, Connecticut, from a situation of language contact. Since then, ASL use has been propagated widely by schools for the deaf and Deaf c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sign Language
Sign languages (also known as signed languages) are languages that use the visual-manual modality to convey meaning, instead of spoken words. Sign languages are expressed through manual articulation in combination with non-manual markers. Sign languages are full-fledged natural languages with their own grammar and lexicon. Sign languages are not universal and are usually not mutually intelligible, although there are also similarities among different sign languages. Linguists consider both spoken and signed communication to be types of natural language, meaning that both emerged through an abstract, protracted aging process and evolved over time without meticulous planning. Sign language should not be confused with body language, a type of nonverbal communication. Wherever communities of deaf people exist, sign languages have developed as useful means of communication and form the core of local Deaf cultures. Although signing is used primarily by the deaf and hard of hear ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fingerspelling
Fingerspelling (or dactylology) is the representation of the letters of a writing system, and sometimes numeral systems, using only the hands. These manual alphabets (also known as finger alphabets or hand alphabets) have often been used in deaf education and have subsequently been adopted as a distinct part of a number of sign languages. There are about forty manual alphabets around the world. Historically, manual alphabets have had a number of additional applications—including use as ciphers, as mnemonics and in silent religious settings. Forms of manual alphabets As with other forms of manual communication, fingerspelling can be comprehended visually or tactually. The simplest visual form of fingerspelling is tracing the shape of letters in the air and the simplest tactual form is tracing them on the hand. Fingerspelling can be one-handed such as in American Sign Language, French Sign Language and Irish Sign Language, or it can be two-handed such as in British Sign Language ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
American Manual Alphabet
The American Manual Alphabet (AMA) is a manual alphabet that augments the vocabulary of American Sign Language American Sign Language (ASL) is a natural language that serves as the predominant sign language of Deaf communities in the United States of America and most of Anglophone Canada. ASL is a complete and organized visual language that is express .... Letters and digits The letters and digits are signed as follows. In informal contexts, the handshapes are not made as distinctly as they are in formal contexts. File:LSQ 1.jpg, 1 File:LSQ 2.jpg, 2 File:LSQ 3.jpg, 3 File:LSQ 4.jpg, 4 File:LSQ 5.jpg, 5 File:LSQ 6.jpg, 6 File:LSQ 7.jpg, 7 File:LSQ 8.jpg, 8 File:LSQ 9.jpg, 9 File:LSQ 10.jpg, 10 The manual alphabet can be used on either hand, normally the signer's dominant hand – that is, the right hand for right-handers, the left hand for left-handers. Most frequently, the manual alphabet is signed just below the dominant shoulder of the signer. When used within other ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Movement (sign Language)
In sign languages, movement, or sig, refers to the distinctive hand actions that form words. In William Stokoe's terminology, it is the , an abbreviation of ''signation''. Movement is one of five components of a sign—with handshape (), orientation (), location (), and nonmanual features. Different sign languages use different types of movement. Some treatments distinguish ''movement'' and ''hold''—signs, or parts of signs, that involve motion vs. those that hold the hands still. Movements in American Sign Language American Sign Language American Sign Language (ASL) is a natural language that serves as the predominant sign language of Deaf communities in the United States of America and most of Anglophone Canada. ASL is a complete and organized visual language that is expre ... uses about twenty movements. These include lateral motion in the various directions, twisting the wrist (supinating or pronating the hand), flexing the wrist, opening or closing the hand ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Orientation (sign Language)
In sign languages, orientation () is the distinctive relative degree of rotation of the hand when signing. Orientation is one of five components of a sign, along with handshape (), location (), movement (), and nonmanual features. See also *American Sign Language grammar The grammar of American Sign Language (ASL) is the best studied of any sign language, though research is still in its infancy, dating back only to William Stokoe in the 1960s. Morphology ASL morphology is to a large extent iconic. This shows ... References Sign language {{sign-lang-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
William Stokoe
William C. Stokoe Jr. ( ; July 21, 1919 – April 4, 2000) was an American linguist and a long-time professor at Gallaudet University. His research on American Sign Language (ASL) revolutionized the understanding of ASL in the United States and sign languages throughout the world. Stokoe's work led to a widespread recognition that sign languages are true languages, exhibiting syntax and morphology, and are not only systems of gesture. Early life and education William C. Stokoe Jr. was born July 21, 1919, in Lancaster, New Hampshire. Stokoe graduated from Cornell University in 1941, from which he earned his Ph.D. in English in 1946, specializing in medieval literature. From there, he became an instructor of English at Wells College. Career From 1955 to 1970, he served as a professor and chairman of the English department at Gallaudet University, after being recruited to the position by his friend and former classmate Dean George Detmold. He published ''Sign Language Structure'' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nonmanual Feature
A Nonmanual feature, also sometimes called nonmanual signal or sign language expression, are the features of signed languages that do not use the hands. Nonmanual features are gramaticised and a necessary component in many signs, in the same way that manual features are. Nonmanual features serve a similar function to intonation in spoken languages. Purpose Nonmanual features in signed languages do not function the same way that general body language and facial expressions do in spoken ones. In spoken languages, they can give extra information but are not necessary for the receiver to understand the meaning of the utterance (for example, an autistic person may not use any facial expressions but still get their meaning across clearly, and people with visual impairements may understand spoken utterances without the need for visual aides). Conversely, nonmanual features are needed to understand the full meaning of many signs, and they can drastically change the meaning of individua ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Location (sign Language)
In geography, location or place are used to denote a region (point, line, or area) on Earth's surface or elsewhere. The term ''location'' generally implies a higher degree of certainty than ''place'', the latter often indicating an entity with an ambiguous boundary, relying more on human or social attributes of place identity and sense of place than on geometry. Types Locality A locality, settlement, or populated place is likely to have a well-defined name but a boundary that is not well defined varies by context. London, for instance, has a legal boundary, but this is unlikely to completely match with general usage. An area within a town, such as Covent Garden in London, also almost always has some ambiguity as to its extent. In geography, location is considered to be more precise than "place". Relative location A relative location, or situation, is described as a displacement from another site. An example is "3 miles northwest of Seattle". Absolute location An absolute locatio ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Evolution
Evolution is change in the heritable characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. These characteristics are the expressions of genes, which are passed on from parent to offspring during reproduction. Variation tends to exist within any given population as a result of genetic mutation and recombination. Evolution occurs when evolutionary processes such as natural selection (including sexual selection) and genetic drift act on this variation, resulting in certain characteristics becoming more common or more rare within a population. The evolutionary pressures that determine whether a characteristic is common or rare within a population constantly change, resulting in a change in heritable characteristics arising over successive generations. It is this process of evolution that has given rise to biodiversity at every level of biological organisation, including the levels of species, individual organisms, and molecules. The theory of evolut ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sign Language Interpreter
Interpreting is a translational activity in which one produces a first and final target-language output on the basis of a one-time exposure to an expression in a source language. The most common two modes of interpreting are simultaneous interpreting, which is done at the time of the exposure to the source language, and consecutive interpreting, which is done at breaks to this exposure. Interpreting is an ancient human activity which predates the invention of writing. However, the origins of the profession of interpreting date back to less than a century ago. History Historiography Research into the various aspects of the history of interpreting is quite new. For as long as most scholarly interest was given to professional conference interpreting, very little academic work was done on the practice of interpreting in history, and until the 1990s, only a few dozen publications were done on it. Considering the amount of interpreting activities that is assumed to have occurre ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
