Please enable JavaScript.
Coggle requires JavaScript to display documents.
Handshape (Five parameters constitute a sign: (movement, palm orientation,…
Handshape
-
-
Deaf poets often pay great attention to the choice of handshape, because they are aware of its impact.
There are 57 different handshapes listed in the Dictionary of British Sign Language, some of which have more than 100 established signs associated with them.
The choice of hanshape for a sign is often visually motivated, because a particular handshape visually represents a particular concept.
-
There is a meaningful relationship between the form ( the physical configuration of a handshape) and the meaning (a concept or theme configuration of a handshape).
Poets do not choose handshapes randomly, but ca carefully select the ones whose visual appearance appeals best to the impression they intend to create in the mind of the audience.
Such a symbolic view of handshapes implies that a handshape, even before it is combined with other parameters and formed into a word, has some sort of meaning by itself.
Although individual handshapes can be associated with certain meanings though their visual appearance (openness leads to positive feelings), such inherent symbolism of handshapes is rarely noticed in everyday signing.