Handshape in Sign Language Phonology

Abstract

This chapter addresses the particular importance of the handshape parameter in sign language phonology, using evidence from a variety of sources: psycholinguistic and cross‐linguistic, as well as system‐internal evidence from phonological operations. The chapter is organized as follows. In §1, by way of introduction to this topic, some of the ways that handshape behaves differently in gesture and sign languages will be described. In §2, portions of basic handshape structure will be presented, the terms that will be used throughout the chapter will be defined, and some descriptive generalizations concerning handshape will be outlined. Further elaboration of the features of handshape is discussed in §3. A description on how handshape interacts with the other parameters of signs will be discussed in §4. In §5, several examples of the role of handshape at the grammatical interfaces will be described, and §6 will consist of some concluding remarks on the topic of handshape.

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