Practice question · Match the pairs
Match each parameter of a sign to what varies in it.
- Handshape
- Location
- Movement
- Orientation
- Non-manual markers
- The configuration of the fingers
- Which way the palm faces
- Where on or near the body the sign is made
- Face and head carrying grammatical information
- The path and manner of the hand
Hints
- Four parameters concern the hands and one does not.
- Raised brows marking a question belong to the fifth.
Show the answer
- Handshape → The configuration of the fingers
- Location → Where on or near the body the sign is made
- Movement → The path and manner of the hand
- Orientation → Which way the palm faces
- Non-manual markers → Face and head carrying grammatical information
Why
The fifth is the one hearing observers systematically misread as emotion. A headshake scoping negation across a clause is doing the work English does with a word, and omitting it is a grammatical error rather than a flat delivery.
Practise Signed Languages
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