Handshape

Handshape refers to specific shapes formed with that hand(s) that are used in signed languages and manual communication methods such as American Sign Language, other international signed languages, Signed Exact English, and cued speech among others.

Handshapes in ASL

Handshape is the actual shape of the hand we are using to produce a word. Handshapes are used along with orientation, movement and location (and sometimes hold, and sometimes non-manual markers) to describe a sign. Every sign must have a unique set of handshape, orientation, location and movement.

American Sign Language uses the American Manual Alphabet for fingerspelling. The AMA contains 23 handshapes (orientation differences allow the formation of 26 letters); there are many more handshapes that are not used in the AMA. In total, there are about 150 handshapes, though not all are commonly used. (J. McDougal, personal communication, September 12, 2006. Interpreted simultaneously by staff interpreter from ASL to English.)

Handshapes from the AMA are referred to by the letter they represent (A-hand, D-hand...), while others are referred to according to their shape (claw, index finger, ILY, bent, flat O, flat C...). Not all handshapes are used with every orientation, movement, or location - there are restrictions. For example, the 5 and F handshapes only make contact with another part of the body through the tip of the thumb, whereas the K and 8 handshapes only make contact through the tip of the middle finger, and the X handshape only with the flexed joint of the index finger. (taken from American Sign Language#Handshape)