Verb Inflection

In sign languages, verb inflection refers to the modification of a verb sign's movement path, speed, or direction to encode grammatical information such as subject, object, number, and aspect. Unlike spoken languages where inflection typically involves changes to word endings, sign language verb inflection is spatial -- the direction and location of the verb's movement indicates who is performing the action and who is receiving it. This spatial grammar is fundamental to sign language linguistics and presents unique challenges for sign language animation and synthesis technologies.