Glossary
Terms used in accessibility research and practice. Each entry has a definition, common aliases, and category tags.
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- Manual Sign(also: MS, Hand Sign)
- The hand shapes, movements, and locations that form the primary visible component of sign language vocabulary. Manual signs are what most hearing people think of as "sign language," but they represent only one channel of a multi-channel visual communication system. In ASL,…
- Manual Signs(also: Hand Signs)
- The hand-based components of sign language communication, consisting of four parameters: hand shape (configuration of fingers), location (where the sign is made relative to the body), movement (how the hands move through space), and palm orientation. Manual signs form the core…
- Mimetic Language(also: Sound Symbolism, Phonomimes, Ideophones)
- Words or vocalizations whose sounds imitate or evoke the sensory qualities of what they describe, such as the rustle of leaves, the thud of a drum, or the hiss of escaping air. Mimetic language sits alongside and overlaps with onomatopoeia but extends to non-auditory qualities…
- Morphological NMS(also: Morphological Non-Manual Sign)
- Non-manual signs that modify or add grammatical meaning to manual signs, functioning similarly to morphemes in spoken languages. In ASL, morphological NMS convey information about degree, intensity, size, and manner. For example, facial expressions and body posture can show…
- Multichannel Signal(also: Multi-Channel Signal, Parallel Signal Channels)
- A communication signal that conveys information simultaneously through multiple independent or semi-independent channels. In the context of sign languages, a multichannel signal includes the concurrent streams produced by a signer: manual signs (dominant and non-dominant hand…
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