Family

Hearing, Deaf or Hard of Hearing?

Enactment

Enactment entails becoming the entity which the signing person is describing. For example, this may be through facial expressions, mimicking behaviours or demonstrating actions.

Pointing Signs

Pointing signs are made with an extended index finger, whist the other fingers and thumb are tucked into a fist. This can be used to refer to self, another person, an object, entity or location.

Johnston, T. (2014) Auslan Corpus Annotation Guidelines. Retrieved from http://media.auslan.org.au/attachments/Johnston_AuslanCorpusAnnotationGuidelines_14June2014.pdf

Expression or Non-Manual Features

Non-manual features (NMF) groups together a wide range of possible expressive mechanisms.These may include movements of the eyes,head and body,facial expression,mouthing and mouth gestures. These are used to help contextualise lexical signs and the other aspects of visual communication.

Insights into Auslan. (2010). Retrieved from http://deafsocietynsw.org.au/documents/SignLanguage1Handouts.pdf. 

Movement

Movement refers to the way the hand(s) move through space. For example, this may be in a tapping, circular or swift motion.

Insights into Auslan. (2010). Retrieved from http://deafsocietynsw.org.au/documents/SignLanguage1Handouts.pdf. 

Changing the movement of a handshape can change the meaning of the sign.

Location

Location refers to the position of the hand in the signing space. For example, this may be near the face, upper body or in a neutral space in front of the body.

Insights into Auslan. (2010). Retrieved from http://deafsocietynsw.org.au/documents/SignLanguage1Handouts.pdf. 

Changing the location of the handshape can change the meaning of the sign.