sign language

any system of communication in which signs formed by hand configuration and movement are used instead of spoken language. The term refers particularly to the system used by people who are deaf or have severe hearing loss, which has its own syntax and methods of conveying nuances of feeling and emotion and is now accepted by most linguists as exhibiting the full set of defining characteristics of human oral–aural language. The particular system of hand signs and movements used primarily in the United States and Canada is called American Sign Language (ASL). Forms of sign language are sometimes used also to communicate with children with certain neurological disorders and with nonhuman primates, but these systems are far less sophisticated than those used by people with hearing impairment. Also called signing. See fingerspelling.

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Psychology term of the day

December 22nd 2024

payoff evaluation

see outcome evaluation.