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

January 21st 2025

reciprocal relationship

1. a correlation between two variables such that the value of one variable is the reciprocal of the value of the other. For example, if a researcher is studying the average time taken to complete a task, then tasks completed per unit time (e.g., 2 per hour) have a reciprocal relationship with unit time taken per task (0.5 hours).

2. the situation in which two variables can mutually influence one another; that is, each can be both a cause and an effect.