TYPES OF HAND POSITIONS IN GESTUKE-LANGUAGE. 



71 



-Fingers and thumb scp- E — Fingers and thumb ox- S — Hand and fingers upright, 

 mated, slightly curved, tended straight, sepa- joined, back outward. 



downward. rated, upward". 



-Hand and fingers upright, 

 joined, palm outward. 



V— Arched, joined, thumb resting 

 near end of forefinger, down- 

 ward. 



X — Hand horizontal, flat, palm 

 upward. 



T — Naturally relaxed, normal ; 

 used when* hand simply fol- 

 lows arm with no intentional 

 disposition. 



N. B. — The positions are given as they appear to an observer facing the gesturer, and are designed 

 to show the relations of the fingers to the hand rather than the positions of the hand relative to the 

 body, which must be shown by the outlines (see sheet of u Outlines of Arm Positions") or descrip- 

 tion. The right and left hands are figured above without discrimination, but in description or refer- 

 ence the right hand will he understood when the left is not specified. The hands as figured can also 

 with proper intimation he applied with changes either upward, downward, or inclined to either side, 

 so long as the relative positions of the fingers are retained, and when in that respect no one of the types 

 exactly corresj^onds with a sign observed, modifications will be made by pen or pencil on that one of 

 the types found most convenient, as indicated in the sheet of " Examples," and referred to by the letter 

 of the alphabet under the type changed, with the addition of a numeral — e. g., A 1, and if that type, i. c. 

 A, were changed a second time by the observer (which change would necessarily be drawn on another 

 sheet of types), it should be referred to as A 2. 



