Lwaitel sign language

Lwaitel has a sign language. Except when otherwise specified, this sign language uses the same syntax and makes the same distinctions as the spoken and written languages.

Like other sign languages (or at least ASL), each speaker has one hand which is dominant. For right handed people (which are the most common on Nalwenket, just like on Earth), this is usually their right hand; for left handed people, this is usually their left hand; for anyone else, whichever they prefer as long as it's consistent (personally, I've been using my right hand as dominant for signing). Most of the time, dominant vs. non-dominant matters rather than left vs. right; the main exception is fingerspelling.

Contents

Notation

For sign language notation, I'm using a modified version of SLIPA. Some modifications/additions:

Handshapes

The following handshapes occur. The brackets indicate the notation I'm using; where possible, this is the SLIPA notation; where handshapes weren't in SLIPA I had to improvise some. The column indicates which fingers are held up (for the first four rows) or out (for the 90° fingers rows). Where two options are shown, the second one has the fingers all touching.

NoneII MI M RI M R PPI PM R P
sep.together sep.together sep.together sep.together
Normal (fist-like) [S] [G] [V][V(] [6][6(] [4][4(] [I] [Ŷ] [F}][F}(]
Thumb out [Ŧ] [L] [5][5(] [Y] [Ÿ]
Circle [O] [D] [V{][V{(] [6{][6{(] [I{] [Ŷ{] [F][F(]
Thumb touching flat fingers [S◅] [G◅] [I◅] [Ŷ◅] [F◅][F◅(]
90° fingers [Ñ] [¬]
90° fingers, parallel thumb [Ñ▭] [¬▭]
Fingers touching top of palm [E]

Fingerspelling

Each letter has a sign.

P: thumbs up. T: stick up your index finger and make a circle with your other fingers K: make an L shape with your index finger and thumb M: make all your fingers straight and close together, and make your thumb touch near the fingertips N: stick up your index and middle fingers NG: make a fist MP: stick up your thumb and pinky NT: make a circle with your index finger and thumb, and stick up your other three fingers NK: point your palm forwards and slightly curl your fingers L: point forward with your index finger S: point down with your index and middle fingers H: make a circle with all your fingers No consonant: stick up your pinky.

(TODO L is a bit different than shown here, and also that's the old no-consonant symbol there) The speaker's right hand (the listener's left) makes signs for initial consonants, and the speaker's left hand (the listener's right) makes signs for final consonants. The position of one's hand indicates the vowel: the hand is up high for u/blue, down low for i/green, out to the side (away from the body) for a/red, and close to or in front of the body for e/black. For syllables with w, the hand moves down to the appropriate position, and for syllables with y it moves up.