Everything about Handshape

🧭 Start here: a 6-step reading path

1. Read the overview: HandshapeA 5-minute orientation
2. Skim a recent paper: Classifier handshape choice in Russian Sign Language and Sign Language of the NetherlandsInfluential work since 2022
3. Pick up a classic book: Christmas cookiesThe most-reprinted book on the subject
4. Read the landmark paper: When does a system become phonological? Handshape production in gesturers, signers, and homesignersCited 85 times
5. Go sideways: Stokoe notationA closely related topic
6. Go sideways: American manual alphabetA closely related topic

🏆 Landmark papers (most cited)

• When does a system become phonological? Handshape production in gesturers, signers, and homesigners

  Diane Brentari, Marie Coppola, Laura Mazzoni · 2011 · Natural Language & Linguistic Theory · 85 citations

• Handshape complexity as a precursor to phonology: Variation, emergence, and acquisition

  Diane Brentari, Marie Coppola, Pyeong Whan Cho · 2016 · Language Acquisition · 66 citations

• Location, Handshape & Movement: Young Children’s Acquisition of the Formational Aspects of American Sign Language

  Theodore Siedlecki, John D. Bonvillian · 1993 · Sign Language Studies · 54 citations

• Cognitive, Cultural, and Linguistic Sources of a Handshape Distinction Expressing Agentivity

  Diane Brentari, Alessio Di Renzo, Jonathan Keane · 2014 · Topics in Cognitive Science · 47 citations

• Variation in handshape and orientation in British Sign Language: The case of the ‘1’ hand configuration

  Jordan Fenlon, Adam Schembri, Ramas Rentelis · 2013 · Language & Communication · 41 citations

• Young children's acquisition of the handshape aspect of American Sign Language signs: Parental report findings

  Theodore Siedlecki, John D. Bonvillian · 1997 · Applied Psycholinguistics · 26 citations

• The role of iconicity, construal, and proficiency in the online processing of handshape

  CORRINE OCCHINO, BENJAMIN ANIBLE, JILL P. MORFORD · 2020 · Language and Cognition · 21 citations

• Phonological variation in American Sign Language: The case of 1 handshape

  Robert Bayley, Ceil Lucas, Mary Rose · 2002 · Language Variation and Change · 20 citations

🆕 Influential since 2022

• Classifier handshape choice in Russian Sign Language and Sign Language of the Netherlands

  Vadim Kimmelman, Evgeniia Khristoforova · 2025 · Open Linguistics · 5 citations

• LSWH100: A handshape dataset for Brazilian sign language (Libras) using SignWriting

  Vicente Coelho Lobo-Neto, Helio Pedrini · 2024 · Data in Brief · 5 citations

• Conventionalization of Iconic Handshape Preferences in Family Homesign Systems

  Madeline Quam, Diane Brentari, Marie Coppola · 2022 · Languages · 3 citations

• Choice of classifier handshape in Catalan Sign Language: A corpus study

  Giorgia Zorzi, Raquel Veiga Busto, Gemma Barberà · 2025 · Open Linguistics · 2 citations

• comparison of small sample methods for Handshape Recognition

  Franco Ronchetti, Facundo Quiroga, Ulises Jeremias Cornejo Fandos · 2023 · Journal of Computer Science and Technology · 2 citations

📚 Books worth reading

• Christmas cookiesLisa B. Zwirn · 2008
• 📕K HandshapeMaureen Jennings · 2008
• 📕American Sign Language handshape dictionaryRichard A. Tennant · 2010
• Biometric RecognitionWei-Shi Zheng · 2012
• Pasta by handJenn Louis · 2015
• The American Sign Language Handshape StarterRichard A. Tennant · 2002
• The American Sign Language handshape puzzle bookLinda Lascelle Hillebrand · 2004
• The K hand shapeMaureen Jennings · 2008

Ranked by number of editions on Open Library, a rough measure of how lasting a book is.

🔗 Related topics

• Stokoe notation Stokoe notation (/ˈstoʊki/ STOH-kee) is the first phonemic script used for sign languages. It was created by William Stokoe for American Sign Language…
• American manual alphabet The American manual alphabet is a one-handed manual representation of the alphabet used in English. It is used by users of American Sign Language to represent…
• American Sign Language phonology American Sign Language (ASL) and other sign languages are characterized by phonological processes analogous to those of spoken languages. Phonemes serve…
• Movement (sign language) In sign languages, movement, or sig, refers to the distinctive hand actions that form words. In William Stokoe's terminology, it is the sig, an abbreviation…
• Profanity in American Sign Language American Sign Language (ASL), the sign language used by the deaf community throughout most of North America, has a rich vocabulary of terms, which include…
• Hamburg Notation System The Hamburg Sign Language Notation System (HamNoSys) is a transcription system for all sign languages (including American Sign Language). It has a direct…
• Location (sign language) In sign languages, location, or tab, refers to specific places that the hands occupy as they are used to form signs. In Stokoe terminology it is known…
• Nepali Sign Language Nepali Sign Language (Nepali: नेपाली साङ्केतिक भाषा, romanized: Nēpālī Sāṅkētika Bhāṣā) is the main sign language of Nepal. It is a partially standardized…