Location (sign language)

Location is one of five components, or parameters, of a sign, along with handshape (DEZ), orientation (ORI), movement (SIG), and nonmanual features.

A particular specification of a location, such as the chest or the temple of the head, can be considered a phoneme.

In other words, different sign languages can have different inventories of location phonemes.

American Sign Language uses 12 locations excluding the hands themselves: the whole face/head; the forehead or brow; the eyes or nose; the mouth or chin; the temple, cheek or ear (side of the head); the neck; the trunk (shoulders to waist); the upper arm; the elbow or forearm, the back of the wrist, and the inside of the wrist.

This article about a sign language or related topic is a stub.