Manual communication
Encyclopedia
Manual communication systems use articulation of the hands (hand signs, gesture
Gesture
A gesture is a form of non-verbal communication in which visible bodily actions communicate particular messages, either in place of speech or together and in parallel with spoken words. Gestures include movement of the hands, face, or other parts of the body...

s) to mediate a message between persons. Being expressed manually, they are received visually, and sometimes tactually (see tactile signing
Tactile signing
Tactile signing is a common means of communication used by people with both a sight and hearing impairment , which is based on a standard system of Deaf manual signs.-Kinds of tactile signing:...

). Manual communication, when it is a primary form of communication, may be enhanced by body language
Body language
Body language is a form of non-verbal communication, which consists of body posture, gestures, facial expressions, and eye movements. Humans send and interpret such signals almost entirely subconsciously....

 and facial expression
Facial expression
A facial expression one or more motions or positions of the muscles in the skin. These movements convey the emotional state of the individual to observers. Facial expressions are a form of nonverbal communication. They are a primary means of conveying social information among humans, but also occur...

s and other forms of communication.

Manual communication is employed in systems that are codes for spoken language
Spoken language
Spoken language is a form of human communication in which words derived from a large vocabulary together with a diverse variety of names are uttered through or with the mouth. All words are made up from a limited set of vowels and consonants. The spoken words they make are stringed into...

s (see Manually Coded Language
Manually Coded Language
Manually coded languages are representations of spoken languages in a gestural-visual form; that is, "sign language" versions of spoken languages...

), and with natural languages, such as in sign language
Sign language
A sign language is a language which, instead of acoustically conveyed sound patterns, uses visually transmitted sign patterns to convey meaning—simultaneously combining hand shapes, orientation and movement of the hands, arms or body, and facial expressions to fluidly express a speaker's...

s.

Other, simpler forms of manual communication have also been developed. They are neither natural languages nor even a code that can fully render one. They communicate with a very limited set of signals about an even smaller set of topics and have been developed for situations where speech is not practical or permitted, or secrecy is desired.

Environments with manual communication used

  • Some cloistered religious communities
    Monastery
    Monastery denotes the building, or complex of buildings, that houses a room reserved for prayer as well as the domestic quarters and workplace of monastics, whether monks or nuns, and whether living in community or alone .Monasteries may vary greatly in size – a small dwelling accommodating only...

     (see Monastic sign language
    Monastic sign language
    Monastic sign languages have been used in Europe from at least the 10th century by Christian monks, and some, such as Cistercian and Trappist sign, are still in use today—not only in Europe but also in Japan, China and the USA...

    )
  • While scuba diving
    Scuba diving
    Scuba diving is a form of underwater diving in which a diver uses a scuba set to breathe underwater....

     (see Diving signal
    Diving signal
    Diver communications are the methods used by divers to communicate with each other or with surface members of the dive team.There are several distinct forms of diver communications:...

    )
  • In television recording studios
    Television studio
    A television studio is an installation in which a video productions take place, either for the recording of live television to video tape, or for the acquisition of raw footage for post-production. The design of a studio is similar to, and derived from, movie studios, with a few amendments for the...

  • In loud environments (such as a stock exchange
    Stock exchange
    A stock exchange is an entity that provides services for stock brokers and traders to trade stocks, bonds, and other securities. Stock exchanges also provide facilities for issue and redemption of securities and other financial instruments, and capital events including the payment of income and...

    , marketplaces (finger counting
    Finger counting
    Finger counting, or dactylonomy, is the art of counting along one's fingers. Though marginalized in modern societies by Arabic numerals, formerly different systems flourished in many cultures, including educated methods far more sophisticated than the one-by-one finger count taught today in...

    ), sawmill
    Sawmill
    A sawmill is a facility where logs are cut into boards.-Sawmill process:A sawmill's basic operation is much like those of hundreds of years ago; a log enters on one end and dimensional lumber exits on the other end....

    , or at a horse race - see tic-tac
    Tic-tac
    Tic-tac is a traditional method of signs used by bookmakers to communicate the odds of certain horses. It is still used in on-course betting in the UK...

    )
  • When signalling across distance to a crane
    Crane (machine)
    A crane is a type of machine, generally equipped with a hoist, wire ropes or chains, and sheaves, that can be used both to lift and lower materials and to move them horizontally. It uses one or more simple machines to create mechanical advantage and thus move loads beyond the normal capability of...

     driver, ship or plane (see Flag semaphore
    Flag semaphore
    Semaphore Flags is the system for conveying information at a distance by means of visual signals with hand-held flags, rods, disks, paddles, or occasionally bare or gloved hands. Information is encoded by the position of the flags; it is read when the flag is in a fixed position...

    ).
  • While hunting (see Kalahari bushmen
    Bushmen
    The indigenous people of Southern Africa, whose territory spans most areas of South Africa, Zimbabwe, Lesotho, Mozambique, Swaziland, Botswana, Namibia, and Angola, are variously referred to as Bushmen, San, Sho, Barwa, Kung, or Khwe...

    )
  • In the game Charades
    Charades
    Charades or charade is a word guessing game. In the form most played today, it is an acting game in which one player acts out a word or phrase, often by pantomiming similar-sounding words, and the other players guess the word or phrase. The idea is to use physical rather than verbal language to...

  • In Rueda de Casino
    Rueda de Casino
    Rueda de Casino is a particular type of round dancing of Salsa. It was developed in Havana, Cuba in the late 1950s and early 1960s by the group Guaracheros de Regla and one of its main choreographers and creators was Jorge Alfaro from San Miguel del Padrón, a soloist of a comparsa.Pairs of...

  • In combat
    Combat
    Combat, or fighting, is a purposeful violent conflict meant to establish dominance over the opposition, or to terminate the opposition forever, or drive the opposition away from a location where it is not wanted or needed....

     where stealth or noise makes other forms of communication impractical or undesirable.
  • Between lifeguards
  • On road
    Road
    A road is a thoroughfare, route, or way on land between two places, which typically has been paved or otherwise improved to allow travel by some conveyance, including a horse, cart, or motor vehicle. Roads consist of one, or sometimes two, roadways each with one or more lanes and also any...

    s, between vehicle drivers, by other road users such as bicycle
    Bicycle
    A bicycle, also known as a bike, pushbike or cycle, is a human-powered, pedal-driven, single-track vehicle, having two wheels attached to a frame, one behind the other. A person who rides a bicycle is called a cyclist, or bicyclist....

     and horse
    Horse
    The horse is one of two extant subspecies of Equus ferus, or the wild horse. It is a single-hooved mammal belonging to the taxonomic family Equidae. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 million years from a small multi-toed creature into the large, single-toed animal of today...

     riders to signals stops and turns, and by pedestrians to flag a passing taxi or bus
  • Gangster
    Gangster
    A gangster is a criminal who is a member of a gang. Some gangs are considered to be part of organized crime. Gangsters are also called mobsters, a term derived from mob and the suffix -ster....

    s in the Americas use Hand signs to signify their allegiance to gangs, and local gang branches.
  • In sports fandom (especially in the collegiate level), many universities use hand symbols to show communicative support.
  • Chinese number gestures
    Chinese number gestures
    Chinese number gestures are a method of using one hand to signify the natural numbers one through ten. This method may have been developed to bridge the many varieties of Chinese—for example, the numbers 4 and 10 are hard to distinguish in some dialects...

    are a method of using one hand to signify the natural numbers one through ten.

External links

  • ASL Resource Site Free online lessons, ASL dictionary, and resources for teachers, students, and parents.
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