The Handshapes of
American Sign Language
Manual Alphabet Handshapes

The handshapes on this page are used to produce
almost all of the signs of ASL.

Some handshapes are also used to produce signs
that represent letters of the English alphabet.
These signs are used to "spell" English words -
this is called Fingerspelling.
 
 
Some handshapes are used to produce
a special group of signs called "classifiers".

Classifiers are signs that represent nouns.
ASL has an extensive classifier system used to represent:
    •    whole objects
    •    surfaces
    •    perimeters
    •    use of the noun
    •    degree or extent
    •    on-surface

Handshape is always paired with Movement
to create the classifier.


CHART 1.....FINGERSPELLING

CHART 2.....CLASSIFIERS