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Lesson 23: Head/Body Movement 2

Especially when using classifiers, or telling stories, it can be important to include the direction the signer is facing, or where their eyes are looking.

Arrows can be combined with parentheses, or ~ to make symbols to represent this information.

Eye Movement Symbols

<~<
Look left
>~>
Look right
J~J
Look up to the left
^~^
Look up
/~/
Look up to the right
Z~Z
Look down to the left
_~_
Look down
\~\
Look down to the right

Head Movement Symbols

(<)
Face left
(>)
Face right
(J)
Face the upper left
(^)
Face up
(/)
Face the upper right
(Z)
Face the lower left
(_)
Face down
(\)
Face the lower right

Body Movement Symbols

{^}
Shrug shoulders
{_}
Shoulders down

Using Head/Body Movement Symbols

Vocabulary
(<) {`}**M
Shoulder tapped from behind
/~/ (|`)*G/^
Moon (upper right)
Z~Z 1'.-.v_
Contempt
^~^ b~..~b>}{
Ceiling

Head turn can be used to role-shift for relating a dialogue in a story.

(<) (:%| (`)*."P??\ {|`}*M
Do you have any quarters?
(>) H__N {|};a@
No, sorry.
(<) x.~_ (`)-.1/.~ BHs
I need them for a bus ride.
(>) (:%| {|}B s%``%s_^} {k..}*k>
Do you want to borrow my car?
(<) (:%| (.)."1_.~
Really?
(>) (__) {|}**5
Yeah, it's fine.
(<) (:%) (.)*M<
Thanks!
Practice
Add the eye or head movement onto the beginning of these signs:
Shoulder tapped from behind
Moon (upper right)
Contempt
Ceiling

Lesson 24: Facial Expressions 2