Chapter 1. Sublexical structure
For the sublexical phonological structure of signs in DGS, the following manual components are constitutive: handshape, orientation, location, and movement. The autonomy of these parameters can be verified with minimal pairs. Furthermore, slips of the hands show that these parameters can be independently affected by linguistic errors. Hence, they are psychologically testified elements within the language planning process. The parameters are defined by distinctive features. The detailed properties of the manual and non-manual components in DGS are discussed below and illustrated with examples.