Path movement involves a change of location of the initial and final position of the sign. The change of location might be in the body of the signer or in the signing space. In LSC path movements may be realized in different manners: straight trajectory, circular, arc, spiral, and waves, among others.
a) profile (straight)
b) world (circular)
c) tunnnel (arc)
d) london (spiral)
e) sea (waves)
In LSC, some path movements are contrastive and thus may lead to minimal pairs. All signs shown below are two-handed signs that share the same handshape, location, and orientation, but differ in the type of path movement.
a) nobody (circular)
b) without (straight horizontal)
c) prepare (arc)