Nonmanual feature
Sign language syntax / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A nonmanual feature, also sometimes called nonmanual signal or sign language expression, are the features of signed languages that do not use the hands. Nonmanual features are grammaticised and a necessary component in many signs, in the same way that manual features are. Nonmanual features serve a similar function to intonation in spoken languages.[1]
![A signer furrowing their eyebrows and pursing their lips, as well as making a manual claw shape in front of their face](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/91/ASL_Claw5%40NearNose-PalmBack.jpg/200px-ASL_Claw5%40NearNose-PalmBack.jpg)