Sign language

This article deals with Sign language as it relates to NationStates. For more general information, see the Wikipedia article on this subject.

Finger-talk is a form of sign language, a language which uses manual communication instead of sound to convey meaning. It performs this function through various finger, hand and arm positionings and relative movements. Finger-talk's primary variant is solely based on small motions of the fingers; to use the whole hand, much less the arm would be considered as typing in all caps in the forum. As such, it requires a fair amount of physical dexterity and is not considered a native language in most cultures, as the natural language impulse shared by most Humans and Humanoids does not generally extend to non-verbal communications. There is some arguement as to whether the written component of finger-talk is Braille, or non-existant, but that is largely irrelevant to Roleplay unless specifically desired by the nations in play.

Finger-talk is largely a dialogue used when speech would be impossible or undesirable in the circumstance. Rather than whisper, or signal through some other means, it provides a vector for communication that is hard to detect, harder still to prove, and nearly impossible to intercept stealthily. It thus provides an unhearable alternative for use in espionage, and in situations where background noise makes vocal communication difficult, for example, at a rock concert, or in a live-fire fox hole. It can also be used to coordinate manuvers in these situations, describing the action to be undertaken in more detail than the basic gestures of most special-operations services.

It is expected that any nations attempting to use finger-talk in an IC environment will denote same by a different color or offset to the text, when this language distinction is considered important. Finger-talk is functionally dissimilar to all extant languages, as it has no vocal component. For literary reference, one may consider the finger-speech of the D&D drow, or the aforementioned field signals of special operatives. Please note that the various rude and unsundry gestures of a local environment have not been taken into account in the creation of finger-talk, and it's use may offend the unwary.

Finger-talk/Sign Language Speaking Nations in NationStates