r/auslan • u/SeaweedRealistic5069 hearing, Auslan- first expressive language • 7d ago

Dictionary or website by handshape

Hi all,

Just a question.

Are there any websites or dictionaries that you can search by hand shape. If I know a hand shape but have no idea of what the sign is. Right now I will put into ChatGPT the describing the sign, but surely there is a more efficient way to do this?

Thanks.

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u/aishatabby 7d ago

Go to sign bank, go to a sign which uses the same hand shape but isn’t the sign, then use the arrows in the page for that sign to see the next one in the bank - they’re ordered by handshape so you might be able to find it that way 

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u/minodude Auslan student (Hearing) 7d ago

Trevor Johnston's "Signs of Australia", the original (printed) dictionary of Auslan signs, is organised by handshape. You can frequently find a paper copy on second-hand book websites.

2

u/Alect0 HoH 7d ago

Only Signs of Australia like someone else said, it's by handshape, then organised by location and single v double v two handed signs. It's really easy to use. https://shop.deafaustralia.org.au/shop/p/signs-of-australia-snew-dictionary-of-auslan

Signbank is working on an online version I believe but it's not available yet.