American Sign Language is a language that is communicated with the hands. When signing, the dominant hand does most of the work. It typically comes naturally to people to sign with their dominant hand. When the sign involves two hands, the dominant hand does the majority of the work, while the non-dominant hand is the more passive component of the sign.
Hand Shapes
Here are some different handshapes that are commonly used in American Sign Language to create signs:
Click on the photos to enlarge.
Most signs are a combination of the above handshapes that are used in different motions and in different forms. For example, the sign for the color brown, is a “B” handshape lightly pulled down the cheek of the signer.