handshape and orientation, and split off ori (orientation of the hand) as a fourth parameter. Kendon, however, notes how this greatly complicates the phonological description of signs, and prefers to retain orientation as an aspect of the handshape, with changes of orientation analysed as other changes in the hands, rather than as changes in an independent parameter. Relative location When the tab is a hand shape, or the dez consists of two hands, a symbol may be placed between the two letters to indicate their relative position. These include a few of the movement/orientation letters above. In addition, there are symbols to indicate position above, below, next to, and behind: the underscore on the B in shows that the L hand is placed under a B hand, with or without contact, etc. * The free font does not cover these symbols Example This is the ASL word in Stokoe notation: The first letter, ᴗ (like a U), shows that the word is signed at the lower face (mouth or chin). The second, V⃛ɒ, shows that the hand has the shape of a fingerspelled "V". The V has two diacritics: the three dots ... above it show that the fingers are bent (curled), while the subscript shows that the hand is held with the back of the hand facing up. The last letters, @⊥, are a compound sig: the spiral shows a circular motion, and the tack underneath shows that the motion proceeds outward. This is a mimetic sign for 'snake', mimicking the motion of a fanged snake. It is alphabetized under to the tab U, then by the dez V, then by the sig @; the searcher does not need to know what it means or that it is glossed with the English word in order to look it up. Following is a passage from Goldilocks: Published use of Stokoe notation The first use of Stokoe notation appeared in the ASL Dictionary compiled by Stokoe, Casterline, and Croneberg, for which it was devised. Other indigenous sign language dictionary projects, for example the Dictionary of British Sign Language/English, ed. David Brien, pub. Faber and Faber 1992, and Signs of a Sexual Nature have included Stokoe notation. The notation has also been used to analyze Australian Aboriginal sign languages. These non-ASL projects have had to extend the notation to cover phonemes not found in ASL. See also ASL-phabet, a simplified notation used