Jump to content
Toggle menu
Toggle preferences menu
Toggle personal menu
Not logged in
Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits.

Arm signal

From Attu Project

In T'vaqi, arm signals are movements made by placing the forearm on different parts of the body to express various sentiments. They are understood universally by native residents and function as overt social cues that do not require speech or direct interaction to be acknowledged. Arm signals have coalesced over millennia of communication into a common set of motions that have been adopted by virtually all native speakers of the T'vaqi language.

List of signals

A public safety poster in Ishiq targeted at foreigners, advising that an arm on the thigh signals uncomfortability.
Body part Duration Meaning
Heart or chest Tapped Greeting, acknowledgement of presence
Held Indicates possession of an item[a 1]
Thigh Tapped Social discomfort
Neck Held Physical discomfort
Hip Tapped Emphasis, when speaking
Held Indicates attention to a speaker
Cranium Tapped Frustration
Held Indicates persistent or dedicated thought
Stomach Tapped Romantic interest
Lower back Tapped Indicates sarcasm or facetiousness in speech
Other arm Held Platonic affection
  1. ↑ The item may be inferred from context or indicated by pointing and/or glancing.

In writing

In written and typed T'vaqi, arm signals can be expressed by appending the characters [b 1] in front of the word for the target body part. A single is used to represent a tapped arm, whereas a held arm is indicated by . For instance, a greeting could be expressed by the following:

[Tapped] heart

Alternatively, possession of an item could be expressed by:

[Held] heart

In writing, the series of characters is sometimes written above the word for the target body part in a smaller script.

  1. ↑ The letter is used because it abstractly resembles a bent arm.