White Eye Sign

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The White Eye SignSignes de l'Ull Blanc (WESSUB) is a tactile and visual constructed language designed by the White Eye for secret in-person communication between its agents. To ensure that any agent can use it regardless of their native language and planet, it has its own grammar and vocabulary. However, it can hardly be considered a full language, as it's not designed to be able to describe anything.
Thanks to its simplicity, messages can be sent under the cover of innocent gestures, such as hugging someone, adjusting your clothes, manipulating an object (such as closing a door), or even just mindlessly tapping a table.

Structure

Phonology

Following its design goal to be inconspicuous when used in public, the WES is spoken with just the tips of the fingers of one hand. The hand itself can be in any position or shape, as long as the other person can see the tips—still, the ideal scenario is having the hand flat on a surface or on some part of the other person's body (usually the arm, the shoulder, or the back). Regardless of the position, or if the message is transferred visually or through touch, the WES is used by moving the fingers up and down, usually pressing them against a surface.
The language has a total of 16 phonemes, called configurations:

• 5 one-fingered configurations, one for each finger that is individually pressed down. They are numbered from 1 to 5 (for example, pressing the thumb down is called "configuration 1").
• 10 two-fingered configurations, one for each combination of two fingers that can press down. They are numbered with the digits corresponding to the active fingers, left to right (for example, pressing the thumb and index fingers down is called "configuration 12").
• The so-called resting configuration, in which all five fingers are down (or raised up, depending on the situation).

Syntax and grammar

The WES has a strict SVO order to minimize ambiguities. The verb can never be omitted, the object can only be omitted with intransitive verbs, and the subject can only be omitted with the imperative (in which case 2nd person singular is assumed). There are, however, pronouns that can be used to refer to previous subjects or objects to avoid having to repeat them.

contents

Type

Tactile sign language

Used by

White Eye agents