This research analyzed 9,557 Korean Sign Language(KSL) signs to investigate handshape of KSL. The results are following.
First, 69 handshapes and 11 variants in KSL were found. This result reveal that KSL has many handshapes more than foreign sign languages because KSL handshapes are more iconic than foreign sign language and KSL has many foreign signs and neologism. And minimal pairs, free variants, complementary distributions, and handshape appearance similarity(phonetic similarity) were also found in KSL handshapes.
Second, high frequent handshapes were in order 9, 1, fist, place, open hand, 5, beak, 10, phone, 6 handshape and low frequent handshapes were manual number types, English manual alphabet types, neologism handshapes.
Third, nondominant hand handshape of two different handshape were 28, and among them low frequent and iconic handshapes were also found quite many. This facts mean that KSL unmarked handshape analysis criterion include frequency of handshape, acquisition handshape of Deaf early childhood, error analysis of KSL beginner, comfort of sign articulation.
For the next study, generative phonological handshape study and studies on orthography and sequences of handshapes are necessary to make KSL dictionary based on cheremes.