Editing Minimal pair (section)

== In sign languages ==
In the past, signs were considered holistic forms without internal structure. However, the discovery in the mid-20th century that minimal pairs also exist in sign languages showed that sign languages have sublexical structure.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Stokoe|first=W. C.|date=2005-01-01|title=Sign Language Structure: An Outline of the Visual Communication Systems of the American Deaf|journal=Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education|language=en|volume=10|issue=1|pages=3–37|doi=10.1093/deafed/eni001|pmid=15585746|issn=1465-7325|doi-access=}}</ref> Signs consist of [[Phoneme#In sign languages|phonemes]], which are specifications for location, movement, handshape, orientation, and non-manual elements. When signs differ in only one of these specifications, they form a minimal pair. For instance, the [[German Sign Language]] signs shoes and socks are identical in form apart from their handshapes.