Translating sign language poetry into spoken French

In this paper, we consider the role of sign language poetry in creating and expressing the Deaf poet’s identity as a “visual person” in a community living within a wider national community. We show how two Deaf poets from different linguistic, national and cultural backgrounds nevertheless have both created similar effects through their sign language poems, drawing on the folkloric knowledge of their Deaf communities and wider national folklore. Analysis of the language and themes in the poems reveals that sign language components including neologism and use of symmetry can be manipulated directly to celebrate the visual experience of Deaf people. The poetic language can be seen as a way to empower poets and their audiences to understand their place better within the world Deaf community and their own national communities.

Download Full-text

How much can classifiers be analogous to their referents?

Gesture ◽

10.1075/gest.13.1.01sut ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 13 (1) ◽

pp. 1-27 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Rachel Sutton-Spence ◽

Donna Jo Napoli

Keyword(s):

American Sign Language ◽

Sign Language ◽

Visual Images ◽

American Sign ◽

Language Poetry ◽

Sign Languages ◽

Classifier System ◽

Signed Languages ◽

British Sign Language ◽

British Sign

Sign Language poetry is especially valued for its presentation of strong visual images. Here, we explore the highly visual signs that British Sign Language and American Sign Language poets create as part of the ‘classifier system’ of their languages. Signed languages, as they create visually-motivated messages, utilise categoricity (more traditionally considered ‘language’) and analogy (more traditionally considered extra-linguistic and the domain of ‘gesture’). Classifiers in sign languages arguably show both these characteristics (Oviedo, 2004). In our discussion of sign language poetry, we see that poets take elements that are widely understood to be highly visual, closely representing their referents, and make them even more highly visual — so going beyond categorisation and into new areas of analogue.

Download Full-text