"Poetry Performance" in ASL trace, Photospeaking and/or Photowriting series
by Jolanta Lapiak, www.lapiak.com
FOREWARD
I do not presume to speak on the behalf of Deaf culture, as I myself am not Deaf. Only those who live this unique way of life can truly understand and appreciate the struggles and triumphs of Deafness. American Sign Language (ASL) poetry offers insight, to both hearing and Deaf people, to the experiences of a Deaf person. Although performed in sign-language, ASL poetry speaks the language of that which we all know well: love, pain, joy. It is my goal to make ASL poetry more approachable to a hearing audience, so that this beautiful expression of passion can be shared with all.
AN INTRODUCTION TO ASL POETRY
*Writing words from ASL in English is called “gloss;” these gloss words are always capitalized to distinguish them as ASL words or phrases.
The word POETRY* in American Sign Language, or ASL, has two different signs with different meanings: the first sign is similar to the word MUSIC, and refers to poetry written in English by Deaf poets; the second sign is similar to the word EXPRESSION and is not written, but performed by Deaf poets.
As with any other culture, the Deaf community "possesses a rich narrative and poetic heritage of folklore and "oral" (or more aptly, "manual") traditions" (Inventing One's Voice). Although ASL Poetry has been around as long as signing has, it was not recorded until "the advent of video technology in the 1970s" (Poetry in Sign Language). This is because, unlike with oral languages, there is no written counterpart to American Sign Language. The beauty of ASL Poetry "does not reside in the use of words, whether spoken or printed; rather, by the very definition and nature of ASL, it is an embodied intertextuality" (Inventing One's Voice). American Sign Language has its own set of grammatical and linguistic rules, just as English does, and breaking these rules makes signing unintelligible. ASL uses five parameters to function: handshape, or the shape of one's hand when signing; palm orientation, or the way one's hand is facing (to the speaker, to the audience, left or right, up or down); location, or where on the body one is signing; movement, or how one moves the hands and arms; and most importantly, non-manual signs / facial expressions (Zinza). Simply raising an eyebrow changes a statement to a question. Changing the expression of the mouth changes the word LATE to the word YET. Severity is also expressed in facial expression, as NERVOUS and TERRIFIED are only differentiated by the expression on one's face. Since American Sign Language relies so heavily on these factors, ASL Poetry can only be truly, fully appreciated in its performance.
One might ask about enlisting the help of sign-language interpreters to translate ASL poetry; however, "translating an ASL poem to English is discouraged or sometimes is not possible due to some nature of complex unity of the handshape, movement, spatial location, classifier and others. Generally, no interpreting can convey a signed poem fully. Sign-language poetry can be best appreciated by its first-hand experience" (Poetry in Sign Language). ASL Poetry is not just for the Deaf, and can be appreciated by hearing people even if they have no sign-language experience. Deaf and hearing alike can, and should, appreciate the value of ASL Poetry, for it is "a complex, sophisticated, and poetic phrasing that parallels written forms of literature - with the difference that ASL texts exist visually, through the body and through performance" (Inventing One's Voice). As spoken poetry comes in several forms from ballads to limericks, ASL Poetry comes in the form of ABC stories, number stories, classifier stories, and handshape rhymes.
ABC STORIES
The American Sign Language alphabet has one handshape for each letter, as shown below.
When creating ABC stories, one works through the alphabet to tell a story. Each letter is used to represent a person, or an object, or an action. The letters do not initialize the word that the poet is trying to portray, or have anything to do with the story except that they act as the tools through which to create the story. It is similar to using a poetic device like iambic pentameter, and is a form into which the poet creates his story. American Sign Language, like any other language, has its own set of grammar and linguistic rules. These poems are not signed in ASL, but gestured and acted out, using the ASL devices of handshape and facial features. Easier seen than explained, the following clip is a very simple example, and the viewer needs no knowledge of sign-language to understand. The poet tells viewers that this is the story of a cowboy, and then begins his story.
The poet uses very few actual signs in his performance. Although a hearing person might not know the sign for SEARCH, it is clear to see that the cowboy is looking around when he uses the letter C. Most of the story is acted out through the handshapes, and flows so naturally that viewers almost don't even notice the letters being used. Viewers know the cowboy is scared at the end of the story not because the poet signed "I am scared," but because of his raised eyebrows and shaking knees. All of these elements come together to create poetry.
NUMBER STORIES
Number stories are very similar to ABC stories, in that they use the handshapes of numbers to tell a story, rather than using the handshape of letters.
In this clip, she presents the simple number story mentioned above.
Although the story contains a minimal translation, this translation fails to capture that the boy is stunned and captivated when he sees the girl, and omits the girl's sass as she sways her hips. Not only does the boy "give her a toothy smile," but he is proud, trying to grab her attention. These elements can only be appreciated through the poets facial expressions and body movement, which are clear even to a non-signer.
CLASSIFIER STORIES AND HANDSHAPE RHYMES
Classifier stories and handshape rhymes are both very similar, in that each uses only one classifier or handshape to tell a story, in contrast with ABC and number stories that use several different handshapes. A classifier is a handshape in ASL that does not have one specific meaning. For example, the classifier called "the claw" is used to set up the location of buildings, houses, or other objects. It does not mean "house," but is kind of like a pronoun, and is a way of referring to something without signing the same thing over and over again. If you wanted to explain the layout of your neighborhood, you would use "the claw" to locate where all the houses are. Handshape refers to the shape of one's hand when signing. For example, the handshape for the letter V can be used to sign not only this letter, but also to show eyes looking around a room, a person standing up, and a vareity of other signs that use the same handshape.
In both cases, classifier and handshape stories use one handshape to tell a story, emphasizing even further the importance of facial expressions. The following clip is a very moving story about an abused woman, using the handshape S to represent the woman's head and signs like SAFE. Although a basic interpretation is included, the meaning of these words is lost without the performer's facial expressions.
The translation "tormented" and "oppressed" is meaningless without the pain and suffering expressed on the poet's face and in the movement of her body. This poem demonstrates how futile it is to try and capture the essence of ASL poetry in English. Words cannot express the hurt shown on the poet's face. It is only in viewing performances like these that we are moved.
POETRY AND CHILDREN
Just as hearing children experiment with poetry in school, Deaf children also try their hand at poetry starting at a very young age. This video shows a group of school children expressing themselves through ABC and number stories. The teacher introduces herself, saying, "Hi! My name is Nhan. I'm teaching kindergarten and first graders about ASL poetry."
Deaf children that attend schools for the Deaf where ASL is encouraged, like the American School for the Deaf in West Hartford, CT, learn at an early age the importance of expression through poetry. Some of these children may go on to become famous ASL poets, like Ella Mae Lentz and Ben Bahan, names known in the Deaf world like hearing people know Shakespeare and Edgar Allan Poe. It is important to foster this expression just as one fosters it in a hearing child. Deaf children should be allowed and encouraged to express themselves in their natural language, building the foundation for a literate, enriched life.
FAKE ASL POETRY
There is a difference between ASL poetry and poetry translated into ASL. This second kind is not ASL poetry, for the rhymes fall on Deaf ears. This clip demonstrates what one should not confuse with ASL poetry.
This poetry is based on its oral and auditory function, and its repeating phrases and rhyming lines have no meaning to a Deaf audience. Though it is nice to translate fairy tales into ASL for a child, simply changing from English to ASL does not qualify as ASL poetry.
CONCLUSION
The Deaf community has an entire world of poetic art about which the hearing community has been. Most hearing people have never even met a Deaf person, let alone watched ASL poetry. Opening up ASL poetry to a hearing audience allows for the barrier between two cultures to be torn down. The best way to understand a culture is to examine its art. The hearing world must respect and accept ASL poetry as just as valuable as oral and written poetry. It is not just miming or a bunch of meaningless gestures, but is a pure form of expression, loaded with all the emotions and feelings that we all, as humans, experience. With the push for American Sign Language to be offered as a language course in high schools, I hope that more hearing people become aware of and try to understand Deaf culture, and all that it has to offer.
__________________________________________
Inventing One's "Voice": The Interplay of Convention and Self-Expression in ASL Narrative
Heidi M. Rose
Language in Society
Vol. 25, No. 3 (Sep., 1996), pp. 427-444
Published by: Cambridge University Press
Article Stable URL: http:// www.jstor.org/stable/4168720
"Poetry in Sign Language." Handspeak.com. HANDSPEAK. Web.
< http:// www.handspeak.com/byte/index.php?byte=p&ID=79 >.
Zinza, Jason E., Xiaohong Fang, and James Sbarra. Master ASL!: Level One. Burtonsville, MD: Sign Media, 2006. Print.
