Analysing Sign Language Poetry

by Rachel Sutton-Spence

This new study is a major contribution to sign language study and to literature generally, looking at the complex grammatical, phonological and morphological systems of sign language linguistic structure and their role in sign language poetry and performance. Chapters deal with repetition and rhyme, symmetry and balance, neologisms, ambiguity, themes, metaphor and allusion, poem and performance, and blending English and sign language poetry. Major poetic performances in both BSL and ASL - with emphasis on the work of the deaf poet Dorothy Miles - are analysed using the tools provided in the book.

Genres: Nonfiction, Poetry, Language

281 pages, Hardcover

First published November 12, 2004

Reviews

[Jessica · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sutton-Spence wrote my thesis better than and before I could! This is the most comprehensive method I know of for analyzing Sign Language Poetry. She carefully describes every poetic technique identified up 'til now, and adds a very valuable set of her own. She's the first I've seen to stop using all the linguistic features just to prove that something is sign language poetry, but to figure out what the poem actually means. So really, she's the first to situate sign language poetry amidst poetry in general. It's a bit tedious for all its detail, and probably not too interesting for someone from outside the field, but it has opened the door for scholars to pay attention to the poems as poems rather than linguistic fascinations.