Analysing Sign Language Poetry

Rachel Sutton-Spence; Paddy Ladd; Gillian Rudd

ISBN 10: 1403935076 / ISBN 13: 9781403935076

Published by Palgrave Macmillan, 2005

About this Item

Hardcover, xvi + 265 pages, NOT ex-library. Book is clean and bright with unmarked text, free of inscriptions and stamps, firmly bound. Untorn dust jacket shows gentle handling wear. -- This seminal academic study provides a formal framework for understanding the linguistic and aesthetic structures of British Sign Language (BSL) poetry. The book treats sign language poetry as a sophisticated literary form, moving beyond simple translation to examine its unique visual and spatial properties. Linguistic Creative Devices: Sutton-Spence identifies specific "poetic" uses of BSL, such as metaphor, neologisms, and the creative manipulation of classifiers. Anthropomorphism and Metonymy: It explores how signers use their bodies to represent inanimate objects or multiple characters simultaneously through "role shift" and spatial placement. Visual Rhyme and Rhythm: The author proposes that "rhyme" in sign language is achieved through the repetition of handshapes, locations, or movement patterns, creating a visual harmony equivalent to auditory meter. Performance as Text: A key argument is that the "text" of a sign poem is inseparable from its performance; the book analyses how speed, tension, and facial expression function as essential prosodic elements. The work is considered a cornerstone of Deaf Studies and Applied Linguistics. Pioneering Framework: Critics in the Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education praised the book for providing the first comprehensive "grammar" for sign poetry, allowing for rigorous comparison with spoken-word traditions. It is a core text for BSL lecturers and researchers, often cited for its ability to bridge the gap between literary theory and sign language linguistics.

Seller Inventory # 012842

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Analysing Sign Language Poetry
• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
• Publication Date: 2005
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1403935076
• ISBN 13: 9781403935076
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: 1st Edition
• Condition: Very Good
• Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good

About this title

Synopsis

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.

About the Author

RACHEL SUTTON-SPENCE is Senior Lecturer in Deaf Studies at the University of Bristol, UK. She researches and teaches on sign language linguistics and the social context of sign languages as well as on sign language poetry. She is the co-author (with Bencie Woll) of The Linguistics of British Sign Language, which won the British Association of Applied Linguistics award and the Deaf Nation Award in 1999.

PADDY LADD is Senior Lecturer in Deaf Studies at the University of Bristol, UK.

GILLIAN RUDD is a Senior Lecturer in the School of English at Liverpool University, UK.