ds_0049_campbellsemiotics_cap_01.mp4

ds_0049_campbellsemiotics_cap_01.mp4

Semiotics analysis of ASL poetry

Campbell, Cindy

American Sign Language literature

American Sign Language Research

Semiotics

Deaf, Writings of the, American

ASL poetry

Cynthia Campbell shares her research on the semiotics of ASL Poetry, analyzing a seemingly simple poem, Cow and Rooster by Clayton Valli signed by a young girl. She explains that in teaching hearing students ASL they had a difficult time making a transition to using sign language smoothly. Her research question relates to improving the teaching of ASL by asking Deaf people what is considered excellent storytelling or poetry. They were not able to give her examples, so this became part of her research question. She analyzes Cow and Rooster by using some semiotic principles as outlined by 19th century philosopher Charles Sanders Pierce: symbols, icons, and index (as it pertains to ASL). She found rich analysis in this poem: body stance and shift to indicate different characters, handshape patterns of 3 (rooster), Y (cow) and 5 (farm) signed in different spatial areas, and discovered metonymy (icon and index)-- and a pattern of in the narrative structure. English text has a different pattern as compared to ASL signs, thus more research is needed to see how Deaf and hearing people process language and if it is different, how to improve teaching of ASL to hearing students.

National Technical Institute for the Deaf

Rochester Institute of Technology - RIT Libraries - RIT Archive Collections

2000

2018

moving image

mp4

VHS

35 minutes

American Sign Language

English

RITDSA.0049

Sculptures in the Air: An Accessible Online Video Repository of the American Sign Language (ASL) Poetry and Literature Collections

ASL Lecture Series DVDs

2018-2019 CLIR Grant-ASL Poetry and Literature

https://albert.rit.…

https://archivesspa…

New York - Rochester

Henrietta Campus

RIT Libraries makes materials from its collections available for educational and research purposes pursuant to U.S. Copyright Law. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. It is your responsibility to obtain permission from the copyright holder to publish or reproduce images in print or electronic form.

CC BY-NC-ND: Attribution NonCommercial NoDerivatives 4.0 International

FOLKS, FOLKS, IT SEEMS
THAT WE HAVE LIFTOFF HERE.

CAN I GET
YOUR ATTENTION, PLEASE?

WE'RE GONNA GO AHEAD
AND GET STARTED.

OUR TECHNICAL PROBLEMS HAVE
BEEN SORT OF RESOLVED.

ANYWAY, WE NEED TO GO AHEAD AND
INTRODUCE MS. CINDY CAMPBELL,

OUR FOURTH IN
THE "ASL LECTURE SERIES."

AND SHE'S A FORMER STUDENT.

SHE GRADUATED HERE
A FEW YEARS AGO.

AND SHE IS TEACHING IN

THE DEPARTMENT OF SIGN LANGUAGE
INTERPRETER EDUCATION HERE.

SHE'S GOING TO EXPLAIN
A LITTLE BIT

ABOUT HER DISSERTATION
FOR HER Ph.D.

AND SO I'D LIKE TO WELCOME
CINDY CAMPBELL.

CINDY: HI, EVERYONE.

THANKS, BARBARA RAY,
FOR THE INTRODUCTION.

I'M THRILLED TO BE HERE.

AND, ALSO, I'M THRILLED
TO SHOW YOU MY WORK.

I THINK THIS IS VERY EXCITING.

LAST YEAR,
I WAS TEACHING A CLASS

AT THE UNIVERSITY OF ALBANY.

AND I WONDERED WHAT MADE
ME THINK ABOUT

WHAT I LEARNED ABOUT ASL
THUS FAR.

SO IT MADE ME AND INSPIRED ME
TO RESEARCH MORE CLOSELY

SOME POETRY AND ELOQUENCE.

AND IT'S VERY RICH.

I FOUND THAT ASL AND POETRY IS
VERY, VERY RICH.

SO THESE ARE THE RESULTS
FROM MY RESEARCH.

NOW, IT'S NOT FINISHED.

MIND YOU, THE RESEARCH WILL GO
ON AND LEAD TO MORE RESEARCH.

THIS IS A SEMIOTIC ANALYSIS OF
ASL POETRY.

SOUNDS MORE COMPLICATED
THAN IT IS.

I'M GONNA GO ON AND EXPLAIN
A LITTLE BIT MORE IN DEPTH.

AND I'M SURE YOU'LL UNDERSTAND
VERY CLEARLY

BY THE END OF
MY PRESENTATION, OK?

SO LET ME START WITH SOME
OVERHEADS FOR YOU.

NOW, THE PROJECT THAT I'M
SPEAKING TO YOU ABOUT WAS

AN IN-DEPTH STUDY OF ASL
IN A LINGUISTIC MANNER.

SO...

AS I'VE BEEN TEACHING OVER
THE YEARS,

I'VE TAUGHT MANY STUDENTS,

AND I'M FINDING THAT WE'RE
CONCENTRATING ON SIGN USE,

LEARNING THE SIGNS FOR "MOTHER"

AND "FATHER" AND "SODA POP."

AND THEN WHEN YOU GET OUT
IN THE WORLD,

THE STUDENTS FOUND THAT IT WAS
VERY AWKWARD STILL.

AS I RESEARCHED THEM
AND I ANALYZED THEM,

I COULDN'T FIGURE OUT WHAT WAS
GOING ON WITH THEM

AND WHY THEY WERE
SO AWKWARD ONCE THEY

GOT OUT INTO THE REAL WORLD.

THAT LED TO MY RESEARCH,
BECAUSE THERE WAS

A QUESTION UNANSWERED FOR ME.

AND I THINK THAT THIS WILL
IMPROVE OUR PEDAGOGY

IN FUTURE YEARS IF WE CAN ANSWER
A FEW QUESTIONS.

IT WILL HELP STUDENTS IN
SOCIALIZING

AND BEING MORE ELOQUENT WITH
THE LANGUAGE.

OK. THUS FAR, THE RESEARCH,
WHICH IS PLENTIFUL,

WE'VE BEEN FOCUSING

ON ASL STRUCTURE AND NARRATIVE
AND DISCOURSE.

WE HAVE NAMED AND LABELED
AND ANALYZED ALL OF IT.

WE HAVE STRUCTURE. WE KNOW THAT
ASL HAS GRAMMAR AND SYNTAX.

WE KNOW ALL OF THAT.
STILL NOT QUITE SATISFIED.

THERE NEEDS TO BE MORE RESEARCH.

AND THAT'S THE INTENT OF
MY ANALYZATION HERE, OK?

SO, SECONDLY, MY MASTER'S THESIS
WAS VERY CRITICAL.

THAT ANSWERS THAT QUESTION--

THAT QUESTION THAT
KEPT BOTHERING ME FOR 5 YEARS.

IT WAS VERY IMPORTANT FOR ME
TO ANSWER THAT QUESTION,

SO THAT WAS THE REASON
FOR MY MASTER'S THESIS.

MY MASTER'S THESIS WANTED
TO FOCUS ON

HOW DEAF SPEAKERS, DEAF SIGNERS
ACHIEVED ELOQUENCE

IN THEIR NARRATIVES.

SO A SEMIOTIC ANALYSIS IS,
THEREFORE, ATTACHED

TO DEAF ELOQUENCE,
ELOQUENCE OF SPEAKERS.

SO I WENT TO A LOT OF
DEAF PEOPLE THAT I KNEW--

DEAF FRIENDS AND COLLEAGUES

AND ASKED THEM TO NAME FOR ME
A PERSON THAT THEY REMEMBER

IN THEIR SCHOOLING

OR AT ANY TIME THAT THEY'VE
MET A PERSON IN THEIR LIFE

THAT WAS BEAUTIFULLY ELOQUENT
IN THE USE OF ASL.

THEY ALL NAMED DIFFERENT PEOPLE,
SOME TEACHERS THAT THEY'D HAD,

SOME FRIENDS THAT THEY'D KNOWN.

ONCE I GATHERED ALL THAT
INFORMATION, I ASKED THEM,

WHY WAS THAT PERSON ELOQUENT?
WHAT MADE THEM ELOQUENT?

THE ANSWERS THAT I GOT WERE
THAT THE SIGNING WAS BEAUTIFUL,

THEIR USE OF THE LANGUAGE WAS
BEAUTIFUL,

AND THEY WERE CLEAR,

THEY UNDERSTOOD HOW TO USE
THE LANGUAGE

IN A BEAUTIFUL WAY.

THIS WASN'T SUFFICIENT FOR ME.
I NEEDED TO KNOW MORE.

SO I ASKED THEM TO SHOW ME.

I ASKED THEM TO SHOW ME WHY
THE PERSON WAS SO ELOQUENT.

THEY COULDN'T ANSWER ME.

I SAID, THAT'S THE QUESTION
I NEED TO ANSWER,

AND THAT'S WHY I DID MY
MASTER'S THESIS ON THAT. OK?

I ALREADY KIND OF EXPLAINED
TO YOU THAT THIS WILL LEAD

TO TEACHING TOOLS FOR US
IN THE FUTURE.

NOW, I WANT TO FOCUS
ON ASL DISCOURSE FIRST.

SO I WANT TO SHOW YOU MY STUDIES
OF WHAT I'VE FOUND

IN THE STRUCTURE OF ASL
AND IN POETRY.

NOW, I DON'T KNOW HOW MUCH
YOU'VE TAKEN OF SIGN LANGUAGE.

SOME OF YOU ARE MORE PROFICIENT
THAN OTHERS,

AND SOME OF YOU ARE LINGUISTS,
INDEED, IN THE AUDIENCE.

SO, NOW, WHEN WE'RE SPEAKING
LANGUAGE, WHAT IS A WORD?

LIKE THE WORD "CAKE." OK?

YOU HAVE A TONE OF VOICE
WHEN YOU SAY "CAKE."

THERE'S A SOUND: "CAKE."

THERE'S THE PRODUCTION OF IT.

BUT IF YOU PULL THAT WORD APART
A LITTLE BIT,

YOU CAN FIND THE SOUND,
THE SOUND, CCC...

[MAKES LONG "A" SOUND]
THAT SOUND AAA,

ANOTHER SOUND, CCC,

[EMPHASIZES CCC SOUND]
AND THE END SOUND OF "CAKE."

SIGNS HAVE THE SAME THING.

WE CAN PULL APART
THE DIFFERENT SIGNS

AND SEPARATE THEM INTO THEIR
PHONEMES, MORPHEMES IF YOU WILL.

OK? SO EXAMPLE:
THE SIGN "MOTHER."

CAN YOU ALL SEE THIS, "MOTHER"?

OK? IT HAS 5,
WHAT WE'LL CALL PARAMETERS. OK?

PHONOLOGICAL COMPONENTS,
AND HERE THEY ARE.

WE HAVE THE HANDSHAPE, OK?

IT'S A 5. CORRECT.
A 5 HANDSHAPE.

NEXT, WE WANT TO LOOK AT
ITS LOCATION.

WHERE IS THE SIGN PRODUCED?

RIGHT HERE, UNDER THE MOUTH
AND THE CHIN, CORRECT?

THIRDLY, WE HAVE MOVEMENT.
DOES THE SIGN MOVE?

THERE'S A SMALL MOVEMENT
WITH THE SIGN "MOTHER." YES.

YOU CAN MOVE IT A COUPLE OF
TIMES, OR YOU CAN MOVE IT ONCE.

THE FOURTH THING WE LOOK AT
IS PALM ORIENTATION,

WHETHER THE PALM IS FACING
OUR READER

OR FACING TOWARD OURSELVES

OR FACING TO THE RIGHT SIDE
OR THE LEFT SIDE, OK?

AND THE LAST IS THE NON-MANUAL
MARKERS THAT GO WITH "MOTHER."

THE SIGN "MOTHER"
DOESN'T REQUIRE

ANY NON-MANUAL MARKERS
NECESSARILY,

SO THIS IS HOW WE SPLIT APART
THE WORD

OR, IF YOU WILL,
THE SIGN "MOTHER."

ALL OF THESE 3, 4, 5 THINGS
TOGETHER MAKE THE SIGN "MOTHER."

OK. IT'S IMPORTANT NOW THAT
THE SIGN FOR "MOTHER" IS

MOVED JUST A LITTLE BIT UP
TO THE FOREHEAD.

AND THERE'S ONCE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE SIGN FOR "MOTHER"

AND THE SIGN FOR "FATHER,"

AND THAT IS LOCATION.

IT MAKES A DIFFERENT SIGN, OK?
SO THAT'S CRITICAL.

THAT'S A CRITICAL--IF ONE
LITTLE COMPONENT IS CHANGED,

YOU GET A DIFFERENT SIGN.

THIS MIGHT SEEM
A LITTLE COMPLEX,

BUT LET ME GO AHEAD
AND I'LL EXPLAIN THIS TO YOU.

SEMIOTICS...

DOESN'T MEAN SIGN.

IT'S NOT THE WORD "SIGN."

A SIGN MEANS WHAT?

LIKE THAT IS A SIGN.

THAT'S A SIGN.
"NOSE"--THAT'S A SIGN.

MY MOUTH, THAT'S A SIGN.
EVERYTHING IS A SIGN.

EVERY GESTURE IS A SIGN, OK?
THAT'S NOT WHAT I MEAN.

EVERYTHING HAS THE POTENTIAL
TO BE A SIGN.

SO WHEN WE GET A SIGN,
IT HAS A PROCESS.

HOW WE STUDY SIGNS.

PEIRCE IN HIS WORK.

HE'S A FAMOUS AMERICAN
PHILOSOPHER

BACK IN--AROUND THE TURN OF
THE CENTURY, ABOUT 1905.

HIS WORK WAS FOCUSED ON
SEMIOTICS.

HE DISCUSSED EVERYTHING
IN THE WORLD, THE WORLD OF MAN.

WHEN PEOPLE GET A THOUGHT,
THEY INTERPRET

ALL OF THIS INFORMATION IN
THEIR HEADS

AND COME OUT AND PRODUCE
SYMBOLS.

AND EVERYTHING IN THE WORLD IS
CONNECTED TO EVERYTHING ELSE.

EVERYTHING IS INTERPRETED AS
A SIGN OR A WORD OR A CONCEPT,

AND IT BECOMES,
EVERYTHING IS CONNECTED, OK?

NOW...

I HAVE TO SHOW YOU HIS MODEL

SO THAT WE CAN PUT
ALL THIS TOGETHER.

THIS IS PEIRCE'S MODEL,
OK? NOW...

I WANT TO SHOW YOU,
HERE'S ONE WITH A REFERENT.

THE REFERENT--AND I'LL HAVE
TO TELL YOU WHAT THAT MEANS, OK?

MY SHOES, MY CLOTHES.
THAT'S A REFERENT.

MY HAIR. THAT'S A REFERENT, OK?

ANYTHING. ONE THING.

ANYTHING THAT IS ONE THING,
LIKE HAIR OR CHAIR OR WHATEVER.

THAT'S A REFERENT,
AN OBJECT, OK?

SUPPOSE YOU SEE A PERSON.

AND YOU SEE THEIR HAIR.

HOW DO WE GET
THE SYMBOL "H-A-I-R"?

WE GOT TO CONNECT
THE SYMBOL WITH THE THING,

THE OBJECT--HAIR, OK?

THAT BECOMES THE INTERPRETATION
INTO A SIGN, A SYMBOL, OK?

THAT'S THE PROCESS.

NOW, ARE WE CLEAR ON THAT?
LET ME SHOW YOU SOME MORE.

PODIUM. OK? I SEE THIS.
I SEE ITS SHAPE.

I SEE ITS COLOR.
I SEE WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE.

THIS THING.
HOW DO I CONNECT TO THAT?

HOW I CONNECT TO THAT IS WITH
LANGUAGE, OK?

I NEED TO MAKE A SYMBOL, A WORD,
IF YOU WILL, FOR THAT.

"PODIUM." OK. NOW, THAT THING
REPRESENTS A PODIUM.

OK?

THE WORD "PODIUM" REPRESENTS
THE THING.

NOW LET'S TALK ABOUT LANGUAGE.

NOW, THERE ARE A MILLION
DIFFERENT SIGNS, RIGHT?

NOW, PEIRCE HAD 3 GROUPS
OF SIGNS.

SYMBOLS:
THAT MEANS LINGUISTIC WORDS.

YOU HAVE TO HAVE AN AGREED-UPON
SYSTEM OF COMMUNICATION,

LIKE A LANGUAGE, IF YOU WILL,
AN AGREED-UPON SYSTEM OF WORDS

THAT REPRESENT OBJECTS, OK?

SO WHAT'S THE SIGN FOR THIS,
WHAT I'M WEARING?

WHAT'S THE SIGN FOR THIS?
OK, "DRESS." GOOD.

"DRESS" IS THE SIGN FOR THIS.
FINE.

NOW, THE DEAF COMMUNITY AGREES.

WE ALL AGREE, IF YOU WILL,

TO SIGN "DRESS" FOR THAT OBJECT.

NOW, IF I'M TALKING TO A PERSON
FROM ANOTHER COUNTRY

AND I SIGN "DRESS," WHAT WE

IN AMERICA HAVE AGREED UPON IS

THE SIGN FOR "DRESS,"

THEY MAY NOT UNDERSTAND THAT.

IT DOESN'T MEAN THE SAME THING
TO THEM.

THEIR PEOPLE HAVE A DIFFERENT
SIGN FOR "DRESS," OK?

SO IT'S AN ABSTRACT CONCEPT THAT
WE HAVE TO AGREE UPON

WHAT LABELS WE WILL USE

AND WHAT SYMBOLS WE WILL USE
TO DEFINE THE OBJECT, OK?

OK. NOW, THE NEXT GROUP FROM
PEIRCE IS ICONS.

NOW, ICONS ARE EASY.

AN ICON MEANS SOMETHING THAT
MAKES A CONNECTION.

NOW, SUPPOSE I SIGN "DRINK."
OK, THAT'S EASY.

YOU WOULD UNDERSTAND THAT

EVEN IF YOU DIDN'T KNOW
SIGN LANGUAGE, RIGHT?

NOW, IF I GO AGAIN TO EUROPE
OR TO ANOTHER COUNTRY

AND I SIGN "DRINK,"
IT'S VERY CLEAR.

IT SO CLEARLY REPRESENTS
THE ACTION OF THAT OBJECT THAT

ANY OTHER PERSON ON THE PLANET
WOULD KNOW

WHAT I WAS TALKING ABOUT.

THE NEXT GROUP OF
"IF" COMPONENTS FROM PEIRCE IS

INDEXES.

NOW, LET'S PUT ENGLISH
ASIDE HERE,

AND LET'S TALK ABOUT ASL, OK?

INDEXING. DO YOU SEE WHAT
I'M DOING HERE?

INDEXING MEANS "REFERRING
BACK TO SOMETHING." OK.

SAY I'M SIGNING THIS
ABOUT A CAR,

AND I USE THIS CLASSIFIER
TO REPRESENT

THE CAR, THE VEHICLE, OK?

THAT'S REFERENCING BACK.

ASL MAKES HIGH USE OF
REFERENCING.

IF I SIGN "MY MOTHER,"

AND I PUT "MY MOTHER"
IN MY LEFT POSITION HERE,

OR IN MY RIGHT POSITION,
THEN I CAN REFERENCE BACK

TO "MY MOTHER"
ON MY LEFT POSITION

OR ON MY RIGHT POSITION,

AND YOU KNOW WHO
I'M TALKING ABOUT.

SUPPOSE I HAVE A BIG BOWL
OF SALAD IN FRONT OF ME,

AND I USE THE CLASSIFIER,

BUT I MAINTAIN THE SIZE
AND SHAPE OF THAT BOWL

AS I MOVE THE BOWL
FROM THE TABLE TO THE SINK.

THAT'S REFERENCING BACK.

OK, I THINK YOU UNDERSTAND
WHAT I MEAN.

ASL IS VERY RICH
IN INDEXICALITY.

FIRST I WANT TO SHOW YOU
A LITTLE DATA.

OK. ACTUALLY, LET ME SHOW YOU
A MOVIE FIRST REAL QUICK.

IT'S IMPORTANT THAT POETRY--

THERE WAS ONE LITTLE GIRL IN
HERE WHO IS SO CUTE.

SHE'S TALKING ABOUT A HORSE
AND A COW.

IT'S JUST ONE MINUTE.

IT'S A VERY SHORT STORY,
BUT IT IS BEAUTIFUL.

HER USE OF LANGUAGE IS
JUST BEAUTIFUL.

I WANT TO SHOW YOU THAT FIRST,

AND THEN I WANT TO ANALYZE
THE DATA WITH YOU.

THAT SIMPLE LITTLE STORY
BUT BEAUTIFULLY DONE, WOW!

AND A LOT OF ANALYZING
POTENTIAL THERE.

OK. SO BEFORE I SHOW YOU
THE DATA NOW,

LET'S ANALYZE THAT WHICH IS
REAL IMPORTANT.

WHEN YOU GO TO
AN ENGLISH CLASS--

YOU'VE ALL TAKEN
ENGLISH CLASSES, RIGHT?

WRITING CLASSES. OK.

WHEN YOU WRITE A PAPER,
HOW DO YOU START?

WHAT'S YOUR PROCESS?
WHAT'S THE FIRST THING YOU DO?

OK, YOU MAKE AN OPENING, RIGHT?
AN INTRODUCTION.

AN OPENING STATEMENT,
OPENING PARAGRAPH, YES? RIGHT.

WHAT'S THE SECOND PART
OF YOUR PAPER? A BODY. GOOD.

MM-HMM. A BODY THAT IS HOWEVER
MANY PARAGRAPHS.

AND WHAT'S THE LAST PART
OF YOUR PAPER?

A CONCLUSION. CORRECT.

SO THE OPENING, THE BODY,
AND THE CONCLUSION IS

IN WRITTEN LANGUAGE.

OK, NOW, ASL STUDENTS,
WHEN THEY PRODUCE NARRATIVE,

THEY HAVE THE 3 SAME
COMPONENTS, OK?

I'M GOING TO GO A LITTLE DEEPER
INTO EACH OF THOSE

WITH THIS DATA I'M GOING
TO SHOW YOU.

OK. SO I WANT TO LET YOU KNOW
HOW WE'RE GOING TO ANALYZE THIS.

OOPS. CAN YOU ALL SEE?
HA HA! OK.

OK. SO WHEN YOU START
TO ANALYZE THIS--

I GOT THIS
AND I DIDN'T KNOW EXACTLY

HOW TO ANALYZE THIS DATA.

SO I THOUGHT, LET ME BREAK IT
INTO COLUMNS.

I'LL HAVE A 1 COLUMN,
A 2 COLUMN, AND A 3 COLUMN.

I WAS A LITTLE BIT AWKWARD
WITH THIS AT FIRST.

AND I WAS TALKING
TO A TEACHER COLLEAGUE OF MINE.

THEY SUGGESTED THAT I FOLLOW
WHAT THE PERSON DOES

AS FAR AS THEIR MOVEMENT TO
THEIR RIGHT SIDE, THEIR MIDDLE,

OR THEIR LEFT SIDE,
WHERE THE SIGNS ARE PLACED.

AND THAT MADE THINGS
ALL WORK OUT VERY WELL.

SO THAT WORKED.

OK? YOU CAN SEE IT UP HERE.
THAT'S FOR THE RIGHT SIDE, OK?

HERE'S THE MIDDLE...

AND LEFT, OK?

SO THAT'S WHERE THE SIGNS
ARE PRODUCED. SO...

SEE WHAT HAPPENS HERE
IN THE MIDDLE SPACE?

THE LITTLE GIRL TALKED ABOUT THE
FARM AND TALKED ABOUT THE COWS

AND SET THE COWS UP.

AND YOU COULD SEE
THE ROOSTER THEN,

AND THE ROOSTER WAS SET UP, OK?

ALL OF THAT WAS BASICALLY IN
THE MIDDLE FRAME, OK,

IN HER MIDDLE SPACE OF HER BODY.

DO YOU SEE ALL THIS DOWN HERE
LATER ON IN THE POEM--

OR LATER ON IN THE NARRATIVE?

DO YOU SEE THE Y HANDSHAPE?

AND YOU SEE DOWN HERE

THE 3 CLASSIFIER,
THE 3 HANDSHAPE.

AND THEN IN THE MIDDLE, WE HAVE
TWO HANDS AND THE 5 CLASSIFIER.

OK? AND THEN DOWN AT
THE END AGAIN.

SO THERE'S 3 SPECIFIC HANDSHAPES
THAT SHE USED.

SHE USED THE 3, THE Y,
AND THE 5 HANDSHAPES, OK?

SO THE 5 IS IMPORTANT.

THE 5 HANDSHAPE IS IMPORTANT
BECAUSE WHEN YOU'RE

SHIFTING YOUR BODY--

I WONDERED, WHY DO PEOPLE
SHIFT THEIR BODIES?

WELL, OBVIOUSLY, THAT'S
FOR A ROLE SHIFT, OK?

FOR A COMPARING
AND A CONTRASTING, OK?

THIS IS WHAT'S HAPPENING WHEN I
SHIFT TO MY LEFT.

THIS CHARACTER TAKES ON
THE ROLE,

AND IT DOES THE SPEAKING.

NOW, WHEN I SHIFT TO MY RIGHT,
THERE'S ANOTHER CHARACTER.

I BECOME ANOTHER CHARACTER,

AND I DO THE NARRATIVE
FOR THAT CHARACTER, OK?

SO THIS HAS A DEFINITE
LINGUISTIC PURPOSE--

ROLE TAKING, ROLE SHIFTING.

OK. SO, OOPS. WAIT A MINUTE.
I'VE LOST MY TECHNOLOGY.

AH, THERE WE GO. OK. PHEW!

OK, IT ONLY TOOK A NAP. OK.

NOW, THAT ROLE SHIFTING, THAT
BODY SHIFTING, THAT IS INDEXING.

OK? THAT'S OUR LEFT COLUMN,
WHERE THE Y HAPPENED.

AND THEN OUR RIGHT COLUMN IS
WHERE THE 3 HANDSHAPE HAPPENED.

AND THEN IN THE MIDDLE IS
WHERE THE 5 HANDSHAPE HAPPENED.

OK? SO YOU HAVE THE COW
ON THE LEFT,

WHICH IS THE Y HANDSHAPE;

THE ROOSTER ON THE RIGHT,

WHICH IS THE 3 HANDSHAPE;

AND IN THE MIDDLE,
WE HAVE THE 5 HANDSHAPE,

WHICH WAS REPRESENTING THE FARM.

SO NOW...

SO YOU HAVE YOUR 3, YOUR 5,
AND YOUR Y HANDSHAPES.

SO WHO'S THE 3 REPRESENTING?
THE ROOSTER.

WHO DOES THE Y REPRESENT?
THE COW.

AND WHAT DOES
THE 5 HANDSHAPE REPRESENT?

THE FARM.

ALL THOSE 3 ARE INDEXED
OVER AND OVER AGAIN

AND OFTEN AT THE SAME TIME.

THE REASON FOR THAT IS

BECAUSE THAT MAKES
A LINGUISTIC CONNECTION.

YOU CAN SWITCH YOUR BODY,
AND YOU BECOME THAT CHARACTER.

AT THE SAME TIME,

THAT'S AN ICON BECAUSE
THERE'S MOVEMENT INVOLVED.

YOU CAN SEE HOW THE COW MOVES,
HOW THE ROOSTER WALKS,

HOW THE COW CHEWS ITS CUD.

YOU CAN SEE THE WEIGHT IN
THE MOVEMENT OF EACH CHARACTER.

THAT'S INDEXING, AND IT'S
ALSO ICONING--ICONOGRAPHIC.

AND THAT'S CALLED METONYMY, OK?

BECAUSE YOU'RE COMBINING 2 OR 3
DIFFERENT PARTS.

THAT'S METONYMY.

METONYMY MEANS TWO PARTS
ACTING IN THE SAME TIME.

YOU HAVE INDEXING

AND YOU HAVE ICONIC
REPRESENTATION SIMULTANEOUSLY.

THAT'S VERY ABSTRACT,
VERY RICH.

THAT STORY SHOWS THAT THE REASON
THAT A LOT OF HEARING STUDENTS

WHO ARE LEARNING SIGN LANGUAGE
ARE VERY AWKWARD

THEIR FIRST TWO OR 3 YEARS,
BECAUSE THEY DON'T UNDERSTAND

THE COMPLEXITIES
OF WHAT THEY'RE DOING.

THEY DON'T UNDERSTAND

THE COMPLEXITIES
OF WHAT THE LANGUAGE CAN DO.

I DIDN'T UNDERSTAND THAT FOR
QUITE A LONG TIME.

I'D UNDERSTAND I WAS
JUST TEACHING THEM SIGNS,

AND I DIDN'T UNDERSTAND WHY
THEY WERE NOT GETTING

THE ELOQUENCE
AND THE COMPLEXITIES.

THIS RESEARCH HAS LED ME
TO UNDERSTAND WHY THAT IS.

THEY WERE NOT TAUGHT
THE INDEXING OR THE ICONING--

ICONICITY AND INDEXING.

OK, NOW, LET'S LOOK AT
THE BEGINNING,

THE MIDDLE, AND THE ENDING,

GOING BACK TO HOW WE WRITE
A PAPER, RIGHT?

THE INTRODUCTION, THE BODY,
AND THE CONCLUSION, OK?

LET'S CONNECT THAT TO OUR STORY.

NOW, DO YOU SEE ALL THIS THAT'S
HAPPENING UP HERE?

IN THE MIDDLE SECTION,
USING MORE SIGNS--

"FARM," "COW," "ROOSTER."

NOW DO YOU SEE THIS LATER ON
IN THE STORY, WHAT'S HAPPENING?

THERE AREN'T ANY WORDS.
THERE AREN'T ANY SYMBOLS.

SYMBOL USE GOES WAY DOWN IN
THE MIDDLE AND END OF THE STORY.

AND THEN AT THE END, THE WORD--
OR THE SYMBOLS CROP UP AGAIN.

SO I WAS ANALYZING...

HOW PEOPLE USE THIS LANGUAGE.

AND WHAT HAPPENS IS IN THE
BEGINNING OF A STORY OR A POEM,

THERE'S HEAVY SYMBOL USE.

THEN...AS WE REACH THE MIDDLE
OF THE STORY OR POEM,

SYMBOL USE...DECREASES

AND ICON AND INDEXING USE
INCREASES.

SO THAT POEM HAS STRUCTURE
IMBEDDED.

IT PURELY HAS STRUCTURE.
WE KNOW THAT.

WHEN I STARTED REALIZING...

WHAT KIND OF STRUCTURE
WAS INVOLVED

AND REALIZING HOW THE STRUCTURE
WAS CONNECTED

TO THE ELOQUENCE
AND THE PRODUCTION,

IT ALL STARTED TO MAKE SENSE.

AND THIS 3-COLUMN GRID IS WHAT
I CAME UP WITH.

SO THE NARRATIVE STRUCTURE IS
DEEPER THAN YOU THINK.

IT'S NOT JUST
AN OPENING/INTRODUCTION, A BODY,

AND A CLOSING.

IT HAS A LOT MORE TO IT.

THERE'S MORE DEPTH
AND MORE RICHNESS TO IT

THROUGH THE STRUCTURE THAN
WHAT WE ORIGINALLY THOUGHT.

NOW, RELATED TO THE DATA,
THERE'S TWO TESTS IN MY THESIS,

OK? ANALYZING THE STRUCTURE,

AND, ALSO, I WANTED TO TEST
A NARRATIVE

AND HOW THE STRUCTURE APPLIES
TO THE NARRATIVE, OK,

OR IF IT APPLIED.

OK. I WANTED TO FOCUS ON POETRY

BECAUSE STORYTELLING
AND NARRATIVE IS VERY DIFFERENT

THAN POETRY.

I WANTED TO SEE IF MY THESIS
APPLIED TO IT.

AND I FOUND THAT STORIES
HAVE FOLLOWED

THE SAME PRINCIPLES AS POETRY,
BUT THERE'S ONE DIFFERENCE.

THE OPENING
IS STRONG SYMBOL USE.

THE OPENING IS VERY HIGH
IN SYMBOL USE.

THE MIDDLE,
THE BODY OF THE STORY...

IS PRETTY SIMILAR TO POETRY.

THERE'S A LOT OF ACTING,
A LOT OF GESTURING,

A LOT OF ROLE SHIFTING
AND INDEXING, OK?

A LOT OF USING THE EYEBROWS UP,
AS IN TOPIC SENTENCES,

THAT'S IN HEAVY USE
WITH SYMBOLS.

AND IN THE MIDDLE OF THE STORY,
ICON AND INDEXING INCREASES

AND SYMBOL USE DECREASES,

AND THEN YOU GET
A NEW TOPIC IN THE MIDDLE.

AND THEN YOU HAVE
YOUR CONCLUSION,

AND SYMBOL USE AGAIN RISES
FOR THE CONCLUSION.

SO I ANALYZED THE STORIES.

THAT SUMMER, I WATCHED A LOT
OF VIDEOTAPES, NEEDLESS TO SAY,

AND DID A LOT OF ANALYZATION
OF THE STORIES.

ONE THING I NOTICED, ONE PATTERN
THAT I NOTICED

THAT DIDN'T FIT MY THESIS,
DIDN'T FIT MY HYPOTHESIS,

AND THAT WAS USING
THE Y HANDSHAPE.

I WONDERED WHY, WONDERED WHY.

AND THEN I REALIZED THAT THERE
WERE MANY CHARACTERS INVOLVED.

AND THE CHARACTER--THERE ARE
5 CHARACTERS IN THE STORY.

SO THAT'S TOO MUCH FOR
A DIALOGUE.

THERE'S TOO MANY CHARACTERS.

IT'S IMPOSSIBLE TO USE
THIS STRUCTURE

WHEN THERE'S MORE THAN
JUST A COUPLE OF CHARACTERS,

MORE THAN 3 CHARACTERS.

IT'S IMPOSSIBLE.

THAT'S WHY THE STRUCTURE--

WE NEED TO RESEARCH
THE STRUCTURE A LITTLE BIT MORE,

THE STRUCTURAL COMPONENT
A LITTLE BIT MORE.

NOW, STRUCTURE, OF COURSE,
IS CRITICAL.

THAT CAN HELP US UNDERSTAND
AND ANALYZE SIGNS,

MENTAL ORGANIZATION,

HOW WE INTERPRET,
INTERNALIZE, INTERPRET,

AND THEN PRODUCE THE LANGUAGE.

SO...THERE'S A LOT OF WORDS
WHEN YOU WRITE A PAPER, RIGHT?

IT'S HIGHLY CONTEXTUALIZED.

IT STILL HAS
ITS OWN STRUCTURE, OK?

THE OPENING, THE MIDDLE,
THE CLOSING.

OR THE INTRODUCTION,
THE BODY, THE CONCLUSION.

THEY ALL HAVE
ITS OWN STRUCTURE, OK?

IN ASL...

ICONS AND INDEXES--I WONDERED
WHERE THEY CAME FROM.

IT COMES FROM CONTEXT.

IT COMES FROM THE GENERAL WORLD,
HOW WE SEE THINGS...

HOW WE INTERNALIZE AND INTERPRET
OUR WORLD.

AND THEN IT BECOMES ICONIC.

SO IT COMES FROM THE CONTEXT.

SO THAT TELLS ME THAT

HEARING PEOPLE AND DEAF PEOPLE
THINK DIFFERENTLY.

ASL AND DEAF PEOPLE ARE
FOLLOWING A SEMIOTIC PROCESS.

THAT'S WHY THE STRUCTURES
ARE DIFFERENT.

OK. NOW WE COME
TO THE INTERESTING PART--

FUTURE RESEARCH.

I THINK IT'S IMPORTANT THAT WE
DO RESEARCH IN THE FUTURE

ABOUT RESEARCHING

HEARING STRUCTURE
AND DEAF STRUCTURE, IF YOU WILL.

THEY ARE NOT THE SAME.

IN WHAT WAYS THEY'RE SIMILAR,
IN WHAT WAYS THEY'RE DIFFERENT

AND WHY--

I THINK WE NEED TO DO
A COMPARISON.

THEN I WONDER WHEN WE DO
THAT COMPARISON...

WE NEED TO FIND WAYS THAT IT
WILL INFLUENCE OUR TEACHING.

WE'LL FIND NEW TEACHING TOOLS.

WE'RE NOT GOING TO BE JUST
TEACHING VOCABULARY WORDS

TO HEARING STUDENTS.

WE'RE GOING TO BE TEACHING THEM
MORE IN DEPTH

ABOUT THE STRUCTURE,
THE PROCESS,

AND THE SEMIOTICS, OK?

I'M NOT SURE HOW MANY QUESTIONS
ARE LEFT,

BUT THE RESEARCH
NEEDS TO CONTINUE.

THAT RESEARCH IS HELPING ME
TO GO AHEAD AND DEVELOP

SOME FUTURE TEACHING TOOLS
THAT WILL BE

MORE EFFECTIVE IN THE CLASSROOM.

NOW HERE WE ARE, MY CONCLUSION.

THE PURPOSE OF THIS STUDY WAS
FOR MY GRADUATE'S THESIS.

SO I HAD THIS BURNING QUESTION
THAT I HAD NO ANSWER FOR,

CARRIED IT WITH ME
NIGHT AND DAY.

THEN I WENT INTO THE RESEARCH,

FOUND WHAT ELSE WAS INVOLVED IN
THE ELOQUENCE OF ASL.

THE SIGNS, YES,

BUT THERE WAS THE INDEXING,
THE ICONOGRAPHIC COMPONENTS.

THE STRUCTURE WAS VERY RICH,
VERY DEEP.

THINK OF A SPIDER WEB.

THINK OF THE WEB, A SPIDER WEB.

THINK OF ALL
THE CONNECTIONS.

IT'S NOT JUST ONE STRAND.

IT'S MANY STRANDS COMBINED IN
A SPECIFIC WAY.

IT HAS A SPECIFIC STRUCTURE.

AND IF YOU TAKE ONE PIECE OUT,
IT WILL FALL APART.

SO THE SEMIOTIC METHOD IS
HOW ONE RELATES TO THE WORLD,

HOW ONE INTERPRETS
THE WORLD.

YOU ATTACH LABELS TO OBJECTS,
YES--SIGNS TO OBJECTS,

BUT THERE'S MORE TO IT
THAN THAT.

SO I WENT THROUGH
PEIRCE'S STUDY, HIS THEORY.

NOW I'VE GOT ALL
THE DATA TOGETHER;

WE'VE DONE SOME DATA ANALYSIS,

COME UP WITH SYMBOLS, ICONS,
INDEXES,

AND HOW THOSE 3 INTERACT AND
FORM A VERY COMPLEX STRUCTURE.

IT'S MORE THAN
JUST THE INTRODUCTION, THE BODY,

AND THE CONCLUSION,
MUCH MORE THAN THAT.

NEXT, THE RESULTS,
AS YOU'VE SEEN,

THEN THE DISCUSSION.

THE DISCUSSION LEADS
TO FUTURE RESEARCH

THAT I HOPE WILL HOLD
MANY MORE ANSWERS.

SO NOW, IF THERE'S A LINGUIST
IN THE AUDIENCE OR WHATEVER,

IT'S YOUR JOB, PERHAPS, TO GO ON
AND DO SOME MORE RESEARCH.

AND THANK YOU VERY MUCH.

BARBARA RAY: I JUST WANTED TO
ASK HER TO REWIND THE VIDEOTAPE

SO YOU COULD SEE IT,
WHERE IT HAD THE Y HANDSHAPE,

THE 3 HANDSHAPE, AND THEN
THE 5 HANDSHAPE IN THE MIDDLE.

AND THANK YOU, ALL,
FOR COMING TODAY.

NOW, EVERYONE WHO WANTS
RID CEUs,

SIGN UP OVER
WHERE THE FM UNITS ARE.

AND THE NEXT
"ASL LECTURE SERIES"

WILL BE ON MAY 5th.

AND IT'S GOING TO BE
DIRKSEN BAUMAN.

HE'S GOING TO BE OUR LAST
PRESENTER, ON MAY 5th,

FOR THE "ASL LECTURE SERIES"
FOR THIS YEAR.

NOW, IF YOU HAVE ANY IDEAS

FOR THE FUTURE
"ASL LECTURE SERIES,"

PLEASE SUBMIT ANY NAMES
OR TOPICS

THAT YOU WOULD LIKE
TO HAVE COVERED.

AND YOU CAN CONTACT MYSELF
OR SUSAN FISCHER

OR COLLEEN POULIOT.

AND PLEASE SUBMIT THOSE IDEAS
AND NAMES.

CINDY: OK, SO HERE WE GO.

ONCE AGAIN,
"THE COW AND THE ROOSTER."

BARBARA RAY: DO YOU HAVE ANY
QUESTIONS FOR CINDY?

WE WILL BE MEETING IN ROOM 1530,
JUST AROUND THE CORNER HERE.

IT'S IN ROOM 1530.
THANK YOU AGAIN, CINDY.

AND LET'S HEAR IT FOR
CINDY CAMPBELL!

THANK YOU FOR COMING TODAY.
THANK YOU.

"This project is supported by a Digitizing Hidden Collections grant from the Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR). The grant program is made possible by funding from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation."