Vital Signs

June 20, 2006 6:57 PM

ASL is a cinematic language.
posted by angrybeaver (16 comments total)

17/f/losangeles
posted by jonson at 7:03 PM on June 20, 2006

PICS pls kthx
posted by lekvar at 7:27 PM on June 20, 2006

Transcript anyone?
posted by RufusW at 7:31 PM on June 20, 2006

Cute.

The post is very good. Thanks.
posted by ?! at 7:31 PM on June 20, 2006

ASL?
posted by Gamblor at 7:45 PM on June 20, 2006

Sorry, I can't find a transcript. But there is more information about the video here.
posted by angrybeaver at 7:55 PM on June 20, 2006

That is a pretty cool idea.
posted by Songdog at 8:07 PM on June 20, 2006

Does anyone know whether this is all standard ASL? Or are there some dramatised gestures thrown in for effect?
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 6:46 AM on June 21, 2006

I've always found that ASL (that's Australian Sign Language for me) to be one of the most emotive languages there is, even when I know very, very little of it. This is especially true if you put a lot of energy into it, like the guy in this did.

Suffice to say, I really enjoyed this, despite not really getting the dialogue.
posted by Serial Killer Slumber Party at 7:00 AM on June 21, 2006

Does anyone know whether this is all standard ASL?

My boyfriend does sign language and he really enjoyed this link.

It is not standard ASL in the sense of signing "words". This uses a lot of what are called "signifiers", which are heavily context-dependent signs.

For example, instead of using the standard sign for cars, the performer Roger Vass Jr. uses a gun-like gesture to signify traffic whizzing past the protagonist on his left and right. Without the context of the story, this doesn't make sense in terms of pure ASL.

"Storytelling" sign language like this is a difficult form for interpreters to learn, but is the kind of "cinematic" or "scene" language easily used by the deaf, who grow up and learn to describe the world around them in these terms.

As it was described to me, the performer was likely born deaf or born to deaf parents. Deaf folks tell stories by describing a scene, not primarily with words, but by signing the relative position of people and objects acting within an imaginary space in front of them.

Returning the car signifier, you'll notice that he signs the cars moving relative to the protagonist's position on the bridge ledge. As another example, when the protagonist is in bed with his sleeping wife, the performer uses positional signifiers to relate the protagonist's seating position and the wife's lying position in bed. He also uses thumb-to-forefinger signifiers to describe her eyes opening as she wakes.

In all, a very nice link. Thanks!
posted by Mr. Six at 7:15 AM on June 21, 2006 [1 favorite has favorites]

> ASL (that's Australian Sign Language for me)

Actually, Australian Sign Language is generally referred to as Auslan. In fact, I've never seen anybody, Australian or otherwise, refer to it as ASL.
posted by etoile at 10:36 AM on June 21, 2006

Mr. Six, you're pretty much right about everything, but the word is classifier, not signifier.

I went ahead and wrote up a transcript.

note: I am an ASL interpreter, so I am fluent in the language. This is a really beautiful story, and written in English it's not nearly as moving. I can't convey the beauty of the story in English, but I have written down the sequence of events.

Doctor: Hey, I hate to tell you this, but you have a heart problem. I'd say you have about a week to live.

Man: What the fuck?! I only have a week to live?! Whoa, I'm getting dizzy...the doctor keeps talking and I can't focus on him. I'm just getting all this information and not understanding any of it.

The guy finally gets up and leaves the doctor's office. He opens the door and people are walking by outside, cars are passing, life goes on.

Man: It's like I'm walking through life without seeing anything. I need to go out and be somewhere by myself.

The guy sits down for a rest. Clouds are swirling, there's a storm brewing.

Man: Oh god, what am I going to tell my wife? I should probably just go blow my brains out. Blam!

The guy gets jolted out of his stupor and goes to stand on top of a bridge. He watches the river flowing. Life is still going on around him. He gets up on the railing and tumbles backwards, watching the bridge above him as he falls. He lands in the water and starts to sink. Everything goes dark.

Then suddenly he wakes up - he had only been dreaming about jumping off the bridge - and looks at his beautiful wife, idly petting her hair. She wakes up slowly.

Man: What's up?
Wife: Is something wrong?
Man: Oh, I'm fine.
Wife: Yeah, right.

His wife gets up and storms off. The guy pulls his blankets up over his head and starts obsessing over his heartbeat. Suddenly he realizes - hey, where'd my wife go? He jumps out of bed, runs to the window, and watches her pull the car out of the driveway and drive off.

Man: Noooo!

He gets in his car and starts to follow her, driving like a madman. The light turns red but he runs it, narrowly avoiding an accident. He's in a sea of cars, trying to find his wife. He can't get out from behind other cars to reach her. Finally she pulls over and he follows her. He gets out and she is walking through a park, so he is relieved that she's just going for a walk. But then he feels his heartbeat getting weak again. He follows his wife and tries to get her attention, but she gets further ahead of him. His heart pains him and he falls to his knees. He wants to get her attention but she fades off into the distance. He collapses and tries one last time to catch his wife's eye. She is gone, he has failed, and he dies there on the ground.

posted by etoile at 11:56 AM on June 21, 2006

It is not standard A[nglo-Norman] S[poken] L[ingo] in the sense of speaking "words". This uses a lot of what are called "pronouns", which are heavily context-dependent referring terms.

For example, instead of repeating the standard word car, the performer Mister Sixx Jr. uses the terms they, it, and another one to discuss traffic whizzing past the protagonist on his left and right. Without the context of the story, this doesn't make sense in terms of pure ASL.

"Storytelling" spoken language like this is a difficult form for interpreters to learn, but is the kind of "focused" or "summary" language easily used by the hearing, who grow up and learn to describe the world around them in these terms.

...

No, really. We speakers of gender-poor, inflection-poor English aren't used to thinking about it, but American Sign Language classifiers (or signifiers, a la Mr. Six) could be construed as representing an enormous and flexible pronominal system. ASL has many more genders than English: One for vehicles (the 'gun-like gesture'), one for flat objects (flat hand), several for large and small disc-like and cup-shaped objects (for discs, both thumbs and forefingers held in a plane; for cups, add the other fingers to shape it), one for positions and motions of the human body (the closed hand with two fingers extended, seen in the bed scene as discussed by Mr. Six, and also where the protagonist topples off the bridge), and so on. IIRC there are around 15 of them, which is startling to us, but which would not garner any special notice from a speaker of Kivunjo, Swahili, or another Bantu language.^

Okay, Mr. Wise Guy, you say, so classifiers are pronouns—but the way they place them and move them around in space sure is exceptional. True to some extent. But don't you also get sound effects and five-second spurts of acting in narrative spoken English? ("And so the boss was like, <growl>, and James was still all <la de da> [sing-song, with an innocent face].")

Alternately, couldn't we construe ASL's motions within the sign space as the use of a phenomenally rich system of prepositions (or cases, if you like) and adverbs? (Disclaimer: I've never heard a professional linguist argue this point, pro or con, and I might be completely off base.) In English we get by with on, near, beyond, -ward, hither, thence, and the like, but if we had single-syllable words, as they have single-action signs, for such specific relations as among the mass of them, every which way, and right between the two, wouldn't we use them?* Think about the semantic cases of Estonian or Finnish, only instead of adding one of a skrillion suffixes, you place the sign in (or move it to) one of a skrillion locations.

*Answer: Yes, we would, if we could; they're fantastically convenient. Ukrainian has a verb prefix, роз-, that adds the meaning 'apart; every which way; with a dissolving or disassembling effect' to the verb it modifies, which I'd use all the time in English if it were understood. Ditto the Russian (borrowed from Church Slavonic) воз-/вос-, which means 'back again, redoing it after it's been undone', and double ditto the prepositions in both languages that mean 'through, but with difficulty'. Some of the strengths of ASL vis-a-vis English are indeed found in other spoken languages!
posted by eritain at 12:17 PM on June 21, 2006 [1 favorite has favorites]

Mr. Six, you're pretty much right about everything, but the word is classifier, not signifier.

My fault! You're absolutely right. I was tired this morning...
posted by Mr. Six at 3:21 PM on June 21, 2006

Excellent writing, eritain. It is perhaps worth noting, too, that classifiers are always formed from a set of established handshapes. There's the "bent 5" (aka claw), the "3 handshape" (this is what is used for cars and other vehicles, as in the video), the "C handshape" - most of them could be said to be based on letters/numbers but not all of them directly correspond. In terms of "parts of the language" I would say that handshapes are to ASL what letters are to English.
posted by etoile at 4:32 PM on June 21, 2006

Actually, Australian Sign Language is generally referred to as Auslan. In fact, I've never seen anybody, Australian or otherwise, refer to it as ASL.

Oops, you are indeed right. My ignorance for the language is showing.

In my defence, I do know the reason behind the curious gesture for "Australia" in Auslan. It resembles picking up something and dropping it elsewhere, that of course being convicts being picked up from Britain and dropped down here. Funny little bits like that are what I love about it.
posted by Serial Killer Slumber Party at 6:46 PM on June 21, 2006