Please enable JavaScript.
Coggle requires JavaScript to display documents.
Introducing Sign Language Literature, Folklore, and creativity Chapter 13 …
Introducing Sign Language Literature, Folklore, and creativity Chapter 13
Olrik's Law of Repetition
Laws or Principles
The folklore scholar Axel Olrik identified some laws or principles that govern the structure of stories in European folklore including the law of repetition
Olrik noted that common numbers of repetition in folklore are three, seven or twelve, among which three is the most usual
We have not found many examples in sign languages of seven-fold repetition, but one outstanding example occurs in Ben Bahan's ASL
Ball Story
Seven Different Perspectives as the Line of Characters Move
From right to left
Round the corner
From rear to front - coming straight at the audience
Up the hill
Over the hill
Down the hill fast
At speed into the closed door stopping & falling over
Repetition
Repetition in this story serves no real narrative purpose beyond delight, although the delight is considerable
Ben Bahan created the piece to teach the use of classifiers, & as a sign language teaching & learning tool it is outstanding
Repetition is an important tool in the learning process, & this is another reason we see it so often in folklore because on characteristic of folkloric language is that should be easy to remember, especially when it carries content to be remembered
Repetition of Three
Common Number to Repeat
As Olrik pointed out, across many cultures, three is a very common number to be repeated
We somehow feel comfortable when things are repeated three times
Repetition of three can widely be found in folk stories (
The Three Little Pigs
), in rhetoric (
Veni, Vidi, Vici
), in jokes (Three men jokes) and in architecture, adverts, music, films, & many other artistic genres
Patterning of Three in Sign Language Literature
The patterning of three is very common in sign language literature & folklore & it has many functions in stories & other signed performances
Signers can show the same referent in three different ways - tell it, show it, become it - to build up the image of the character
This three-fold pattern of repetition is embedded within the pattern of seven-fold repetition in the above-mentioned
Ball Story
Patterning of Three When Signers Divide Space
We also see patterning of three when signers divide space into three areas (the right, middle & left, or high, middle & low) & place signs there to create visually pleasing images or metaphorically meaningful ones
The same event shown by the same sign three times, sometimes interspersed by other events, builds tension, allows contrast, & creates expectation in the audiences that something will shortly change to break this pattern of repetition
Alternatively, the same event shown by three different signs provides opportunity for creativity, while the same action carried out by three different characters extends characterization
Repetition of Linguistic Units
Repetition of Sub-Signs
The smallest signed units that can be repeated are so-called 'sub-signs' elements - or more precisely speaking, the parameters that constitute a sign (its handshape, movement, location, palm orientation, & nonmanual features)
Although each parameter is small, it can have considerable impact on the entire poem through constant repetition
In terms of the movement parameter, a short repeated movement, usually made three times, is exploited especially at the beginning of
Time
(SLEEP SLEEP SLEEP CLOCK-TICKS CLOCK-TICKS CLOCK-TICKS), the rhythm of which resembles the tick-tock movement of the second hand of the clock, & thus corresponds to the theme of the poem
Repetition of Signs
Repetition in sign language poetry also takes place at the lexical level - that is, repetition of words or signs
Word repetition can follow a range of different patterns
Words can be repeated immediately one after another. In rhetoric, this is called epizeuxis and, when used sparingly, can be very effective because forceful repetition makes a very strong impact on its listeners or readers
Repetition of Sequences
Repetition does not stop at the lexical level, but can happen with a larger unit of signing
A sequence of events can be repeated, to create rhythmic or thematic patterns
The example of
Time
shows that the repetition of sequences usually involves a slight (or sometimes drastic) change in the last sequence, to surprise the audience who have become used to the established pattern
Repetition of Timing (Rhythm)
Spoken Language & Sign Language Poetry
Both spoken language & sign language poetry create rhythm by patterning certain units, but what constitutes such units can be very different
Spoken language poetry can repeat stressed & unstressed sounds to create rhythm (meter) or exploit the quality of sound to pattern the sequence (rhyme)
Different languages achieve this in different ways in their poetry, but a simple nursery rhyme shows this in English
Sign Language Poetry
Repeats a variety of temporal & visual features to create contrastive timings in signing, such as movement & hold, oscillating body posture, fast & slow speed, & proximalisation & distalisation
Johanna Mesch's
Kayak
shows rhythm by oscillating the poet's body and by alternating large & small signs which use proximalised & distalised joints, respectively. It repeats the two signs alternatively; one using the poet's full upper body to enact the paddling of the kayak & the other using the classifier
Alternation of these two signs (close-up & distance) creates a solid rhythmic pattern in this poem
Strong Rhythmic Properties
Wim Emmerik's
Falling Leaf
a poem with strong rhythmic properties, provides a good example of hold emphasis
It repeats hold & movements in order to produce a regular pattern, in which holds are as important as movement