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Introducing Sign Language Literature, Folklore, and creativity Chapter 18 …
Introducing Sign Language Literature, Folklore, and creativity Chapter 18
What is Humour For?
Humour
Provides pleasures, fun & Laughter
In many instances, that is all the purpose it needs. However, it also creates a bond between the jokester & audience that is socially & intellectually satisfying for everyone
It can help people relax & make light of difficult situations but is also useful for social control, ridiculing behavior that is socially disapproved of, in the hope that the offenders will change their behaviour
Conceptual Humour
Often draws on the idea of 'the in-group' & 'the out-group' because when the humourist & audience both laugh at the humour, they can claim to belong to the in-group as 'us' especially because they understand the language & cultural references
The late Hal Draper, a much loved Deaf comedian in Britain, explained that Deaf audiences enjoyed Deaf humour by feeling part of the group: "They identified with the experiences & so they laughed. They could sit & watch & laugh & think, "yes, i remember the same thing happening to me before"
Humour Can Support
It can support the in-group by insulting the out-group, so that the jokester & audience can claim to be 'us' if they both laugh at a joke that insults people who are 'them'
Hal Draper also said "I think most humour that Deaf people like is based on hearing people making idiots of themselves
In a great deal of traditional Deaf humour, 'them' has meant hearing people, although this may be changing now
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Sign Language Humour
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Meta-linguistic Play
Metalinguistic play means that signers are aware of how signs are formulated & make use of the fact that signs are made with human hands, blurring the distinction between hands as articulators & hands as hands
In the examples of OVER-CONFIDENT & UNDER-CONFIDENT being moved to the 'correct' location, the dominant hand is seen as a real hand, rather than the articulator for CONFIDENT, that can be touched & moved by another hand
Poets remind us of the obvious fact that signers do have control over what they are signing, & this realization results in humour
Caricature
Within this visual humour, sign language & gesture work together, so that witty & original uses of classifiers & exaggerated facial expression or body movement contribute to the humour
Caricature, where a signer over-emphasizes someones visual features or mimics the way a person behaves in an exaggerated way, is particularly valued in Deaf humour for its likeness to the target
It can be directed at stereotypes of outsiders who are traditionally unpopular in the Deaf community (such as doctors, teachers & social works unsympathetic to Deaf culture)
Speed & Size of signing
Humorous signs are often larger & made with stronger movements than normal & they may also be held for longer so that the audience has time to appreciate the humorous signing
Slow motion signing allows the teller to show exaggerated facial expression or movement & takes considerable skill to achieve convincingly
Anthropomorphism
Signers value the skill of being able to show how animals & objects might have human characteristics
The facial expression showing the behavior & reactions of these non-human objects is part of sign language wit
Bilingual Humour
FIngerspelling
Is used to represent written words, so signers who use it are, by definition, referring to another language
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Several manual alphabets around the world, including the British one, are two-handed, so signers can have fun playing with the location of the active spelling hand
Languages
That use one-handed fingerspelling can use the manual letters as a source for poems & stories because the forms of the letters are reanalysed as classifier handshapes & this wit can also be a source of humour
In examples from signers who know ASL & English, the letters D-R-I-L-L can be moved forwards as though a drill is going into something & as the final "I" handshape looks like the classifier handshape for a drill bit, this creates an enjoyable pun
Bilingual Puns
As well as playing with the form of written words, signers can make bilingual puns using loan translation
These riddles, requiring the audience to guess the spoken language word from the sign, but can also be made openly so everyone can share the humours