Blog 7: ASL Story Telling

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I was excited for this presentation. Although I don't take sign language, I have several friends that do, and I find it a very fascinating language to see, and learn. I've always been amazed at how fast signers are able to sign and finger spell, and convey a message faster than a person can vocalize. In seeing Dr. Rose sign, I couldn't translate much of what he said on my own, But Dr. Rose had wonderful expressive, powerful facial expressions, which I've been told by a friend who takes ASL, is a very important part of the grammer of ASL. These expressions kept me engaged as he told his stories about the Football player catching the baby, and the ABC heart surgery etc. His facial expressions weren't the only visually appealing part; he used his whole body to guesture and move in some parts. By doing so he seemed very enthusiastic about the story he was telling making me want to hear more. I think that's part of the beauty of telling folk and fairy tale stories; whether you are changing your voice to be a different character, or signing and using facial expression, and body movement, putting emotion and essentially becoming the character of the story, is what will keep the audience captivated. My friend told me there is nothing worse than a signer who uses no facial expressions, because then there is no way to understand exactly what is being conveyed. She said it's like a hearing person erasing all emotion out of their voice and speak like a robot.
 
No good Fairy Tale storyteller would ever keep their audience if they talked like a robot. You'd have the audience asleep out of sheer boredom! The same probably applies for ASL. Another thing I found interesting, was the grammer structure, and how you cannot speak as you sign because then you're grammer will be turning into "English" spoken gramatical structure and not the grammer of ASL. Also, When Dr. Rose and Dr. Rust explained that music for a deaf person is more appealing when the song is not signed word for word, I thought it was neat. They prefer it if you put your own interperetation of the words as you sign, it keeps them more engaged. It parallels to the notion that A storyteller of folk tales will tweak the story however they see fit to keep the audience more engaged. Then the audience can pass down the story in their own terms as they see fit. Just as how the Coda Brothers interpereted "Every Rose" in their own way, which was fantastic.

Also I like how ASL Fairy Tales aim to poke fun at hearing people; it puts a new twist on things when you think about how hearing people have looked down upon the deaf. Like Folk Tales for the hearing people, there are morals for us to learn.

I was sad when they had to leave because it truly was a great learning experience, to a world that shows you the language visually rather than speaking it. It makes me think back to the quote "Actions Speak Louder than words". I wonder if it's really a coincidence that the Acronym of "Action's Speak Louder, also forms A.S.L as well.  We should  really look and pay attention at what the deaf have to say, and be more open to learning to look at things from their perspective. Their signs convey their messages loud and clear; and not a single word needs to be spoken to know that they're clearly important.