Line in ASL Poetry
Valli
'SNOWFLAKE' by the author and 'CIRCLE OF LIFE" by Ella Mae Lentz are shown in notation
below (Figures 3 and 4).
Rhyme and line division
Before discussing the features in Figure 3 and Figure 4, the term rhyme needs to be defined.
Rhyme is defined as "the repetition of the same or similar sounding movements, whether vowels,
consonants, or combinations of these two or more words or phrases" (Deutsch, 1969), and consists
of alliteration and assonance.
Alliteration is the repetition of the same consonant sound in successive words in a line
(Kennedy, 1978) - a line from "Atlanta in Calydon" by Algernon Charles Swinburne provides a
good example:
The mother of months in meadow or plain
as does a line from "a man who had fallen among thieves" by e.e. cummings:
citizens did graze at pause
Assonance occurs in the repetition of the same or similar vowel sounds at the beginning of
successive words or within the words (Kennedy, 1978) as in a line from "Virginia" by T. S. Eliot:
Slow flow heat in silence
In Figure 3 all hand configurations in both lines of SNOWFLAKE show similar open
handshape (5) in both hands. The repetition of the same or similar hand configuration at the first
H segment of the sign, or both first and last segment of the sign, or first, middle, and last H
segments of successive signs in a line, appears to function in a similar way to alliteration in spoken
poetry. I refer it as handshape rhyme.
In Figure 4 all the movements except SUN are the same or similar, mostly in the strong
hand and in both hands. In these lines, the movements occur as the repetition of the same or similar
movement inside the successive signs, similar to assonance in spoken poetry. I refer it to this as
movement path rhyme. The lines in Figure 4 do not exemplify handshape rhyme as the hand
configurations show some differences. Similarly, in Figure 3 movement path rhyme is not
indicated as the movements show some variations. Thus, it would seem that SNOWFLAKE
heavily exploits one rhyming device while CIRCLE OF LIFE exploits another.
Nonmanual signals (NMS) are another important factor to be included in a discussion of
rhyme. Note the NMS in Figure 3 and Figure 4. Repetition of NMS occurs in an orderly sequence
in the lines of both poems, indicating their own rhymes. In Figure 3 at the beginning of the first
line, eyebrow raise and pursed lips are indicated for the first two signs. The beginning of the third
sign shows negation by headshake, and at the end of the line "th" (tongue slightly protruding) is
indicated. Eye gaze traces every sign. All the NMS are repeated in an identical sequence in the
second line, except for body shift. The body is oriented toward the right in the first line and then
shifts to the center when the second line is begun. This is called NMS rhyme. It is the same thing
with Figure 4. In the first line eyebrow raise and eye gaze directed towards the addressee are used
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