Yesterday and Tomorrow

Welcome to Celebrate Creativity - Episode 427 -  Yesterday and Tomorrow

Let's get back to a brief look at American Sign Language - remember American Sign Language or ASL is the natural language of the deaf.

It might be a good idea to review the five parameters of American Sign Language.  Asl

They are Location: Where on the body the sign is made.

Movement: The way the sign moves.

Palm Orientation: Which way the hand is facing.

Non-Manual Markers: Facial expressions and body movements.

Handshape: The shape of the hand.

Let's look at a few examples:

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Transcript

Welcome to Celebrate Creativity - Episode 427 -  Yesterday and Tomorrow

Let's get back to a brief look at American Sign Language - remember American Sign Language or ASL is the natural language of the deaf.

It might be a good idea to review the five parameters of American Sign Language.  Asl

They are Location: Where on the body the sign is made.

Movement: The way the sign moves.

Palm Orientation: Which way the hand is facing.

Non-Manual Markers: Facial expressions and body movements.

Handshape: The shape of the hand.

Let's look at a few examples:

Location: The signs for "mother" and "father" have the same handshape, but they are made in different places. The sign for "father" is on the forehead, and the sign for "mother" is on the chin. This small difference tells you what the sign means.

Movement: The signs for "my" and "please" have the same handshape, but their movement is different. This change in movement is what gives them different meanings.

Palm Orientation: The signs for "feel" and "pity" have the same handshape, but the direction your palm faces changes the meaning. The sign for "feel" has the palm facing inward, toward you. The sign for "pity" has the palm facing outward, toward someone else.

Non-Manual Markers: These are facial expressions and body movements that are a very important part of ASL grammar. For example, to sign the word "narrow" when talking about the ocean, an interpreter might purse their lips while signing.

A great example is in King Lear, when the character talks about the "winds" with "cheeks puffed out." Since there isn't an exact ASL sign for this, an interpreter can puff out their cheeks to show the meaning. This also adds another layer of meaning, as "puffed cheeks" can also mean something is huge or intense. This is an example of how an ASL translation can be even more expressive than the original!

Wordplay in ASL: "Sign-Play"
Shakespeare loved to use puns—words that have two meanings. In ASL, interpreters can create a similar effect called "sign-play" by using signs that share one of the five parameters, like the same handshape.

In Romeo and Juliet, the character Mercutio says, "you will find me a grave man," which means both "serious" and "in a grave." While ASL doesn't have a sign for "grave" that has a double meaning, an interpreter could use the signs for "bury" and "peace." Both signs use a similar handshape and movement, creating a kind of "sign-play" for the Deaf audience.

In Hamlet's famous "to be or not to be" speech, the signs for "suffer," "patient," and "bear" all use the same handshape. This is another example of "sign-play" that helps connect the ideas in the speech.

Classifiers: The Crown as a Symbol
Classifiers are an important part of ASL that English doesn't really have. A classifier is a special handshape that shows what an object looks like or how it moves.

In Henry the Fourth, the famous line is "Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown." An interpreter would first sign the word "king." Then, they would use a circular handshape to show the shape of a crown and place it on their head while the interpreter shows that he or she is obviously uncomfortable. Once the crown is introduced, the interpreter can use that same handshape as a kind of shortcut for the word "crown" throughout the scene. This saves time and keeps the focus on the main idea.

Classifiers give interpreters a lot of creative freedom to show things like a character's social class or power just by how they place the signs.
Speed and Efficiency in ASL
You might think that because ASL signs take more time to create than spoken words, that an interpreter would definitely fall behind. But an experienced interpreter using ASL can be very efficient!

Saving Time: A single sign can sometimes convey an entire idea. ASL interpreters save time by getting rid of words that aren't necessary, like articles.

In the line "Now the hungry lion roars," ASL would get rid of "the" and just sign "Now lion hungry roar."

In Richard the Third, the line "a horse, a horse, my kingdom for a horse" is nine words in English, but only five signs in ASL. The interpreter just uses one sign for "exchange" to show what "for" means in this situation.

Verb Tense and Word Endings
ASL also saves time by not using word endings that show when something is happening. English uses endings like "-ed" or "-ing." ASL doesn't. Instead, it uses a time indicator at the beginning of a sentence.

For example, in A Midsummer Night's Dream, the line "Now the hungry lion roars" would be signed as "Now lion hungry roar." The word "Now" tells you when it's happening, so there's no need for the "s" on "roars."

These small efficiencies add up, allowing an ASL interpreter to keep up with the spoken dialogue while delivering a clear and meaningful translation.

Then Gemini asked: How does this section look? We're making great progress!

Excellent! 

Then Jim and I proceeded with a section called Showing Time in ASL: Yesterday and Tomorrow

ASL makes use of the time line – an imaginary line drawn down the body so that the line intersects with the ear.  The space immediately in front of the signer's body is reserved for present time. Space behind the body is reserved for past time, and events occurring in the future use a forward motion.  The handshapes  for “yesterday'”in “Which This is his second fit; he had one yesterday”  (Othello, The Moore of Venice 4.1.57) and “tomorrow” in “tomorrow, tomorrow, and tomorrow” (The Tragedy of Macbeth, 5.5.20 are identical, except that “tomorrow” moves backwards on an imaginary time line on the cheek, while “tomorrow” moves forwards.  Desdemona uses the completion marker “not yet” to refer to action that has not occurred in “that I do not yet.”(Othello, The Moore of Venice 4.2.68) 

While there is a tendency in ASL for the time indicator to appear first in a sentence, the word order is especially flexible.  For example,  Lance's comment that “you shall judge” (The Two Gentlemen of Verona, 4.4.17)  could be translated “future you judge” or “you judge future.”  If the actor wished to emphasize that the relationship of the action to time, an appropriate ASL translation would put the “future” sign at the beginning, as well as the end of the phrase. 

The Deaf audience knows that once time has been established in a passage signed in ASL, the same tense stays in effect until the signer changes tense.  In The First Part of King Henry the Sixth, (5, 3, 1), the signer first establishes that Joan is referring to an event that has already occurred by signing past before communicating the information in the line “The regent conquers, and the Frenchmen fly.”  ASL would begin the next line with the time-indicator sign for “now” - “Now help, ye charming spells and periapts.” (The First Part of King Henry the Sixth,  5. 3. 2) While Shakespeare specifically uses  the word “now” three times in the first 20 lines, and makes several indications to show that Joan's speech is taking place in the present tense, an ASL translation would only need to show “now” once.

Another mechanism that can modify time concepts is “time modifiers.”  While there is a formal sign for “night,” the concept of “all night” has its own sign, and would serve as a gloss for the concept of night in “I have watch'd ere now/ All night for lesser cause, and ne'er been sick.” (Romeo and Juliet, 4.4.10)

Auxiliary Verbs: Even More Savings!
ASL approaches the expression of axillary verbs in a highly efficient manner. Since helping verbs are not essential to the meaning of the sentence from a Deaf person's perspective, such words are omitted.   In The Tragedy of Coriolanus, , Meninius comments on his character with the words “I am known to be a humorous patrician.” (2.1.57)   An ASL translation would begin “people know me,” and there would be no need to sign an equivalent for “be.”  

The omission of helping verbs can be illustrated by a translation of a where the character of Benedick complains about the nature of  love.: “One woman is fair, yet I am well; another is wise, yet I am well . . .” (Much Ado about Nothing, 2.3.35-37 )An ASL translation could be glossed as “woman beauty, but me well, another wise, but me well ...”  The original spoken English requires fifteen signs, while ASL communicates the same information in ten signs that are relatively easy to form. 

Some interpreters feel uncomfortable not signing a state of being verb, and the sign for “true” can be accurately substituted in many situations to emphasize the concepts of “be,” “am,” “is,” “are,” “was,” “were,” and “been.”   An ASL translation of “For though it have holp madmen to their wits,” (The Life and Death of King Richard II, 5, 5, 61) can begin with the “true” handshape.  “For though it” can be translated as “true,” “have holp” can be translated “help,” “madmen” translated as “men group mind confused” and “to their wits” can be translated as “become well.”  The culturally sensitive sign for “madmen” in ASL is literally “man mind confused.”  The atypical length of the sign for “madmen” can be partially shortened by smoothly signing the four portions of the sign for “madmen” without pausing.

Directional Verbs in Shakespeare's Plays: Giver or Receiver? 

Directional verbs are another way where ASL shows an economy of movement by visually expressing the relationship of two individuals regarding an object or action.  For example, in Signed English there is just one sign for “give” and contains no information about the persons involved,  In ASL, the movement of a directional sign like “give” depends on who is doing the giving. For example,  Twelfth Night opens with “If music be the food of love, play on.” (1.1.3)  The form of “give” that Orsino contemplates is signed in ASL from the giver to the receiver.  In The First Part of King Henry the Sixth,  Joan La Pucelle tells her spirits “I'll lop a member off and give it you” (5.3.15).  This form of “give” is signed away from the giver and outwards (in Joan's case) to an invisible force away from her.  In both cases, information regarding who is doing the giving and receiving is built into the ASL sign, and there is no need to sign “I” or “you.”

Prepositions in ASL: A Creative Gold Mine

The efficiency of ASL is increased though the frequent elimination of prepositions. The character of  Posthumus Leonatus refers to Imogen with “I'll speak to thee in silence.” (Cymbelline  5, 4, 36) An ASL gloss begins with “will” as the time indicator, and “communicate” (instead of “tell”) as the culturally sensitive verb.  Then the signer asks “how,” shows that he or she is asking a rhetorical question, and answers with the sign for “silence.”

“It is the east, and Juliet is the sun” (Romeo and Juliet, 2.3.2) can  be translated in ASL with four signs while the spoken English requires nine signs (“true” is used for “It is,” “the” is omitted, “east” is signed, the signer points at the actress playing Juliet while signing “and' with one hand, and then signing  “like sun” while still indicating Juliet.  Technically, this line is not a metaphor and does not use “like” or “as,” but for communication's purpose a good ASL translation would show that Juliet is like the sun, instead of implying that she is literally an orb of fire!  In ASL, the signer can point at Juliet, and while indicating her, can sign “like” with one hand.  He or she can sign the first part of the compound sign for “sun” with the other hand, and then form a smooth, flowing movement with both hands to form the “ray” portion that is the second part of the formal sign for sun.  Such a translation, while not completely accurate, does emphasize the poetry in the line, and shows that a good translation recognizes tradeoffs in the process of transmitting the source language into the target language.  Note that the tense for “was,” “were,” and “been” can be efficiently shown though a past-tense time marker.

Substitution of Lexical Items: ASL Is Not a “Short-Cut” Language

Another characteristic of ASL is to substitute lexical items for words with equivalent meanings.  The ASL concept of “finish” does not have an exact equivalent in English.  “Enough; no more” (Twelfth Night, 1.1.9) could be signed in ASL as “enough, finish” - a sign language construction that emphasizes Orsino's desire for finality.

ASL is not a short-cut language just because it omits signs not essential to the meaning of the line.  The interpreter who signs an informed translation of Shakespeare is signing a great deal of information.  He or she relies on  the use of the linguistic structure of ASL, as well as non-manual components to convey the information on stage.

Conditional statements: “If You Are Pleased, Then ...?

Conditional statements are expressed in ASL by first signing “if” or “suppose” with raised eyebrows, a head tilt, and usually a short pause.  Then the “then' construction is signed as a negative or affirmative statement, a question, or a command.   The following if/then construction from The Tempest  can be divided into two distinct sections for sign language purposes  “If you be pleased, retire into my cell.” (4.1.195) Non-manual signals are especially important in communicating conditional statements.  If the previous statement were signed without raised eyebrows, it would no longer be a conditional, and express the concepts of “you are pleased, retire into my cell” as two declarative and separate statements.

Compounding: When There Is No ASL Sign

American Sign Language often creates signs for which there are no formal constructions through the use of compounding.  Compounding allows the expansion of a language's vocabulary, and the ability to express almost any concept in ASL by combining existing signs.   ASL compounding requires that the parts have a seamless transition so that the individual signs are not confused with a sign language phrase.

In Troilus and Cressida, (1.3. 97) Ulysses exclaims “What plagues!” American Sign Language has no formal sign for “plague, ”so the use of a combination of “sick” and “spread” conveys the same message.  The movements in the sign for “spread” are especially dramatic, and the sign's intensity underlines Ulysses's bombastic language.

“A plague on both your houses” (Romeo and Juliet, 3.1. 83) can be translated in topic/comment order by first signing “family” on one side of the body and then signing family on the other side of the body.  The interpreter would pause briefly, sign “wish”, and use the ASL principles of location in space and compound signs to sign “sick, spread” on one side of the body and then the same compound sign on the other side of the body.

Translation: Recognition of  Tradeoffs

The translator from any  source language to the target language will often encounter situations where tradeoffs must be made.   Sometimes the sign language interpreter of Shakespeare must decide how much information can be reasonably interpreted.  For example, in the phrase “when didst thou see me heave up my leg and make water against a gentlewoman's farthingale” (The Two Gentlemen of Verona, 4,4,36) the concept of “gentlewoman's farthingale” can be communicated by combining the ASL signs  for “piss” and a directional sign for “spread” on the speaker's body with  “formal lady,” “clothing,” and “hooped skirt” in one smooth movement.  Although this construction conceptually leaves out the “undergarment” aspect of “farthingale,” the signs maintain the meter, as well as conveying the image of urinating on a lady's piece of clothing.

Negative Statements in ASL: How to Say “No” in a Play by Shakespeare

One of the most common methods of communicating a negative statement uttered by a character can be conveyed by non-manual components.  Negation of information in American Sign Language is usually shown by shaking the head from side to side, and sometimes by squinting or frowning. (Valli, 280)  All of he information in the line “I cannot tell, I think  (Much Ado About Nothing, 2.3.25 can be communicated in ASL through the use of one non-manual negative sign and two formal signs (shaking the head to negate the terms while signing “know” and “think.”)  “Hath no self-love”  from The Second Part of King Henry the Fourth, 2.5.46 is similarly signed by shaking the head while signing  “Self-love have .“

Negation can also be shown by signing the topic and then “none” or “not” - grammatical structures in American Sign Language that are often used for emphasis.  “She eat no meat to-day” (The Taming of the Shrew, 4.1. 204) can be signed “Today she eat meat none.”  The line “As if we should forget we had no hands” (Titus Andronicus, 3. 2, 26) can be signed “hands none he had,” a construction that powerfully underlines the absence of a body part.  The line “I am not bold” (The Two Noble Kinsmen, Epilogue. 17) could be signed “ I bold” while the signer shakes his or her head, or less commonly “I bold not.”

Translating Questions: It All Depends on the Character's Response

American Sign Language has three possible ways of interpreting a question in a play by Shakespeare.  The sentence pattern depends on the form of a character's response.  The most basic pattern deals with a question having a simple yes/no response. The second type, the interrogative question, requires a more detailed response than a yes/no question, and contains an interrogative word such as “what,” “who,” “where” “when” or “why.”  The rhetorical question is the third type of sentence pattern used in American Sign Language.

Instead of raising the voice to signifying a question, American Sign Language uses non-manual components in a yes/no question. For example, an interpreter must raise his or her eyebrows to interpret a simple yes/no question such as “No man smile?” from line 4 of the epilogue to  The Two Noble Kinsmen.  Yes/no questions in American Sign Language are also characterized by widening the eyes and tilting the head slightly forward or to one side while maintaining strict eye contact.  Yes there's a lot to remember.

Now while Enobarbus's description of Cleopatra and her barge from Antony and Cleopatra  is not a negative description, sign language negatives provide one of the clearest translations of simple sentence into ASL using a topic, comment structure.  Let me show you what I mean. The words “It beggar'd all description” (Antony and Cleopatra, 2.2.204) could  be glossed as “Description. Impossible.”  This construction suggests that the Enobarbus wants to describe the glory of Cleopatra in her barge, but realizes that his words are not enough.  So you have the original line in Shakespeare in English as it beggar’d all description - four words - American Sign Language would express the same concept with “description impossible.”
More complex yes/no questions in American Sign Language are frequently conveyed by forming a question mark with the hand at the end of the statement that includes the non-manual components.  The addition of  a manual question mark to Dromio of Syracuse's question of  “Then she bears some breadth?” (The Comedy of Errors, 3.2.90)  signifies that the remark is an important statement requiring an answer.  And effective translation in ASL of Shakespeare’s line “Then she bears some breath” would be - first topic - lady - then the comment - fat - with raised eyebrows to show that the line is a question. The addition of a question marker - in other words the raised eyebrows -communicates to the Deaf audience that Dromio has asked a simple yes/no question of no small significance that awaits a response from the character of  Antipholus of Syracuse.

Well, we have gone over some really complicated concepts, so I am going to call it a day until the next episode.

Sources Include:  Asimov's Guide to Shakespeare: A Guide to Understanding and Enjoying the Works of Shakespeare by Isaac Asimov, American Sign Language: A Teacher's Resource Text on Grammar and Culture by Charlotte Baker and Dennis Cokely, Shakespeare: The Invention of the Human by Harold Bloom, and Shakesfear and How to Cure It, an unpublished manuscript by Ralph Cohen.

Join celebrate creativity for episode 429 - for more information about interpreting Shakespeare's plays into American Sign Language in an episode called. How to Say No.

Thank you for listening to celebrate creativity