Metaphor in American Sign Language / Phyllis Perrin Wilcox.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Wilcox, Phyllis Perrin.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

American Sign Language.

Metaphor.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (231 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Washington, D.C. : Gallaudet University Press, 2000.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Only recently have linguists ceased to regard metaphors as mere frills on the periphery of language and begun to recognize them as cornerstones of discourse. Phyllis Wilcox takes this innovation one step further in her fascinating study of metaphors in American Sign Language (ASL). Such an inquiry has long been obscured by, as Wilcox calls it, "the shroud of iconicity." ASL's iconic nature once discouraged people from recognizing it as a language; more recently it has served to confuse linguists examining its metaphors. Wilcox, however, presents methods for distinguishing between icon and metaphor, allowing the former to clarify, not cloud, the latter. "If the iconic influence that surrounds metaphor is set aside, the results will be greater understanding, and interpretations that are less opaque." Wilcox concludes her study with a close analysis of the ASL poem, "The Dogs, " by Ella Mae Lentz. In presenting Deaf Americans', Deaf Germans', and Deaf Italians' reactions to the poem, Wilcox manages not only to demonstrate the influence of culture upon metaphors, but also to illuminate the sources of sociopolitical division within the American Deaf community. Metaphor in American Sign Language proves an engrossing read for those interested in linguistics and Deaf culture alike.

Contents:

Intro

Contents

List of Illustrations

"I asked the falcon on my forearm"

Horizontal iconicity

Substitutive depiction

Iconic brain #1

Iconic brain #2

Metaphorical brain

LIKE

FILE CABINET simile

TRAIN simile

ASL "cartoon" simile segment

THREE-O'CLOCK

COFFEE

PRESIDENT

DRIVE

Cumulative metaphtonymy

Spatialization mapping

KNOWLEDGEABLE

KNOWLEDGE-STORE

Spatial orientations

IDEAS ARE OBJECTS TO BE MANIPULATED

Manipulation of thoughts

Metaphorical and literal classifiers

IDEAS ARE OBJECTS TO BE GRASPED

"Pool-ideas-into-book"

IDEAS ARE OBJECTS TO BE CAREFULLY DISCRIMINATED/ SELECTED

Discriminating and selecting series

IDEAS IN EXISTENCE ARE STRAIGHT

Mappings

IDEA-DISAPPEAR-PERMANENT

THINK-PENETRATE

"Plural-thoughts-stream-from-head"

PUZZLED

*INVENT

IDEAS ARE OBJECTS

A frozen sign

Prototype GIVE1

Handshape variations used in the giving frame

GIVE2

LSF money-related signs

GIVE2-concede

Social constraint = Physical constraint

Involuntary social unity = Involuntary physical connectedness

Negative social unit = Negative physical unit

Conventional and unconventional RELEASE

Acknowledgments

List of Typographical Treatments

Introduction

What Is a Metaphor?

Removing the Shroud of Iconicity

An Ethnographic Approach to Signed Language Data Collection

Reviewing the Tropes in American Sign Language

Metaphorical Mapping in American Sign Language

Crossing a Metaphorical Ocean

Two Dogs and a Metaphorical Chain

References

Index.

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references (p. 195-204) and index.

ISBN:

9781563682209

1563682206

OCLC:

191936019