Does sign language have an equivalent to rhyming?

[ENugent]

My husband and I were talking about this at breakfast this morning. Is there some kind of equivalent in ASL (or other sign languages) to rhyming? Maybe signs that include similar hand positions or something? Is there anything like poetry?

[Dr.Drake]

There is definitely poetry. I have seen a couple of poetic performances and the nearest thing to me was dance. Gestures were performed with more… grace? Artistry? and a couple of times I could see words performed simultaneously. I’m not fluent in ASL and I have no idea what aesthetic effect that would give or how common it is.

[WhyNot]

I don’t have an answer, but I’d like to congratulate you for asking a simply fascinating question!

[WhyNot]

Ooh, but I found an awesome answer here:

There certainly are ‘rhyming’ signs in ASL. While the specific definition of a rhyme (matching the last sound of a word) doesn’t carry over, certain signs match on different parameters.

In ASL, there are a handful of parameters that define a ‘word’. These include: handshape (the way the fingers and wrist are shaped and articulated), location (where it is signed, ie, in neutral space, in front of the body, or on a certain part of the body, be it head or arm or whatever), movement (which can involve changing locations), and non-manual grammatical signalling (facial gestures which denote certain grammatical or semantic meaning).

So, if two shapes are ‘matched’ on one of those parameters in a noticeable way, they can be said to rhyme. Likewise, certain very iconic or unique signs can be ‘rhymed’ with nonword gestures. For example, a certain trick played on beginning (hearing) signers is to replace the flicking first finger of UNDERSTAND with the middle finger. While the location, movement and articulation of UNDERSTAND with a middle finger doesn’t actually correlate with a word, it serves to mesh the patronizing ‘do you get it?’ with the ‘screw you’ traditionally associated with the middle finger gesture. If a beginning signer doesn’t catch the finger articulation, he’ll dumbly nod along, thinking, ‘yep, I understand,’ while the Deaf signer will be thinking ‘idiot hearing person.’

So: short answer: yes, there is rhyming in sign. As is there metaphor, figures of speech, cursing and a host of fascinating linguistic constructions found in few other languages.

There’s also a book, by the same writer of the famous You Can Sign, called Rhyming Signing, teaching signs by using “rhyming”, or signs that use similar handshapes.

[SiouxChief]

My 11-year-old daughter has been trying to learn to sign so she can better communicate with a deaf classmate. She taught me two words that I would imagine could be considered “rhyming” because they use similar hand positions, but only differ in the motion performed:

Computer and Chocolate

[Darth_Sensitive]

(College sign language student checking in)

WhyNot is correct. 4 of the ASL parameters can be used to rhyme things/make them flow: handshape, location, movement, and palm orientation. The 5th is stuff like facial expressions and body lean, and probably won’t be good for rhyming. A lot of what will be rhymed will be classifiers - things that need more description than the standard sign (things like describing a limp, how somebody is driving, what somebody’s hair looks like, etc). So I could describe long hair with a ‘4-handshape’ or a ‘b-handshape’ in most cases, but if I wanted to also describe that person’s limp I would use the ‘b-handshape’ for hair, because that’s also the best way to describe walking.

Creative use of the various handshapes to tell stories is part of one of the top forms of deaf culture - ABC stories. Here’s a good one on YouTube. I did a fun one (from Z to A for extra difficulty!) about shooting free throws in basketball for class, and I’m now trying to polish it up so that I can compete with it in a statewide storytelling competition.

Another one of my projects this last semester was to do an interpretation of a song. In general, you’re using classifiers there as they’ll flow better than the specific signs for certain things. Also important is flowing along with the beat of the song - watching somebody interpret a rap song can be amusing (the guys a comedian - the middle section is what you actually want to see). One of the things I got docked for during mine was needlessly switching classifiers when I could have held them through a few different ideas. This guy’s whole set is pretty impressive - a variety of pop songs and differing flows.

[purplehorseshoe]

@Dr.Drake

There is definitely poetry. I have seen a couple of poetic performances and the nearest thing to me was dance. Gestures were performed with more… grace? Artistry? and a couple of times I could see words performed simultaneously. I’m not fluent in ASL and I have no idea what aesthetic effect that would give or how common it is.

There was a deaf girl at my Catholic high school, and she had an interpreter. I didn’t have many classes with her, so my experience seeing the interpreter was mostly limited to Mass and other school-wide gatherings. The interpreter definitely changed her signing style when signing for hymns and poetry - swooping her hands to keep time with the lyrics, etc. Pretty fascinating to watch.

[BigT]

@purplehorseshoe

There was a deaf girl at my Catholic high school, and she had an interpreter. I didn’t have many classes with her, so my experience seeing the interpreter was mostly limited to Mass and other school-wide gatherings. The interpreter definitely changed her signing style when signing for hymns and poetry - swooping her hands to keep time with the lyrics, etc. Pretty fascinating to watch.

And that’s exactly how you learn to do it if you are adding signing to a vocal production. We used to do this all the time at church. It could almost seem like a human video.