Izihlahla Ezikhuluma Ngezandla (“Trees Who Talk with Hands”): Tree Poems in South African Sign Language
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.25159/1016-8427/3794Keywords:
African literature; deaf; personification; sign language poetry; South African Sign Language; treeAbstract
This article explores the way in which trees (izihlahla in isiZulu) are represented in South African Sign Language (SASL) literature. We contextualise our study in the broader field of African folklore and literature as SASL literature is steeped in deaf culture as well as that of a wider African culture of hearing people. Using a close reading approach of a selection of poems, we claim that many key features of tree symbolism and tree personification that are found in African literature and folklore (written or spoken) can also be identified in SASL literature (signed). In both literatures, the tree is seen as a symbol of growth, the circle of life, hope and knowledge, the ancestors and custodians of history, as well as a character with its own presence. Our findings highlight the modality-independent nature of human creativity
This article explores the way in which trees (izihlahla in isiZulu) are represented in South African Sign Language (SASL) literature. We contextualise our study in the broader field of African folklore and literature as SASL literature is steeped in deaf culture as well as that of a wider African culture of hearing people. Using a close reading approach of a selection of poems, we claim that many key features of tree symbolism and tree personification that are found in African literature and folklore (written or spoken) can also be identified in SASL literature (signed). In both literatures, the tree is seen as a symbol of growth, the circle of life, hope and knowledge, the ancestors and custodians of history, as well as a character with its own presence. Our findings highlight the modality-independent nature of human creativity.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright will be vested in Unisa Press. However, as long as you do not use the article in ways which would directly conflict with the publisher's business interests, you retain the right to use your own article (provided you acknowledge the published version of the article) as follows:
- to make further copies of all or part of the published article for your use in classroom teaching;
- to make copies of the final accepted version of the article for internal distribution within your institution, or to place it on your own or your institution's website or repository, or on a site that does not charge for access to the article, but you must arrange not to make the final accepted version of the article available to the public until 18 months after the date of acceptance;
- to reuse all or part of this material in a compilation of your own works or in a textbook of which you are the author, or as the basis for a conference presentation.
Accepted 2018-10-22
Published 2019-07-25
