Navigation – Plan du site

AccueilNuméros10(2)Comptes rendusMartha Morgado, Personal experien...

Comptes rendus

Martha Morgado, Personal experience narratives in three West African sign languages: The influence of time depth, community size and social interaction

Miracle Oppong Peprah
Référence(s) :

Martha Morgado, Personal experience narratives in three West African sign languages: The influence of time depth, community size and social interaction, Amsterdam, LOT, 2024, ISBN 978-94-6093-445-2

Texte intégral

1Martha Morgado’s PhD thesis, Personal experience narratives in three West African sign languages, from Leiden University, provides an in-depth exploration of personal narratives in Adamorobe Sign Language (AdaSL), Langue des Signes de Bouakako (LaSiBo), and Língua Gestual Guineense (LGG). LGG is an emergent language, while AdaSL and LaSiBo are micro-community languages. Spanning approximately 420 pages, it is one of the most detailed studies of narrative structures in sign languages. The book is organized into eight chapters: Chapter 1 provides background on the languages studied, while Chapter 2 outlines the methodology. Chapters 3 to 7 present four studies analyzing 47 personal narratives, with a final conclusion in Chapter 8.

Summary

2Chapter 1 examines the sociolinguistic factors that differentiate three West African sign languages: AdaSL, LaSiBo, and LGG. Key factors include the size of their deaf communities, the age and vitality of each language, interaction patterns, and the role of storytelling. AdaSL, the oldest at 250 years, is used by 33 deaf individuals in Adamorobe, Ghana. LaSiBo, around 50 years old, has just six users in Bouakako, Ivory Coast, while LGG, the youngest at 20 years, is spoken by about 500 people in Bissau, Guinea-Bissau. Social interaction also varies significantly across these communities, reflecting the linguistic and social diversity among the three sign languages.

3Chapter 2 outlines the methodology, providing an account of the five months of fieldwork carried out in Ghana, Ivory Coast, and Guinea-Bissau. The chapter details the development of the study, outlining the fieldwork process (selection of research sites, selection of consultants, data collection, and video annotation using ELAN software). Fieldwork challenges varied across sites, with complex social dynamics in Adamorobe, communication barriers in Bouakako, and smoother interactions in Bissau, where the researcher was familiar with the local deaf community. As part of the larger project From gesture to language, led by Victoria Nyst, Morgado’s thesis specifically analyzed spontaneous narratives about animal attacks, focusing on narrative structure, signing perspectives, and devices like role shift and constructed dialogue. The chapter highlights the logistical and analytical rigor that underpinned the research, providing crucial insights into the execution of fieldwork and data analysis.

4Chapter 3 introduces the first study, which examines the structure of the narratives using the Labov & Waletzky (1997 [1967]) model for analysis. This study is unique in two ways. First, it is the largest study applying the L&W methodology to sign languages, using prompts about dangerous situations to evoke vivid and expressive language. Additionally, it is the first to examine the narrative structures of emerging and micro-community sign languages, making a significant contribution to the field. The analysis focuses on key components of narrative structure—orientation, complication, climax, resolution, and coda—applying ELAN software to annotate elements such as glosses, translation, narrative structure, eye gaze, and role shifts between narrator and character. These annotations were then exported to Excel for content analysis, breaking down narratives into minimal semantic units. The findings indicate that storytellers of the three West African sign languages differ in emotional engagement, with female signers like those in LaSiBo and LGG often lacking storytelling skills due to limited social interactions and insufficient support from communicative partners. This gap arises not from their language’s early stage but from a lack of practice and valued interactions, which is reflected in the fact that their male counterparts developed these abilities within the same timeframe.

5Chapter 4 explores the evaluation component in narratives, based on Labov & Waletzky’s (1997 [1967]) model, which enhances emotional engagement by embedding the storyteller’s perspective. The chapter illustrates the distinction between narratives with and without evaluation, using temporally ordered events with added evaluative clauses for comparison. The author examines four types of evaluation—external evaluation, evaluative action, embedding of evaluation, and suspension of action—highlighting how these are expressed through specific narrative devices. The author explores the evaluation aspect of narratives through three case studies, analyzing techniques like signing perspectives, role shifts, constructed dialogues, and animal descriptions. These methods are analyzed for their effectiveness in enhancing dramatic and emotional intensity, with an emphasis on how factors like community size, language maturity, and social interactions influence the development of distinct storytelling styles.

6Chapter 5 presents the second study, which explores the use of signing perspectives in personal experience narratives, with a focus on how they contribute to expressing evaluative elements. It begins with a literature review that examines four signing perspectives—real scale, multiple, simultaneous, and reduced scale—grounded in studies of diverse sign languages, including those from emerging and micro communities. These perspectives range from character embodiment through constructed action (real scale) to portraying multiple characters (multiple scale), combining life-sized and model-sized depictions (simultaneous scale), and narrating events as an external observer without character enactment (reduced scale). The chapter poses the following research question: to what extent do signers across three different sign languages use these perspectives to enhance narrative expressions? The findings support the researcher's hypothesis that the real scale perspective where the signer embodies the character being described is the most fundamental and preferred across the groups. Additionally, the study highlights gender differences in the use of signing perspectives across the three sign languages.

7Chapter 6 presents the third study, providing an in-depth analysis of role shifts and constructed dialogues. This marks the first investigation of these features in each of the three languages. The study explores the extent to which signers of AdaSL and male signers of LGG use these features to enrich their narratives. Findings show that both groups frequently employ role shifting within constructed dialogues, with gaze changes being a common feature, as observed in other sign languages. However, a key distinction arises: AdaSL signers typically do not move their heads or bodies during these shifts, whereas male LGG signers, influenced by the spatial dynamics of their narratives (e.g., snakes in trees), incorporate body movements. The author notes that this distinction, though intriguing, cannot be easily explained by the nature of the stories or unique traits of AdaSL, suggesting the need for further research.

8Chapter 7 presents the fourth and final study, which explores how animals are depicted in personal experience narratives of AdaSL, LaSiBo, and LGG. The study focuses on how signers reference and describe the animals they encounter, with particular attention to size and shape. The analysis is grounded in narratives elicited by a prompt about dangerous animal encounters, with an emphasis on how these depictions enhance the emotional intensity of the stories. The study explores two key aspects: the contextual placement of animal depictions at the climax of the narratives and the diversity of depicted features. It examines 45 accounts of animal encounters shared by signers across the three sign languages. Remarkably, 37 of these accounts focus on snakes, while other animals such as lions, wasps, horned animals, and a dog are sporadically featured. Specifically, the AdaSL corpus includes narratives about lions and wasps, the LaSiBo corpus highlights horned animals, and the LGG corpus includes a single account of a dog. In 37 narratives, animals are explicitly identified, while in others, they are merely pointed. The findings reveal that, while animal references occur in all narratives, not all stories include detailed descriptions, especially in LaSiBo and LGG.

9Chapter 8, the concluding chapter, presents the author’s reflections on the findings from the four studies that investigated personal experience narratives in three West African sign languages. It emphasizes the impact of community size, language age, and social interactions on narrative structure and storytelling techniques. The results confirm that richer social interaction fosters more elaborate narratives, with AdaSL and male LGG signers showing more narrative complexity than LaSiBo and female LGG signers, highlighting the role of socialization in linguistic development.

Evaluation

10One of the book’s major strengths is its incorporation of visual elements, such as pictures, maps, and ELAN flies, which enable readers to fully grasp the nuances of signed narratives. This multimodal approach enriches the reading experience and enhances understanding, making it a valuable resource for both scholars and general readers interested in the subject. Furthermore, the author adeptly situates personal narratives within the broader context of West African culture and society, highlighting how factors like gender, language contact, and social interaction have shaped the development of sign languages in these communities. This is exemplified in Study 3, which shows that in LGG, an emergent sign language, deaf men use more narrative devices than women, similar to the storytelling practices of AdaSL signers, a much older language, suggesting that social interaction and time contribute to the development of a more sophisticated storytelling style. This contextualization is essential for appreciating the intricate relationship between social dynamics and narrative construction in sign languages.

11Chapter 8 of the book outlines the key limitations of the research, particularly, the need for a more comprehensive analysis to fully understand the influence of social interactions and exposure to national sign languages, such as Ghanaian Sign Language and Língua Gestual Portuguesa on the selected personal narratives. However, additional limitations emerge that warrant attention.

12First, the multi-site fieldwork design, while offering valuable comparative insights, suffers from an uneven distribution of time across the research locations. The three-month stay in Adamorobe allowed for deeper engagement, but the shorter periods spent in the other two locations may have introduced biases in data collection and analysis. This imbalance in time allocation poses significant methodological challenges, and a more equitable approach would have strengthened the study’s findings.

13Second, the book could have expanded its exploration of the interactions between these West African sign languages and international sign languages, such American Sign Language, which has significantly influenced many African regions. Although the focus on indigenous sign languages is commendable, a comparative analysis incorporating language contact with international sign languages would have enriched the discussion, offering deeper insights into the dynamics of language contact and change within these communities.

14In conclusion, Personal experience narratives in three West African sign languages is an insightful study that highlights the rich linguistic and cultural traditions of deaf communities in West Africa. The book provides a valuable look into the personal lives and narratives of these communities, emphasizing their resilience and creativity in communication. The author’s writing is comprehensive yet accessible, with clear, concise paragraphs that facilitate readability, making the book accessible not only to sign linguists but also to researchers who are new to the field.

Haut de page

Bibliographie

Labov, William & Joshua Waletzky. 1997 [1967]. Narrative analysis: Oral versions of personal experience. Journal of Narrative and Life History 7(1–4). 3–38. https://doi.org/10.1075/jnlh.7.02nar.

Haut de page

Pour citer cet article

Référence électronique

Miracle Oppong Peprah, « Martha Morgado, Personal experience narratives in three West African sign languages: The influence of time depth, community size and social interaction »Linguistique et langues africaines [En ligne], 10(2) | 2024, mis en ligne le 22 mars 2025, consulté le 22 juin 2025. URL : http://journals.openedition.org/lla/13982 ; DOI : https://doi.org/10.4000/13lt6

Haut de page

Auteur

Miracle Oppong Peprah

CNRS, UMR 8135 Langage, langues et cultures d’Afrique (Llacan)

Haut de page

Droits d’auteur

CC-BY-SA-4.0

Le texte seul est utilisable sous licence CC BY-SA 4.0. Les autres éléments (illustrations, fichiers annexes importés) susceptibles d’être soumis à des autorisations d’usage spécifiques.

Haut de page
Rechercher dans OpenEdition Search

Vous allez être redirigé vers OpenEdition Search