A Grammar of Italian Sign Language (LIS)

As introduced in SOCIO-HISTORICAL BACKGROUND 2.1, Deaf Culture considers deafness as a cultural factor, and medical or scientific perspectives are not relevant in its definition. Instead, the relationships between Deaf people, their language, the shared knowledge about the history of Deaf people or their traditions and uses of life are considered important for the construction of Deaf identity. However, this construction is often in opposition with the hearing society. The boundaries of Deaf culture are both external and internal. The internal boundaries are built upon the sense of belonging to Deaf culture and sign language, while the external boundaries seem to be imposed by the inaccessibility to the social or economic spheres of the hearing society. The perspective of Deaf culture as a linguistic and cultural minority implies economic government support, just as the medical perspective requires economic facilities and medical services such as cochlear implants, speech therapies and supporting devices. Deaf culture is enhanced as acts as a cultural in opposition to the social and economic conditions of a minority being imposed by the hearing model of society. Moreover, Deaf culture is powered by a circular revitalization: generation by generation Deaf people define their identity through constructive processes. These processes claim an independent identity, rejecting the definitions which come from the point of view of the majority hearing culture. For the same reason, Deaf people generally do not appreciate the same politically correct definitions as non-hearing people. Indeed, the definition of people who lack something is automatically related to an intact hearing dominant culture. In this sense, the word Deaf, like the word Blind, defines a condition without implying a dominant reference model.

            In relation to Deaf identity and culture, an important concept is Deafhood which has been introduced by Paddy Ladd in Understanding Deaf Culture; In search of Deafhood (2003). The suffix –hood in spoken English concerns the status or the quality of a previously mentioned noun (in this case the deaf population). No literal translation is possible in Italian, but, in a nutshell, the concept expresses the condition of being deliberately part of Deaf culture and community in contrast to the simply medical condition of deafness. Deafhood is a psychological and social process of increasing the awareness of deaf condition, in order not to consider it as a loss of something, but as part of an individual and collective identity. Another crucial concept in reframing deafness with respect to society is the notion of Deaf Gain. It is a framework proposed in 2009 by an article of H-Dirksen Bauman and Joseph Murray; even though the first mention was by Aaron Williamson, a deaf artist performer, who firstly wondered why it was that not a single doctor told him he was gaining his deafness, instead of losing his hearing. Indeed, the concept is conceived as a redefinition of deafness as a sensory and cognitive diversity which has the potential to contribute to the enrichment of humanity. In addition to the benefits to society, there is a direct benefit for Deaf people who use a visual based language. For example, researches have shown that Deaf people have a more well-developed peripheral vision, a greater ability to form quick mental images and better facial-recognition skills. New concepts such as Deafhood and Deaf Gain contribute in increasing the awareness of Deaf identity by reframing the traditional notion of ‘normalcy’. 

            The presence of cultural prevailing schema among the hearing population created barriers in the social inclusion of Deaf people, enhancing misconceptions and marginalization. However, the minority status of Deaf people is not common everywhere, indeed in some cultures there are no boundaries between hearing and Deaf people or between the two different cultures. Two examples are the story of a Mayan village in Yucatán and the story of Martha’s Vineyard, an island off the coast of Massachusetts. In the first case, the high number of deaf people yield deaf inhabitants to be well integrated in the community. Since hearing people knew sign language, no communication problems are considered as obstacles for the relationship between hearing and deaf people inside the village. It seems that hearing villagers are still used to communicate through Yucatec Maya Sign Language, even if the number of deaf inhabitants started to decrease. The second story concerns the case of Martha’s Vineyard island, which draw the linguistic researches attention to both the deaf and hearing islanders. Indeed, since the unusually high percentage of deaf people within the community, the Martha’s Vineyard Sign Language (MVSL) was able to thrive on the island from the early 18^th century to 1952.

            In the island, deafness was a hereditary trait, so that Deaf people of the island did not consider themselves as impaired and they lived in a complete autonomy. In addition, they were deeply integrated among the remaining hearing island’s inhabitants. The sign language was used and taught to hearing children as early as their first years and signs were spread among hearing people even when no deaf people were present. MVSL started to decline when the population migrated to the mainland, and today no fluent signers are attested anymore. The last deaf person died in 1952, since then, very few elderly islanders were able to recall MVSL, when in the 1980s linguistic researchers started to examine the language in order to save it.  These examples, together with few others represents unusual cases of complete integration between hearing and deaf people, due to the absence of communication barriers. However, Deaf people are generally discriminated and marginalized by dominant hearing group. In post-industrial societies, Deaf people seem to share common life experiences. This is the reason why Deaf culture appears to overcome national boundaries by sharing a common ground of uses and universal perceptions. Some of them are: the types of relationships shared among Deaf people; the visual channel of sign languages; the concept of time which is not dependent on the production or working dimension of post-industrial societies; the way in which they are used to meeting each other. All these factors seem to be part of a specific sense of belonging to a broader Deaf culture.           

            An important part of Deaf identity is represented by name signs (LEXICON 3.1.2). In our post-industrial societies, from birth it is common to recognize our identity in the name which is has been chosen for us. However, in other culture names are not unique and unchangeable, and in fact a person can have several names to identify different social roles or s/he can change names to mark different moments of life.

In Italy, in the past, something similar happened when a married woman changed her surname to take that of her husband. Furthermore, in post-industrial societies the specific meaning of the name is often lost, while in other cultures, names are chosen because they describe behavioural or physical characteristics. Something similar happens in Deaf cultures, where Deaf people, but also hearing people part of Deaf communities, are identified with one or more name signs. In Italy, as well, Deaf people share two names: one in spoken language and one name sign. These two names represent the double belonging to the hearing and Deaf spheres. Name signs in LIS can be arbitrary or descriptive. The latter are descriptions of specific physical characteristics, for example related to the hair or to particular facial traits. Someone with curly hair can be named with the sign denoting curly hair, as shown in the video below.

 

 

 

            anna

 

These descriptions can also represent the specific attitude of the person designed with that name sign, as for example the smile, if the person is often cheerful (see video below), or they can refer to the job or to some specific abilities of the person who bears the name sign.

 

 

 

            antonia 

 

The arbitrary name signs, on the other hand, are not expressions of specific individual qualities, but are initialisations (LEXICON 2.2.2.1) or typical representations or translations of the name or surname in Italian. In the first case, initialized name signs use the first letter of the spoken Italian name or surname, as for example for the name Federico, the initialisation will be F. The letters are signed with the manual alphabet (LEXICON 2.2.2), which is a contact point between signs and words (see example below).

 

 

 

            federico

 

In the second case, name signs are correlated to very common Italian names, as for example Pietro or Paolo. Very often these typical names come from the religious tradition and have fixed signs which correspond to them. Thus, Pietro will be signed as the sign for ‘key’, because according to the Christian tradition Saint Peter holds the keys of the kingdom of heaven.

 

 

                        pietro

 

Finally, a translated name sign is a literal translation of Italian names or surnames. For example, if the surname is Scarpa ‘shoe’, it is translated with the corresponding LIS sign.

 

 

                        luca_scarpa

 

            Sign language poetry started to appear in Italy in 1976, thanks to Joseph Castronovo, a Deaf American poet who was trying to trace his Sicilian origins. He married Graziella Anselmo and together they encouraged the spreading of sign language poetry, enhancing the visual channel of this special linguistic expression. In Palermo, they joined a theatre company, Il Gabbiano (‘The Seagull’) founded by Rosaria, Giuseppe, Maurizio and Fabio Giuranna in order to promote LIS. These four Deaf siblings, coming from a long Deaf family tradition, were emerging in the Deaf community thanks to their special artistic skills. Their performances were appreciated by the Deaf community and interest in them grew. In 1997, when the first International Festival of theatre, poetry and sketches in LIS was organised in Trieste, they won the first award for poetry. Other similar cultural events have been organised in Genoa in 2000, Naples in 2005 and Rome in 2017. 

            Rosaria Giuranna can be considered one of the first Deaf women poets, Rosaria and her brother Giuseppe Giuranna are some of the most well-known performers of Visual Vernacular, another form of artistic expression.  Year by year, many other Deaf poets and performers started to run the social scene: one of the first poets was Renato Pigliacampo, who was specialized in written Italian poems, although being a postlingual Deaf. Some of the contemporary Italian Deaf poets who compose in LIS are: Lucia Daniele, Valentina Bani, Nicola Della Maggiora, Laura di Gioia, and Chiara Di Monte.

            Topics of poetry are often linked to the condition of being Deaf in a hearing society, they can be metaphors or expressions of personal experiences, reinterpretations of historical events, or short symbolic fantastic narrations. Visual perceptions are prominent and unusual new linguistic forms are created in emphasizing the force of communication by expanding the boundaries of every sign. Poetry testifies a specific linguistic awareness: the ability to catch the relationship between expressive forms and meanings and the straightforward capability to create rhythmic sequences, symmetries, rhymes, repetitions, assonances and text-internal references. In a poetic performance, the linguistic form is valued as well, although the poet may not necessarily be aware of all the choices made. The poetic language seems to disobey the common rules of the grammar, indeed poets are those who use language in unusual ways, finding new formal and stylistic solutions. Language is folded to the poetic intentions in order to support and enhance the different layers of meaning.  Among others, one of the properties of a poetic text is repetition. This stylistic strategy can be used in different linguistic layers of LIS: at a phonological layer by repeating the same configurations, movements or orientations of signs, at a morphological level by repeating the same signs, and at a syntactic level by repeating the sentences with or without variations of manual and non-manual features. Repetition makes the interpretation of content easier and enhances the relevance of the message. Another recurrent property of sign language poetry is the symmetry in signing. This is a stylistic technique which reinforces visual patterns and the structural order of the signs, moreover, it makes signs balanced and more fluent.

            A common scheme of poetry reflects a circular structure, like some refrains in spoken songs, where repetition and symmetric patterns create a visual melody comparable to the musicality of some oral forms of poetry. Contrary to common misconceptions, even sign language has rhythm. Rhythm is not only transmitted through acoustic sounds, in fact, visual rhythm is built upon repetition of signs, duration and movements. The uses of these factors produce different types of emphasis, for example accelerations or downturns affect the rhythm of signing.

            Iconicity is a further property of languages: in spoken languages, onomatopoeic sounds are iconic because they reproduce real sounds by codifying them into words, such as the verb ‘mooing’ which reproduces the sound of a cow. Sign languages also use iconicity, but, since the communication channel in sign language is visual, they use visual iconicity. In poetry, iconicity supports the artistic expression of signs. Generally, it is reflected by the choice of handshapes, but movements, orientations, locations and non-manual features can emphasize iconicity as well.   

            The collection Sette poesie in LIS (‘Seven poems in LIS’) is one of the first examples of poetry which was published and disseminated by means of CD-ROM. The project was realised by Rosaria and Giuseppe Giuranna. In the CD, one of the poems, Orologio (‘Clock’), is about the passing of time and the individual perception of the temporal dimension. Time is affected by meetings with people who can break the monotony of daily life. Different rhythms accompany different time perceptions, slow repetition and the cyclicality of signs emphasise for example the boredom of life, while a sudden change in the speed of signing shows an emotional break in the circular perception of time.  In this way, linguistic forms and content overlap giving back the visual effect of the passing of time.       

            Together with repetition and iconicity, semantic indeterminacy is another characteristic property of poetry. This kind of semantic vagueness allows the extention of interpretations and meaning of the poems over its formal and semantic boundaries. A good example of semantic indeterminacy arises in the poetry of Lucia Daniele: Matita (‘Pencil’). Since this poetry is less narrative than Orologio, more of the semantic interpretation is left up to the audience. Matita is a metaphor for life, its gentle track can be cancelled, and the pencil is worn like the life of human being which is used right to the end. On this vein, the poetry could be interpreted as a description of an entire human life, from birth to death. The repetition of the handshape 1, the same used for person, is not accidental and visually enhances the metaphor. However, the semantic vagueness of this poetry allows other level of interpretations, for example, it is possible to read the necessity of facing the hardships of life, of not giving up to obstacles, and, as a pencil can be sharp, life can also be made sharp by pains. All these interpretations are possible, because the use of classifiers and role shift make the reading broader and stratified.

            Since poems in LIS cannot be written (yet), the reproduction of poetry are performative moments for the artists. Indeed, poetry and theatre are close in this genre and require not only a physical, but also a deep mental presence and concentration from the poet. Based on the performative nature of sign language poetry, each reproduction is unique and unrepeatable.

            Other genres of artistic performances exist, such as Visual Vernacular, ABC stories and creative storytelling. Visual Vernacular (VV) is an artistic genre which is related to cinematographic effects. Although it has a high use of iconicity, contrary to common misconceptions, it is not universally understandable. Visual Vernacular uses sign language mixed with visual techniques based on classifiers and role shifts. In Italy, Giuseppe Giuranna is an internationally known VV performer. In his videos, fragments of several of his performances make clear the deep iconic nature of these kind of cultural expression, which requires a perfect ability in assembling the scenes and taking into account the rhythms, time sequences, points of view and foci. In Italy, another famous national Visual Vernacular performer is Gabriele Caia.

            ABC stories are performances in signs which follow a regular pattern given by the order of the hand alphabet. Because of their nature, they represent a contact point between spoken languages (they use alphabetic letters) and sign languages (they use the hands in order to produce letters). Gabriele Caia and many other Deaf artists, as the deaf blogger Lorenzo Laudo, have played with ABC stories. An example by Lorenzo Laudo is the ABC story Buongiorno? (‘Good morning?’).

            Theatre companies and performers represent an important piece of artistic forms and expressions within the Deaf culture. It is impossible to establish when the first theatre company in sign language was founded in Italy. Probably, in the first decades of 1900 a group of Deaf people enjoyed performing shows and sketches in the local clubs of their cities. No written documents have been found and the unique performances are transmitted via the memories of old signers.

            The list below shows some theatre companies playing at international and national level, which participated at the first Deaf Festival (Trieste, October 30 - November 2,1997).

            The theatre company of Mime Senza Parole (‘Without Words’): it was founded in Milan by Sergio Cattivalli, born to Deaf parents. After a break, in 1979 the leadership was assumed by the director Antonio de Pieri. The proposed topics are original and cross several genres, such as cabaret, drama and comedy, all of them turning around Deaf culture. Other shows are reinterpretations of famous masterpieces. The company plays in Italy, but also in other countries, such as Spain, Denmark, USA, Japan.

            The theatre company Il Ciclope (‘The Cyclops’) was founded in Palermo by a group of Deaf people in 1976. It performs musicals with LIS songs, sketches, poems concerning Deaf culture and community, daily life, and typical Deaf experiences in the hearing society are performed as well. The company is open to Deaf and hearing players. Its tours are usually organised across in Italy, but also France, Spain and Japan.

            The theatre company Laboratorio Zero (‘Zero Laboratory’) was founded in Rome by Ginetta Rosato, a Deaf director. Initially the name of the Company was La Mandragola (‘The Mandrake’), and in 1986 it was changed in the current one. Since 1993 the company started to perform only reinterpretations of famous comedies and it has performed in several Italian cities.

            The theatre company Padre Luigi Aiello (‘Father Luigi Aiello’) is based in Molfetta-Bari and was founded in 1985 by Domenico Binetti and other friends. The group plays cabaret and comedies, which are represented using signs and gestures. This accessibility is appreciated by the local and national schools, where the company played several shows. 

            The theatre company Teatro del Sole (‘Theatre of the Sun’) was founded in Catania and directed by Antonio D’Urso. Initially, the company was composed of both hearing and Deaf players. Since 1992, it has only featured Deaf actors.

            The theatre company Maschera Viva (‘Live Mask’) operates in Turin and it is run only by Deaf players. The shows are represented in sign language and are related to scenes of Deaf daily life. Lucia Daniele used to perform with the company. The group has performed in several Italian cities.

            In Milan, the association Orgoglio Sordo (‘Deaf Pride’) was founded in 1983. The main goal of the group is to spread knowledge about Deaf culture and LIS among hearing and deaf people. In 1995, it organised a short linguistic and poetic course about sign language run by Clayton Valli, a famous Deaf American poet. The course was one of the first chances to learn and develop poetic techniques. The group performs in several Italian cities with poetry and songs.

            The group Mimico Trentino (‘Trentino Mime’) was founded in Trento thanks to the support of the City of Trento and the local ENS. The project was initially run by Enzo Maria Caserta, who passed away in 1997. It proposes funny sketches and shows about Deaf culture at a national level.

            The theatre company Il Gabbiano (‘The Seagull’) was founded in 1997 by the Giuranna siblings and performs poems and songs in LIS. It won the First Deaf Festival in Trieste with the poem Grazie (‘Thanks’).

            The Arte&Mani (‘Art&Hands’) - Deaf Italy Onlus was established in Rome in 2011 together with the experimental company Teatro Sordo Lis (‘Deaf LIS Theatre’). The group is composed by hearing and deaf actors who work together to create accessible performances for both hearing and deaf audience.    

            Theatre companies and artistic performances contribute in disseminating LIS at national and international levels, however, the increasing interest for sign language and Deaf culture in Italy is also fostered through the presence of new private and public associations which are promoting LIS among hearing people, fighting against the stereotypes for a better knowledge of the Deaf universe. Across Italy, beside the presence of ENS, other associations work for the promotion of LIS. Examples of the growing interest are provided by the rising numbers of subscriptions to LIS courses at different levels (SOCIO-HISTORICAL BACKGROUND 3.3).      

            The social empowerment and life changing effects on Deaf people are also testified by the recent opening of new public places, such as bars and pubs run by Deaf people or with Deaf people. In Italy, the first and most important place totally run by young Deaf people is the Senza Nome bar (‘Without Name’) opened in Bologna, in Via Belvedere, 11/B. The space was founded by Alfonso Marrazzo and Sara Longhi and represents a contact point for hearing and Deaf people. The main goal is to create opportunities for mutual relationships. It is a welcoming place where boundaries break down, leaving room for daily inclusion experiences. The space is also a frequent promoter of cultural and artistic events, such as book presentations, cultural and linguistic discussions, and workshops and courses of different kinds. Indeed, many of the Deaf people who work there come from artistic backgrounds, and the bar has been opened with the precise purpose to foster LIS through public artistic performances or installations.

            Another central place for Deaf culture is L’Altro Spazio (‘The Other Space’) opened in Bologna (in via Nazario Sauro, 24/F) after the success of the Senza Nome bar and supported by the association Farm. Unlike Senza Nome, L’Altro Spazio has a broader vocation, and is designed as a contact space for people with various disabilities. It fights against the stereotype of disability as a lack of something. The idea came from the sisters Nunzia and Santa Vannuccini together with Jasha Blume.   

            All these experiences are examples of the growing awareness of Deaf people concerning their rights and their changed social status. The new Deaf generations want to review welfarism and the old mentality toward deafness, testifying their proactivity and their right to be independent. The success of these spaces cannot be justified just as fashions or social tendencies, they seem rather to be consequences of a renewed awareness conception of social diversities which describe a new relational model of society. These examples are parts of the concept of Deaf Gain, which suggests to counter the predominant schema of being Deaf as a loss by reframing deafness as an opportunity for human enrichment.

            The spreading of this changed vision of deafness and the growing of Deaf identity and culture can also be attributed to the increase of national and international events and festivals organised by the Deaf community in the last decades. One of the most important events for the Deaf community is CineDeaf, the Italian Festival of Deaf Cinema. It was started in Rome in 2012 thanks to the support of the National Deaf Institute, and has had four editions so far (2013, 2015, 2017). The team who organised this international Festival is composed of both hearing and Deaf people. Their idea is to work together to promote knowledge and organise meetings between the traditional cinema circles and the Deaf artists and directors. The Festival wants to create dialogic spaces where perspectives and different points of view can be exchanged and shared. Furthermore, the project’s goal is to find new paths and new expressive languages of communication in order to renew and enrich traditional experiences. It also aims at spreading and disseminating new independent talents, and even young talents are involved through the participation of schools. Culturally, the CineDeaf represents an important network with other foreign film projects across the world and it is a great opportunity to meet other Deaf communities.  

            As already mentioned in the previous section, Deaf theatre is generally celebrated across Italian cities and represents an important opportunity to experience international Deaf cultures and to share experiences between Deaf and hearing people from different parts of the world. The First Theatre Festival was organised in Trieste (1997), and others were based in Genoa (2000), Naples (2005), and the last was run in Rome (2017).

            Other representative occasion related to the international Deaf community are: i) the World Deaf Day (WDD), which is celebrated every year in the last week of September to direct the attention of the media, politicians and authorities towards the achievements of Deaf people, as well as the hearing communities. People are also encouraged to celebrate this day to expand new technologies and improve the opportunities to change their lifestyle in society. (ii) The Summer and Winter Deaflympics (Olympic games for deaf and hard of hearing people). The first game, known as the International Silent Game, were held in 1924 in Paris by the French Sport Deaf Federation involving athletes from nine countries, in order to prove that deaf people were not inferior, a common misconception at that time. Today, Deaflympics is mostly organised by the International Committee of Sport for Deaf (ICSD) and involves 113 memberships. Another very important event spread among the Deaf community is the Deaf Champion League (DCL). Since the first competition in 2008 based in London, DCL is played every year in a different city. Today DCL includes 29 different countries. Not only sport represents an important occasion for sharing and fostering Deaf identity around world, but also art, culture, and fashion, which are crucial points in the DeafNation World Expo (DNWE). The first DWE was held in Las Vegas from 19 to 22 July 2010, the idea of a World Expo comes from the DeafNation, a social media company co-founded in 2003 by the brothers Joel and Jed Barish. The DNWE was established in order to create an opportunity for Deaf people around the world to meet and exchange life experiences. A known event linked to the DWE and spread among Deaf national and international communities is Miss & Mister Deaf International (MMDI). The first MMDI pageant was established in 2010, thanks to the idea of Ms. Bonita Ann Leek. Indeed, in 2010, the pageant, which before 2010 was local, received the opportunity to be incorporated in the DeafNation World Expo, acquiring an international visibility. Since then, seven editions have been organised in various cities across the world. However, the beauty pageant has also a national version, Miss & Mister Deaf Italy, held in Italy since the first edition in 2011. The pageant is organised by Alphabet Onlus in order to raise the profile of Deaf people across Italy, but the Onlus also supports Deaf families with limited means and promotes the development of technological tools for deaf people.

            These types of events are part of the sense of belonging to the same community, and they come from the will to share experiences and integrate Deaf conditions among society. Internationality is a way to recognize similarities over differences and becomes stronger in shared new projects and new ideas.