ASL rhetoricals

Wed Oct 31 14:04:07 UTC 2007

Stefan, 

Very interesting question. True, not everything is black and white when it comes to languages. So your question: is there a time when a wh-word rhetorical question is with the brows down rather than up? Well, the first thing that comes to mind is when the signer looks away from the audiance to ask his/herself a question because he/she is unsure of the answer. However, this would not be a rhetorical question because the question is no longer being directed to the audiance. I guess it could be done if the signer is unsure of the answer, but that would mean that the signer (whether conscience or not) wants someone to "answer" or confirm the answer. So for the effect of the wh-word rhetorical question to have the desired results, the brows must be up. And that was my point with Kelly Jo. Some people may switch it up for several reasons, but I have yet to see a Deaf of Deaf native switch it up when in a natural conversation. 

Adam

-----Original Message-----
From: "Stefan Wöhrmann"
	<stefanwoehrmann at gebaerdenschrift.de>

Date: Wed, 31 Oct 2007 11:14:51 
To:"'SignWriting List'" <sw-l at majordomo.valenciacc.edu>
Subject: AW: [sw-l] "Birthday Party" Page 1

Hi Adam, 
here in Germany we do almost the same – questions that ask for a yes no answer with eyebrows uo – but open questions eyebrows down. Now – looking at hours and hours of DGS – videos I have to admit that things do not seem to be that easy- Sometime absolutey strong and compentent DEAF signers (themselves being SL-instructors) violate this “rule” – I guess unconciously. I get the impression that the eyebrow up vs. down question is pretty much dependent on the “motivation/idea/ feeling” of the signer ... 
So thanks for your feedback – in this case -- 
“You have a rhetorical wh-word question. The eyebrows should be up, not down. “ 
Can you think of a situation that you would rather sign a rhetorical WH-word with exebrows down – and would not feel irritated – because the message you send with this mimic goes along with these eyebrows down? 

Stefan ;-) 

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Von: sw-l-bounces at majordomo.valenciacc.edu [mailto:sw-l-bounces at majordomo.valenciacc.edu] Im Auftrag von Adam Frost
 Gesendet: Mittwoch, 31. Oktober 2007 02:20
 An: kjoanne403 at hotmail.com; SignWriting List
 Betreff: Re: [sw-l] "Birthday Party" Page 1 

Written very well. I enjoyed the story. First page does not have spelling errors that I caught on first read, but there is a grammar error. ;-) You have a rhetorical wh-word question. The eyebrows should be up, not down. 

 Adam 

On 10/30/07, kjoanne403 at hotmail.com <kjoanne403 at hotmail.com > wrote: 

Hi everyone, 
I got excited about the book again when I was posting earlier, so I got busy this evening and rewrote what I wanted to rewrite. There are seven pages in all (though I don't think #6 really needs proofreading . . . it's only one sign, but I'm going to send it anyway so I don't break up the flow of the story.) As I said earlier, feedback/comments/criticism is welcome! 

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