Concrete poetry for the sign language classroom

Abstract

Concrete poetry creates meaning by relying primarily on visual iconicity likewise sign languages (SLs). As they are visual-gestural languages, their modality allows a more transparent relation between the form of the sign and its meaning. Due to this common characteristic, the paper introduces the construction of SL literary material on the basis of the visual stimuli (mainly written) of concrete poetry. In this process, both languages (written and signed) are equal, since the reconstruction of the original text requires the close reading of their grammar and literary traditions. Keywords: concrete poetry; sign language; philology.