Donna Jo Napoli (Swarthmore): Deaf humor: How the components of the grammar are exploited, and what this tells us about the evolution of language.

ABSTRACT: What makes people laugh, and why?  The answers differ based on the people, but also based on their language.  In this presentation we will examine points of humor in American Sign Language with brief remarks on British Sign Language, and see how all the components of the grammar can be played with toward humorous ends.  Fundamentals of sign will be discussed with an eye on the ways sign languages inherently and inescapably uses analogy, metaphor, framing, and other human singularities required for conceptual integration networks. This will lead to the speculation (but educated speculation) that sign languages were the first human languages.

Read the UDaily article annoucing this talk.