SASL Executive Board
2015 – 2018
President
Samuel J. Supalla
University of Arizona
ssupalla@email.arizona.edu
Vice President
Deirdre Schlehofer
Rochester Institute of Technology
dxsnss@rit.edu
Recording Secretary /
Newsletter Editor
Andrew P. J. Byrne
Framingham State University
abyrne@framingham.edu
Treasurer
Harvey Nathanson
Austin Community College
harvey.nathanson@austincc.edu
SASL Journal
Editor-in-Chief
Jody H. Cripps
Towson University
jcripps@towson.edu
Members-at-Large
Russell Rosen
CUNY – Staten Island
russell.rosen@csi.cuny.edu
By Andrew P. J. Byrne
The Joke is on Me:
Self-Defeating Humor of Folklore
Did you know that there are four main styles of humor?
They are affiliative, self-enhancing, aggressive, and self-
defeating (Barnes, 2012; Ford, Lappi, & Holden, 2016).
American Sign Language (ASL) literature has over 70
humorous works. Searching through the database of ASL
folklore, I have identified four works of self-defeating humor,
two of which have multiple versions. These works are Don’t
Sign with Your Hands Full and Please But. In this editorial, I
will focus on the features of self-defeating humor and these
two works, as exemplars of this type of humor.
Also known as self-disparaging, self-denigrating, self-
mockery, self-directed joking, or self-deprecating (Dynel,
2009), self-defeating humor is defined as:
the act of disparaging oneself. [It] involves offering
salient or criticized aspects of oneself as the target of a
joke. These salient aspects could involve topics that are
specific to the individual (e.g., physical appearance,
intelligence, etc.) or to a group to which the individual
belongs. (Ellithorpe, Esralew, & Holbert, 2014, p. 403)
Located in a videotape entitled American Sign
Language: Tales from the Green Books by Charlotte Baker-
Shenk and Dennis Cokely (1980, 1981, 2007), Martina (MJ)
Bienvenu’s work, Don’t Sign with Your Hands Full may be the
earliest published recording of folklore in ASL (1980). There
are seven other videotaped versions, which are as follows:
Gabriel Arellano
Georgetown University
ga430@georgetown.edu King Kong: Stephen Ryan (1991) (Produced by the
Department of Sign Communication,
Gallaudet University)
Ron Fenicle
Montgomery College
ronfenicle@gmail.com Deaf Giant: Fabiano De Rose (2003) (Produced by
For ACCESS: The Education Station)
King Kong: Trix Bruce (2006)
King Kong: Peter Cook (2007, 2012)
(Continue on the next page)
The Power of ASL
2
Summer 2018 – Issue 10