ABSTRACT
American Sign Language (ASL) narratives are prevalent in the Deaf community in the United States and make up a genre ranging from anecdotes to full-length stories. A particular narrative may be told once or on many different occasions by a signer, and it may be passed on orally to other signers from generation to generation. Transmission frequently occurs from child to child in forms such as group narratives (Rutherford, 1985). The oral tradition of the Deaf community merits formal study, and it would be expected to parallel oral-based narratives as produced in various cultures throughout the world (Bahan, 1992; S. Supalla & Bahan, 1992). In the oral tradition, a signed or spoken narrative is not written down, but is passed on and exists in the collective memory of the community (see, e.g., Edwards & Sienkewicz, 1990). Moreover, the structure would be expected to incorporate characteristics such as chunking, repetition, and rhythm to allow for the storyteller and the audience to process the narrative effectively.
