麻豆社

PROGRAMME TRANSCRIPT: A SHOW OF HANDS

EPISODE 4 - COMMUNICATION

TX: Tuesday 29th June 2021, 0930, 麻豆社 Radio 4

Producer: Jeremy Grange

CONTRIBUTORS:

Dr. Robert Adam, Head of British Sign Language, Department of Languages and Intercultural Studies, Heriot Watt University

Gary Mapletoft - Former Royal Marine and freelance outdoor instructor

Alan Pease, Professor of Communication and author of The Definitive Book of Body Language

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Music: My People by Mikey J

Robert Adam

The hand is really important in Deaf Arts in terms of how deaf people represent their lived experiences. And you see that the hands occur as a motif for either liberation or oppression.

You can imagine showing hands being cuffed or chained in some way or bound. Or cracked or crumbling, in fact, is another metaphor I've seen for the oppression of sign languages. So deaf people often use their hands to really鈥� well鈥� they stand as a metaphor for life.

Announcer

A Show of Hands鈥�. Communication.

Music fades

Fx: Woodland birdsong

Gary Mapletoft

So鈥� just coming from this sort of small track area behind me here, where it's fairly overgrown... we're going to be working in a single file, which is basically hand over the head. And that signal is passed down through the people鈥�

So, my name鈥檚 Gary 鈥� Gary Mapletoft. And I spent 23 years in the Royal Marines until 2003. I鈥檓 now based in South Wales as an outdoor freelance instructor taking groups out in the wilds.

Fx: Footsteps in woodland

Gary Mapletoft

And as we can see there, the track starts to open up here. And we've got more view and visibility. And more cover either side. So, probably then we'd be able to move to what we call a staggered file. So staggered file would be holding our hands - probably one with a weapon - one above our head and one slightly at our shoulders. There鈥� so either side. So people adopt a left and right position, alternately down the track鈥�

The human voice is very noticeable - even whispering. And when you get attuned to listening for voices., it's a dead giveaway. So what we do in the military is use hand signals to replace that voice communication. And during training they鈥檙e instilled in you constantly. They become part of your DNA almost. You never forget them.

Music: Through a Glass Dimly by Antonymes

Gary Mapletoft

At any point somebody within the patrol might spot something and they need to pass that message on. So they鈥檒l point to their eye. And that message will get passed forward to the commander. And maybe he鈥檒l say 鈥淥K - go to ground鈥� which will be then pushing the hand down towards the ground. The commander will probably then go over to the person that鈥檚 seen something. And then they will point to an area or a position鈥� and then say maybe 鈥渆nemy鈥� which will be thumbs down. And if they鈥檙e pointing it's normally with the typical knife hand. So it's a chopping motion, pushing forward with the hand, pointing. It's a typical military hand movement and lots of people who are ex-military constantly use this as a method of punctuation and description.

Allan Pease

With our body language in general you鈥檝e got to understand and accept that 60 to 80 per cent of all the impact we鈥檙e making in a face-to-face situation is non-verbal. And our hands play a large part of it because they鈥檙e usually waving around in front of your body.

Music ends

Allan Pease

I'm Allan Pease, Professor of Communication and author of The Definitive Book of Body Language.

If we want people to feel at ease and cooperate and to feel like they want to go along with you鈥�they might want to agree with you... they might want to say 鈥榶es鈥� to what you're selling or convincing them to do or persuading them to do鈥� talk with your palms in an upward position as you talk.

Music: Palm of Your Hand by Speed Limits and Jaco Featuring Joni Fatora

Allan Pease

It does two things. First, if they can see your palms facing up, the limbic system of the brain 鈥� that is the ancient reptilian brain - will pick that up. It appears to be without any sort of understanding or training. So it鈥檚 probably somewhere in our DNA. They鈥檒l pick it up and their brain will say 鈥淲ell, this person I鈥檓 listening to appears to be non-threatening鈥�. That鈥� is, you鈥檙e not holding anything in your hands, under your arms or nothing concealed. Whereas, if you put your hands behind your back, people are much more suspicious because they can鈥檛 see your palms.

Now, palms facing downwards has historically been used as a form of oppression and suppression. You have four times more power in your palms when they鈥檙e facing down than when they鈥檙e facing up. So palms facing up is kind of like a dog laying on its back, revealing its throat. You鈥檙e showing that you鈥檙e not threatening, that you're giving in 鈥� you鈥檙e more submissive. Whereas palms facing down is seen as more aggressive. So when someone's talking with their palms down we know that you recall up to 50 per cent less of what they said when their palms are facing down than if their palms are facing up. Because when their palms are facing down it becomes authoritative and dominant.

Music ends

Allan Pease Now the steeple鈥� is like鈥� it's almost like a church steeple. The fingertips of one hand just rest against the fingertips of the other. It's almost like you're praying. Now you just hold it about chest height鈥� if you do that now鈥� just slowly move the fingertips back and forth... one set of fingertips against the other鈥� and just lift your chin up slightly鈥� you

notice how you start to feel like 鈥淵eah鈥�. this is pretty cool. I've got this. I'm in charge of my emotions鈥�.

And the steeple gesture is a trademark of the likes of Donald Trump. And that was his trademark on his book covers, on his television advertisements and his rallies. He would stand there with the steeple. And he鈥檇 get people to steeple as well. You know where he got it from? His father did it. His father was also a confidence supremist as well. And Donald copied him and Donald has been, historically just super-confident about everything, including things he鈥檚 wrong about. But he looks like he knows what he's talking about. So he's become a very persuasive- and very authoritative-type figure by using steeple gestures.

Fx: Woodland birdsong and footsteps

Gary Mapletoft

So we're just walking down the track now鈥� quite a wide track鈥� vehicle track. And we can see a road ahead. So at this point the commander would probably stop and he would put his hand up... stop everybody. And then whatever position they were in 鈥� and probably staggered file鈥� you know, those two hands鈥�either side of the track. And they would just melt to the sides, keeping an eye on the commander. The point man would probably say 鈥渙bstacle鈥� - crossed arms鈥�. OK. And he would pass the message down 鈥� 鈥渙bstacle鈥�.

From a very early stage soldiers are trained to do different things with their hands. You know, there's about four or five different things that you are taught when you're holding a weapon that are just to do with your hands. And your hands become very used to, you know, being in contact with that weapon and making it part of yourself. And the hands are that connection, I suppose鈥� making it fit with your hands and moving your hands around on a weapon, so that you can do the job that you need to do.

Music: Through a Glass Dimly by Antonymes

Gary Mapletoft

Getting used to using the soft part of your finger to actually squeeze rather than pull the trigger. Each time you pull the trigger you move the weapon. So it's about keeping everything still, making sure that you've got the right pressure on the trigger as well. Yeah, it鈥檚 bit of a fluid鈥� a fluid movement with their fingers.

When you're working through an area you might decide that you think you might be getting followed. So all of a sudden, you think 鈥淩ight鈥� OK鈥� I need to put in an ambush鈥�. So an ambush will be hand over the face. And then you point to a certain area with your knife hand. And then that message will get passed down and you'd actually then all go into the area and wait. So鈥� snap ambush.

Music ends

Robert Adam

OK鈥�hi there. My name's Robert Adam. I'm an Assistant Professor at Heriot Watt University in Edinburgh. I'm actually a Deaf person myself. I鈥檓 currently using British Sign Language and I'm working, as you would suspect, with an interpreter. His name's Andy Carmichael and it's his voice that you can hear. And he's providing obviously what you can hear is a very localised accent for somebody at Edinburgh University. And, weirdly, I'm Australian. But of course you can鈥檛 tell because you're not hearing my accent - you're hearing the accent of my interpreter. So there you go鈥� I am a Deaf Australian.

When we think about Sign Language variation we mostly see dialectic difference. So, different signs being used in different regions and different age groups and across different populations across the diaspora. In the British Sign Language Corpus Project run by UCL, they collected different signs in use around the UK in eight different locations throughout the country and found significant variation. For example, seventeen different signs alone for the colour purple.

Music: My People by Mikey J

Robert Adam

You can have a two-handed sign that looks like cream, like you鈥檙e rubbing hand cream into your palm. You can have another sign where it looks like you鈥檙e slapping your palm, so there鈥檚 a slight variation in the way that that's articulated. A third sign for purple is flicking the top of your finger, which is the letter P. So it's going to the written orthography. In Australia the two main variations are this grinding on your palm - but with two fingers instead of full hand. And I grew up with this sign which looks like my bunched up finger moving across my cheek. So they are very different signs.

Music fades

Robert Adam

Think about deaf children. So, when they first learn a Sign Language they use a lot of hand shapes that are what we call unmarked hand shapes. Big hand shapes鈥� big flat hand鈥� easy to do. A fist鈥�easy to do鈥� easy to articulate for a child. A point or a 鈥楥鈥� hand shape as if you're holding a big mug. So those are what we see in the common signs for 鈥淢ummy鈥�, 鈥淲ant鈥�, 鈥淒rink鈥�. And we see those in spoken languages. They鈥檙e simple words to pronounce and they鈥檙e simple signs to articulate. And, as you grow older and you become more fluent in a Sign Language, then more complex hand shapes, more complex movements and orientations are possible. So we start to see signs like 鈥淢aybe鈥� or 鈥淧erhaps鈥� have many, many elements in them that combine to make them complex signs and therefore able to convey complex concepts and emotions.

And what's interesting is when you look at their hands and you watch how people develop their language, you know, from these basic unmarked signs. And if you know deaf children as they grow up and you watch them being able to use these marked hand shapes and movements and subtle, nuanced orientations to convey meaning, you can see them going through these linguistic milestones.

Fx: Woodland birdsong and footsteps

Gary Mapletoft

The strategy for an attack鈥� it鈥檚 already been practised. So all the commander needs to do is pass the signal down that there's been a change from patrol now to a position of attack. And then it will be a set of hand signals. So鈥� 鈥渆nemy鈥濃�� thumb down鈥� knife hand鈥� 鈥渢hat direction鈥�... fist up鈥� 鈥済un group鈥�. And it'll be sort of 鈥渓eft flanking鈥�. So, left flanking like that... so putting an 鈥楲鈥� up and then shaping the arm off鈥� which means that the gun group is going to go in one position and then the commander will take the other part of the patrol around them to the left. So, again, that will be passed on so everybody then starts to move into those positions. So, all very smooth鈥�. hopefully.

Music: Through a Glass Dimly by Antonymes

Gary Mapletoft

On a night patrol you're working with a very small group of people - maybe three or four people - to do a reconnaissance mission. You may be so close you're actually touching each other. And maybe you can鈥檛 actually see very well. So you might actually grab somebody's hand and actually put your fingers into their hand to signify maybe where we are. So an RV would be normally a circle. So you'd run your hand around their hand like a little鈥� the nursery rhyme there鈥�. round and round. And then maybe two fingers in the middle would be RV2鈥� RV1 etcetera. So sometimes we communicate very, very closely with those hands.

Robert Adam

The other thing that I did also want to say to you is that when Deaf people are arrested and they鈥檙e handcuffed... have a think about what that's doing. That is actually like gagging somebody. So when you arrest somebody who isn鈥檛 Deaf they can still speak and still answer questions and hear and interact - ask for help. But a handcuffed Deaf person who doesn't use speech - especially if their hands are tied behind their back - everything is gone.

So when you bind and handcuff Deaf people you're taking away the equivalent of their power of speech or communication.

Without my hands I can't communicate鈥� I can鈥檛 at all. It鈥檚 how I engage with the world. It鈥檚 how I present myself to the world. It is absolutely one of the fundamentals of my being as a human.

Music fades