GESTURE, FOLKLORE, AND RELIGIOUS MEMORY IN THE “OLD WOMAN’S DAYS” TALE
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.47249/rba20261079Palavras-chave:
Folclore, Gesto tradicional, Memória religiosa, Letramento multimodalResumo
Contemporary literacy recognizes meaning-making as a multimodal process involving written, visual, oral, gestural, and embodied forms. Cultural narratives, rituals, and traditional gestures are important literacy resources for transmitting knowledge, identity, and cultural memory, yet embodied practices remain underrepresented in literacy curricula. This study examines the Greek folk tale The Old Woman’s Days as a multimodal narrative connecting gesture, folklore, and cultural memory. Using a comparative, cross-modal design, it analyzes versions of the tale, lexical data from five signed languages, and historical Cistercian sign systems, focusing on the Greek elbow gesture prits. Findings reveal correspondences with elbow-articulated signs, suggesting a semiotic continuum that carries cultural and religious memory across modalities and time. The study supports embodied heritage practices in bilingual, deaf, and inclusive literacy education.
Referências
Agha, A. Language and social relations. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007.
Adler, A. (Ed.). Suidae lexicon (Vol. 1, A–O; Pars I: A–Γ; editio stereotypa editionis primae [1928]). München & Leipzig: K. G. Saur, 2001.
Antoniou-Kritikou, I. Ελληνικά με χειρονομίες και εκφράσεις [Greek with gestures and expressions]. Αθήνα: Ελληνικά Γράμματα, 2009.
Assmann, J. Cultural memory and early civilization: Writing, remembrance, and political imagination. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2011.
Barakat, R. A. The Cistercian sign language: A study in non-verbal communication. Kalamazoo, Mich.: Cistercian Publications, 1975.
Bell, C. Ritual: Perspectives and dimensions. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997.
Boutsikas, E. The cosmos in ancient Greek religious experience: Sacred space, memory, and cognition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2020.
Brien, D. (Ed.). Dictionary of British sign language/English. Compiled for the British Deaf Association by the Deaf Studies Research Unit, University of Durham. London; Boston: Faber and Faber, 1992.
Butterworth, R. R.; Flodin, M. The Perigee visual dictionary of signing: an A to Z guide to over 1,200 signs of American sign language. New York, N.Y.: Putnam, 1983.
Companys, M.; Tourmez, F. (s.d.). Dictionnaire 1200 signes Français > LSF. Editions Monica Companys.
Connerton, P. How societies remember. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1989.
Cope, B.; Kalantzis, M. Multiliteracies: Literacy learning and the design of social futures. London: Routledge, 2000.
Cope, B.; Kalantzis, M. Multiliteracies: New literacies, new learning. Pedagogies, 4(3), 2009, p. 164–195.
Cummins, J. Identity texts: The imaginative construction of self through multiliteracies pedagogy. In O. García, T. Skutnabb-Kangas, and M. Torres-Guzmán (Eds.), Imagining multilingual schools (pp. 51–68). Clevedon: Multilingual Matters, 2006.
Erasmus, D. (n.d.). Dulcis cubitus (Adagium 1038). In Adagiorum ERASMII Roterodami, Proverbia. IHRIM Huma-Num. Retrieved 14 September, 2023, from <http://ihrim.huma-num.fr/nmh/Erasmus/Proverbia/Adagium_1038.html>.
Eriksson, P. The history of deaf people: a source book. Orebro: SIH Läromedel, the Learning Materials Division of the National Swedish Agency for Special Education, 1993.
Gaisford, T. (Ed.). Paroemiographi Graeci, quorum pars nunc primum ex codicibus manuscriptis vulgatur. Oxonii: E Typographeo Academico, 1836.
Gee, J. P. Social linguistics and literacies: Ideologies in discourse. New York: Routledge, 1990.
Iversen, E. The canonical tradition. In J. R. Harris (Ed.), The legacy of Egypt (pp. 55–82). Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1971.
Johnston, T. (Ed.). Signs of Australia: a new dictionary of Auslan (the sign language of the Australian deaf community). North Rocks, Australia: North Rocks Press: Royal Institute for Deaf and Blind Children, 1998.
Zenobius. Epitome collectionum Lucilli Tarrhaei et Didymi (E. L. von Leutsch and F. G. Schneidewin, Eds.; rev. ed.). In Corpus paroemiographorum Graecorum (Vol. 1, pp. 1–168). Hildesheim, Germany: Georg Olms. (Original work published ca. 2nd century CE), 1967.
Kaplanoglou, M.; Katrinaki, E. The theme of the Old Woman and March in Greek folklore. Estudis de Literatura Oral Popular, 12, 2023, p. 131–138.
Kendon, A. Gesture: Visible action as utterance. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004.
Magganaris, Th. Εχγειρίδιο Νοηματικής Γλώσσας [Signed Language Dictionary]. Thessaloniki, 1998.
Mauss, M. Techniques of the body. Economy and Society, 2(1), 1973, p. 70–88.
McNeill, D. Hand and mind: What gestures reveal about thought. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1992.
McNeill, D. Gesture and thought. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2005.
Mertzani, M. Greek language policy, curriculum, and sign language skills [Política linguística grega, currículo e habilidades em língua de sinais]. Signo: Revista Científica, 48(93), 2023a, p. 35–49.
Mertzani, M. Linguistic policy in Greece and teachers' training in question. Debates em Educação, 15(37), 2023b.<https://doi.org/10.28998/2175-6600.2023v15n37pe15115>.
Mertzani, M. Podemos discutir a alfabetização da criança surda na Libras? In G. M. Nogueira; S. M. B. Zasso (Orgs.), Grupo de Estudo e Pesquisa em Alfabetização e Letramento: 10 anos de história (pp. 129–146). Curitiba: Editora CRV, 2023c.
Mertzani, M. Alfabetização na língua de sinais no currículo de língua de sinais. Momento: Diálogos em Educação, 31(2), 2022, p. 171–198.
Mertzani, M. Sobre a iconicidade da forma de mão Y. Alfa: Revista de Linguística (São Paulo), 62(3), 2018, p. 617–639. [https://www.scielo.br/j/alfa/a/LYj6LkTPcbVDGyWrh9yjsFy/]
Mertzani, M. Iconicity in ancient languages: A case study of KA-RA in Greek. Cadernos do LEPAARQ, 14(27), 2017, p. 71–88. [https://doi.org/10.15210/lepaarq.v14i27.10581].
Mertzani, M. Interdisciplinarity in archaeology and historical linguistics: The case of alpha. Cadernos Do LEPAARQ (UFPEL), 12(24), 2015, p. 269-290. https://doi.org/10.15210/lepaarq.v12i24.4888
Morris, D.; Collett, P.; Marsh, P.; O’Shaughnessy, M. Gestures: Their origins and distribution. London: Jonathan Cape, 1979.
Ong, W. J. Orality and literacy: The technologizing of the word. Routledge, 1982.
Panagopoulos, B. M. Cistercian and mendicant monasteries in medieval Greece. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1979.
Papazafeiropoulos, P. A Survey of Linguistic Material and Customs of the Greek People, Especially Those of the Peloponnese [Περιηναγωγή γλωσσικής ύλης και εθίμων του ελληνικού λαού ιδία δε του της Πελοποννήσου]. Patras: Kadmos Publications, 1887.
Pedrosa, J. M. Si Marzo tuerce el rabo, ni pastores ni ganados: ecología, superstición, mito pagano y culto católico del mes de marzo. Revista de dialectología y tradiciones populares, no. 50/2, 1995, p. 267-293.
Politis, N. G. Λαογραφικά σύμμεικτα Δʹ (Δημοσιεύματα του Κέντρου Ερεύνης της Ελληνικής Λαογραφίας, αρ. 15) [Laographika symmikta D (Publications of the Centre for Research of Greek Folklore, No. 15)]. Athens: Ακαδημία Αθηνών, 1980.
Scholia in Platonem, ad Phaedrum 257d–e. In Platonis opera (W. C. Greene & K. Schanz, Eds.). (1902–1907). Leipzig: B. G. Teubner.
Shaw, E.; Delaporte, Y. A historical and etymological dictionary of American Sign Language: the origin and evolution of more than 500 signs. Washington, DC: Gallaudet University, 2015.
Shroyer, E. H. Signs across America: a look at regional differences in American Sign Language. Washington, D.C.: Gallaudet College Press, 1984.
Silverstein, M. Indexical order and the dialectics of sociolinguistic life. Language & Communication, 23(3–4), 2003, p. 193–229.
Smith, C. Sign language link: a pocket dictionary of signs. Stockton-on-Tees: Co-Sign Communications, 1999.
Smith, L. T. Decolonizing methodologies: Research and Indigenous peoples (2nd ed.). London: Zed Books, 2012.
Street, B. V. Literacy in theory and practice. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1984.
Street, B. V. What’s “new” in New Literacy Studies? Critical approaches to literacy in theory and practice. Current Issues in Comparative Education, 5(2), 2003, p. 77–91.
Street, B. V. New literacy studies. In J. P. Gee & M. Handford (Eds.), The Routledge handbook of discourse analysis (pp. 406–418). London: Routledge, 2012.
Tsougarakis, Nickiphoros I. The western religious orders in Medieval Greece. PhD thesis, University of Leeds, 2008.
UNESCO. Education in a multilingual world. UNESCO, 2002.
UNESCO. Convention for the safeguarding of the intangible cultural heritage. UNESCO, 2003.
UNESCO. Education 2030: Incheon declaration and framework for action. UNESCO, 2016.
UNESCO. A guide for ensuring inclusion and equity in education. UNESCO, 2017.
Valli, Clayton (Ed.). The Gallaudet dictionary of American Sign Language. Washington, D.C.: Gallaudet University Press, 2005.
Ware, T. The Orthodox Church. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, 1964.
Downloads
Publicado
Como Citar
Edição
Seção
Licença
Autores que publicam nesta revista concordam com os seguintes termos:
- Autores mantém os direitos autorais e concedem à revista o direito de primeira publicação, com o trabalho simultaneamente licenciado sob a Licença Creative Commons Attribution que permite o compartilhamento do trabalho com reconhecimento da autoria e publicação inicial nesta revista.
- Autores têm autorização para assumir contratos adicionais separadamente, para distribuição não-exclusiva da versão do trabalho publicada nesta revista (ex.: publicar em repositório institucional ou como capítulo de livro), com reconhecimento de autoria e publicação inicial nesta revista.
- Autores têm permissão e são estimulados a publicar e distribuir seu trabalho online (ex.: em repositórios institucionais ou na sua página pessoal) a qualquer ponto antes ou durante o processo editorial, já que isso pode gerar alterações produtivas, bem como aumentar o impacto e a citação do trabalho publicado (Veja O Efeito do Acesso Livre).
Aceito em 2026-06-16
Publicado em 2026-10-12
