else. That is mastery's trap. Henry Louis Gates Jr. that you forget you are one. b. 1950

•ou said was "the best of In the twentieth century, African Americans have continued to be eloquent pub­ described a mockery of a lic speakers, as they were in the nineteenth century, and they have continued to cts, however, I gladly in­ effect change in the structure of American society. Powerful leaders such as t aggressivity, even that of of the best of masters. the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. have followed in the footsteps of Frederick m allowing the other self­ Douglass in activism for African American civil rights and human rights generally . ~ oneself as a subject. At the same time, increasing educational opportunities for African Americans have to organize or give order meant that more have attained college-level and postgraduate schooling, and more mg able to make progress have become academic researchers. Not surprisingly, among the many areas to 1sable, but there are oppo ­ which African American academics have contributed is the scholarly study of ; well. For example - con- African American languages and rhetorics. Henry Louis Gates Jr. is among the imagination, free produc­ most influential of these scholars, perhaps because he has combined a distinguished cetera. As a writer, even academic career with effective work as a public intellectual and cultural critic. ~ry much, I'm already say­ Gates grew up in Piedmont, a small town in West Virginia, where his father enough, I know almost too worked as a truck loader at the local paper mill and as a janitor for the telephone it slow down ." tat, Jet's get back to writ­ company. Gates much admired his older brother, who was an accomplished athlete. !minine thought processes, His mother, who sometimes worked as a domestic, was a community leader active !nce gi- not. You and I im­ in the local black church and the PT A. She came from a large extended family who, when one made use of this as Gates tells it in his memoir, Colored People (1994), surrounded him with ng, it didn't matter whether warmth . His childhood was relatively happy, even though he grew up during the era ,man. Why did we agree so of strict segregation and underwent the stresses and trials of the civil rights move­ is that so obvious? ment and other political upheavals of the 1960s and 1970s. recisely, I think it is a dis­ Gates took his B.A. in English language and literature summa cum Jaude at Yale sexual difference-where University and worked for a while in London as a correspondent for Time magazine it. before taking his M.A . and Ph.D. in English literature at Clare College of the Uni­ 1 other discourses it could versity of Cambridge . He has held academic appointments at Yale, Cornell, and ;ourse agreeing more with Duke Universities. In 1991 he joined the faculty at Harvard University, where he is femininity . W. E. B. Du Bois Professor of the Humanities, chair of Afro-American Studies, and 1't have any way to know director of the W. E. B. Du Bois Institute for Afro-American Research. Oates's scholarly publications include The Signifying Monkey: A Theory of Afro-American ,e ideas about it. There is Literary Criticism (1988), which won the American Book Award in 1989 and from ; libidinal organization that which the chapter included here is taken; Figures in Black: Words, Signs, and the l of discourse . . .. "Racial" Self (New York, 1986); and Loose Canons: Notes on the Culture Wars {OU say that, you are mov­ (1992). He has also edited several scholarly anthologies, including the multivolume f the women who say that Schomburg Library of Nineteenth-Century Black Women Writers (1991), the Nor­ 1 come only from splitting? ton Anthology of Afro-American Literature (1996), and, with Kwame Anthony very exact. I said, "Woman · Appiah, an encyclopedia about the African Diaspora published on CD-ROM as En­ n it." I never said she was am sure of it- femininity carta Africana and in a print edition as Africana: The Encyclopedia of Africa and e. I keep coming back to this: the African-American Experience (1999). Among his publications as a cultural e problem is, what have we critic are Colored People: A Memoir (1994); The Future of the Race (1996), co­ ity? What is becoming of it? authored with Cornell West; and numerous articles for The New Yorker.

HENRY LOUIS GATES JR. 1543 In The Signifying Monkey, Gates analyzes some rhetorical forms of Black En­ historians, rhetorician glish as part of an investigation of the forms of experience and interaction embodied rhetorical practices fn in black speech and writing. Oates's work on Black English, built on earlier re­ lyzed individual worl search by sociolinguists, extends rhetorical analysis to an area of communication have also published . that attracted little attention from academic rhetoricians before the twentieth cen­ emerge. African Ame1 tury. Moreover, Oates's discussion has important implications for the development how black orators tra of rhetorical theory because it suggests that Black English is a fertile field for study­ their own purposes of ing the ideological and epistemological powers of rhetoric conceived as a general analysis. Bradford St theory of language. shown how the three r tury, W. E. B. Du Boi: BLACK ENGLISH American cultural im, critiques of American The distinctive qualities of African American language as a cultural phenomenon Rhetoric has also I have been explored by linguists more than by rhetoricians, as Oates's research studied Black English shows. However, that situation has changed recently, as noted below. The features have made only modei of the black dialect of English have long been studied and have been found to be a broader analyses of th completely grammatical and internally consistent version of the language of which for the social scientists Standard English is also a dialect, albeit a socially privileged one. Black English or ritualized setting. S, comes from the melding of several African languages and English. Thus, although term semantics to emi: it is clearly English, the black dialect retains some lexical, grammatical, and syntac­ texts of its developme1 tic features of African languages. an analytic tool, within But that is by no means the whole story. A complete description of Black En­ analysis - not only of 1 glish cannot be limited to linguistic analysis. Language and culture are inseparable, of speech and writing c and though it is common practice to forget the cultural forces at work in descrip­ appeals that speakers u tions of Standard English-that is, white English - it is impossible to forget, when that rhetorical theory c, examining the development of Black English, the often agonized relationship be­ Where Smitherman t tween white people and black people in the United States. Working out the connec­ ied in use, Henry Louis tions among language, culture, and history has been the job of scholars in history rhetoric with sociolingu and literature as well as of sociolinguists and folklorists. in a somewhat limited a1 lowing Nietzsche and [ BLACK RHETORIC analyzes the discourse fi the "master trope" of bl, As noted in Part Five of this book, many African Americans became important pub­ resents a complex set of lic speakers in the nineteenth-century United States, and some of them, such as ing Monkey that is excer Maria W. Stewart (p. 1031) and Frederick Douglass (p. 1061), discussed the tensions from the viewpoint of a 1 they faced as speakers from a socially marginalized group attempting to persuade is worthwhile to outline diverse audiences, both black and white. They began to articulate the special quali­ suggested. Their detaile, ties of what might be called "black rhetoric" in its broad outlines (see the Stewart rhetoric complement the and Douglass headnotes and the introduction to Part Five). African American schol­ ars also began to study the phenomenon of black rhetoric, for example, in historian William C. Nell's ground-breaking work, Colored Patriots of the American Revolu­ SETTING, AUDIENCJ tion (I 855), which examines rhetorical activities as well as military service, politi­ In the black communitic cal leadership, and more. settings for speech inter

In addition, twentieth-century scholars have collected the speeches of African mons and responses by 1 Americans from both the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, and black and white tween equals; and (3) the

1544 MODERN AND POSTMODERN RHETORIC al forms of Black En­ historians, rhetoricians, and literary critics have begun to analyze African American d interaction embodied rhetorical practices from the early nineteenth century to the present. They have ana­ sh, built on earlier re­ lyzed individual works by noted orators from both centuries, and some scholars trea of communication have also published studies in which larger patterns of concerns have begun to ·ore the twentieth cen- emerge. African American studies specialist Wilson Jeremiah Moses has chronicled 1s for the development how black orators transformed the European American genre of the jeremiad for a fertile field for study­ their own purposes of social criticism, and David Howard-Pitney has extended this ;onceived as a general analysis. Bradford Stull, trained in theology as well as rhetorical analysis, has shown how the three most powerful African American leaders of the twentieth cen­ tury, W. E. B. Du Bois, Martin Luther King Jr., and Malcolm X, drew on European American cultural images of the Fall, the Orient, Africa, and Eden to enrich their critiques of American racism and their visions of a better world. t cultural phenomenon Rhetoric has also been treated by the folklorists and sociolinguists who have s, as Gates' s research studied Black English. In studies of nonstandard dialects, however, sociolinguists !d below. The features have made only modest use of rhetoric as a theory of language, in contrast with the 1-h;\ t·,~\ (A,j -h. ave been found to be a broader analyses of the humanistic scholars noted above. Rhetoric tends to mean, the language of which for the social scientists, figurative language and occasionally speech in a formalized ll""" t¼~U..l{to~I of ed one. Black English or ritualized setting. Sociolinguist Geneva Smitherman, for example, relies on the l),,,.,JI'-S\ - " (. l(ki;ll•..:_~ .nglish. Thus, although term semantics to emphasize the deep connection between language and the con­ :tmmatical, and syntac - texts of its development and use. But even if sociolinguists seldom use rhetoric as n,..t(.,J\.v\ pv1>lltV1U..,, an analytic tool, within the sociolinguistic analyses of Black English is a rhetorical scription of Black En­ analysis - not only of tropes and ritualized speech interactions but also of the range :ulture are inseparable, of speech and writing occasions, the intended ends of those forms of discourse, the :es at work in descrip­ appeals that speakers use to achieve those ends, and other features of language use ossible to forget, when that rhetorical theory can account for. mized relationship be­ Where Smitherman uses the term semantics to suggest that language must be stud­ orking out the connec ­ ied in use, Henry Louis Gates turns to rhetoric to suggest the same. Gates combines ' of scholars in history rhetoric with sociolinguistic analyses of black discourse, though he, too, uses rhetoric in a somewhat limited and specialized way. Rhetoric, for Gates, means tropes, but fol­ lowing Nietzsche and Derrida, Gates regards tropes as constitutive of language. He analyzes the discourse form that black dialect speakers call "signifying," treating it as the "master trope" of black rhetoric, a trope that embodies cultural meanings and rep­ Jecame important pub­ resents a complex set of social interactions . In the chapter from his book The Signify­ ome of them, such as ing Monkey that is excerpted here, Gates reviews much of the sociolinguistic research , discussed the tensions from the viewpoint of a rhetorical analysis of tropes. To set his study in perspective, it 1ttempting to persuade is worthwhile to outline the other features of black rhetoric that sociolinguists have ulate the special quali­ suggested. Their detailed analyses of what might be called the micro-level of black tlines (see the Stewart rhetoric complement the macro-level studies of the humanists. frican American schol­ r example, in historian SETTING,AUDIENCE, AND PERFORMANCE rthe American Revolu­ nilitary service, politi- In the black communities cited in published studies, there appear to be three main settings for speech interactions: (r) the church, where speaking includes both ser­ e speeches of African mons and responses by congregants; (2) the street, where talk is an interaction be­ ;, and black and white tween equals; and (3) the home, where talk is dominated by the mother.

HENRY LOUIS GATES JR. 1545 It seems obvious that an effective message will take the audience into account. metaphor and antith, Traditional rhetoric assumes that, to the extent that the audience can be character­ Shirley Wilson Loga ized by age, gender, class, political or religious beliefs, ethnicity, region, and so on, from Maria Stewart t the speaker or writer can tailor a message to increase its appeal. The same consider ­ ures of speech to enr ations apply in black communities. But a distinct difference between black rhetoric will continue to spe, and what we might call white rhetoric is the typical relationship between speaker tropes. and audience. In most white speech interactions, as in traditional classical rhetoric, the speaker speaks and the audience listens; in black speech interactions, the audi­ ence responds almost constantly, with set responses, encouragement, suggestions, FORMS OF DISCOl and nonverbal signals. Indeed, black discourse encourages such participation. Black The forms of discours discourse is (to borrow a term from Mikhail Bakhtin [p. 1206]) highly "dialogic ." mal speeches and cor Successful performance stimulates and can be measured by audience responses. than in white speech. A corollary to this kind of speaker-audience relationship is the nature of the and back to prose. Ta speech performance itself . There is less difference between performance and con­ dancing. Thus nonve, versation in black discourse than in white. On the one hand, formal black speech sit­ along with verbal resp, uations, such as sermons, lectures, and poHtical oratory, are marked by audience The sociolinguists, participation, and on the other hand, informal conversation is characterized by the forms as "tropes." Mar stylized performances of the interlocutors. In white discourse, conversation gener­ similar or identical to ally is unstructured and informal. But black conversation uses many of the forms, Gates calls the master tropes, and responses found in the formal speech types. And whereas in white dis­ discourse. Perhaps Bak course formal speeches are highly structured, in black discourse speeches and ser­ fying, for example, is t mons are structured more loosely. ing, or lying, all by im Thus black rhetoric usually tries to stir the audience to verbal response. More­ verse, or nonverbal, us1 over, even the most casual interactions have a performance quality. Some excep­ to any of several form tions exist. In the home, for example, parental discourse is not intended to elicit in­ below. There is as yet teractive response. And sermons typically have formal introductions, identifying the large-scale tropes and text and theme, during which there is not supposed to be any response. Beyond the proviso, then, some of I introduction, however, the sermon's purpose is both to exhort and to create solidar­ ity, and participation is a sign that its purposes are being achieved. sounding (direct inst The street is the scene of the most complex conversation-performance ex­ signifying (indirect i changes, which have at least three purposes: to exchange information; to enact so­ rapping (general abil cial relationships of friendship, kinship, and business; and to establish the speaker's narrative toasting (n, social status. The street is the scene of verbal play (mostly male), which, even when hipping (exposition; it creates solidarity, has a competitive edge. Street exchanges establish the speaker·~ sweet-talk (courtship reputation in the community. Where status based on economic or educational poetry achievement is problematic, especially for men, the ability to rap, to establish domi­ testimony nance, camaraderie, solidarity, and opposition to white hegemony, as well as to en­ responding tertain, is the measure of communal admiration. In black communities, linguistic Standard (white) Eng virtuosity is highly prized, and as Gates emphasizes, there is a considerable body of Nonverbal forms black metadiscourse that identifies the forms and tropes that make up black rhetoric. As for formal political speeches, analyses of the speeches of Frederick Douglass, singing Malcolm X, Martin Luther King Jr., Jesse Jackson, and others have amply shown dancing that traditional rhetoric can be applied to the formal speeches of black leaders to ex­ hand gesturing (givin plain some of their power. Black rhetoric is not utterly divorced from white This list is not intended t rhetoric. The proofs and evidence, the appeals to ethos and pathos, the virtues of in the sources listed in t

MODERN AND POSTMODERN RHETORIC ! audience into account. metaphor and antithesi s that work in white speeches also work in black ones. lience can be character- Shirley Wilson Logan (1999) has shown how African American women orators 1icity, region, and so on, from Maria Stewart to Victoria Earle Matthews employed traditional classical fig­ ,eal. The same consider­ ures of speech to enrich their persuasive discourse. Scholarship on black rhetoric : between black rhetoric will continue to specify distinctive forms of argument or particularly apposite onship between speaker tropes. tional classical rhetoric, h interactions, the audi­ uragement, suggestions, FORMS OF DISCOURSE uch participation. Black The forms of discourse are less formally distinct in black speech than in white. For­ 206]) highly "dialogic." mal speeches and conversation, as noted, are much more similar in black speech audience responses. than in white speech. Moreover, prose in black speech often shades over into verse 1ip is the nature of the and back to prose. Talking may modulate into singing, and singing will stimulate 1 performance and con­ dancing. Thus nonverbal responses might be categorized as forms of discourse (.:.11'.V\.t.vhb~~ formal black speech sit­ along with verbal responses. ':,11<.h~ .. LI"emarked by audience The sociolinguists, seconded by Gates, identify a large number of black speech is characterized by the forms as "tropes." Many of these forms, like repetition, rhyming, and hyperbole, are e.L•,t-1;ih • ...::.L '.) ·se, conversation gener- similar or identical to traditional rhetorical tropes. Others, like signifying, which 1ses many of the forms, Gates calls the master trope of black rhetoric, seem more like genres or modes of d whereas in white dis­ discourse. Perhaps Bakhtin's phrase speech genres would best identify them. Signi­ ourse speeches and ser- fying, for example, is the general term for several forms of persuasion, insult, boast­ ing, or lying, all by innuendo or indirection. This trope may be verbal, in prose or verbal response. More ­ verse, or nonverbal, using gesture. And with signifying goes sounding, which refers e quality. Some excep - to any of several forms of direct insult, boast, or lie. Other such forms are listed 10t intended to elicit in­ below. There is as yet no clear theoretical division between these speech genres or Juctions, identifying the large-scale tropes and the more familiar small-scale figures of speech. With this y response. Beyond the proviso, then, some of the speech genres of black rhetoric appear to be as follows: ,rt and to create solidar ­ ieved. sounding (direct insult, boast, and so on) mtion-performance ex- signifying (indirect insult, boast, and so on) 1formation; to enact so­ rapping (general ability to use rhetorical devices) , establish the speaker' s narrative toasting (narrative verse) tale), which, even when hipping (exposition; running it down) ; establish the speaker's sweet-talk (courtship rapping) onomic or educational poetry > rap, to establish domi­ testimony mony, as well as to en­ responding ~ommunities, linguistic Standard (white) English (often used ironically) a considerable body of Nonverbal forms make up black rhetoric. of Frederick Douglass, singing 1ers have amply shown dancing ; of black leaders to ex- hand gesturing (giving skin, and so on) divorced from white This list is not intended to be exhaustive of either the terminology (which is detailed 1 pathos, the virtues of in the sources listed in the bibliography for this headnote) or of the forms of dis-

HENRY LOUIS GATES JR. 1547 ..

course used by blacks, since such familiar terms as referential or ejaculative might emphasis (accent be applied to black discourse as well as to white. loud talking (stage It is important to note that black discourse names a great many rhetorical de­ giving skin (an ap vices. There is, in other words, already a rhetorical terminology in black discourse, marking (imitatini a great self-consciousness about the elaborate forms of language use in black speech. Logos in black discourse is often an appeal not to logic in the traditional With tropes as with f sense but to language itself. Ethos is often established by linguistic heroism. Black or of figurative type~ culture is an oral culture, one that has internalized its oppositional status in the sur­ share forms that are f Although most of ''a.ln-\od rounding dominant culture, and one whose distinctive discourse is almost Sophistic in its displacement of cultural knowledge into language. Thus the metalinguistic ter­ uses, there is a distim s ...p\.:..,H1.v '' minology of black discourse is a significant part of the discourse itself. nifying may appear i1 usually accompanies ing but not playing th TROPES from playful to serioL that the interlocutors ; Although the word trope has some currency among sociolinguists as a general term structive. Real person . for identifiable speech patterns, there are no category terms in black metalinguistic Generational markc terminology. In addition, some disagreement about descriptive terminology and a form of social defia level of abstraction exists among reporters in different communities. Playing the family. And finally, in dozens, for example, could as easily be afonn as a trope. We place it here because official standards of it is a bit more specific in application than the general forms of insult under which it street forms and tropei might be categorized . A trope is, literally, a turn. In traditional rhetoric, tropes turn words away from their "literal" meaning to a metaphorical one. Thus Gates makes signifying a master THE SIGNIFYING l'I trope in the sense that it embodies indirection or turning in black rhetoric Uust as metaphoric comparison is the master trope of white rhetoric). The linguistic featureE like Smitherman, Willi Verbal tropes is not incorrect Standai signifying (as a master trope) tent system with a co playing the dozens (insulting someone's mama) searchers identify the 1 naming and nickname using speech forms: the back jargon (of music, cars, drugs, sex, clothes, and so on) ture and social structu, speech-action metaphor (run it by me; run it down) and discrimination, the hyperbole succoring milieu of the repetition Gates' s work focuse rhyming as an expression of bla meaning reversal (bad = good) and communal behavic defiance (low-status usage to needle whitey) rhetoric of speech genr marking (mocking, imitation) enabling cultural conte1 tomming (as accommodation or irony) use of rhetoric is quite t woofing (lying) culture, linguistic open yo' mama (or "ask yo' mama" -stock responses) forced to be inclusive, , cognitive and epistemic Nonverbal tropes form of action. pitch Gates traces the blac cadence African myths of the tri,

MODERN AND POSTMODERN RHETORIC rential or ejaculative might emphasis (accent shift on big words) loud talking (stage whisper to convey innuendo) giving skin (an approving response) 1 great many rhetorical de- 1inology in black discourse, marking (imitating by gesture) of language use in black With tropes as with forms, this list is not exhaustive of either available terminology t to logic in the traditional or of figurative types used by blacks. Of course, black rhetoric and white rhetoric ,y linguistic heroism. Black share forms that are fairly common in discourse, such as alliteration. ,positional status in the sur- Although most of the forms and tropes are adaptable to both church and street 1scourse is almost Sophistic uses, there is a distinct difference in register in their sacred versus secular use. Sig­ Thus the metalinguistic ter­ nifying may appear in a sermon, but it will do so without the casual obscenity that iscourse itself. usually accompanies it on the street. Moreover, a sermon may well include signify­ ing but not playing the dozens. Similarly, the forms and tropes can shift in attitude from playful to serious. In playful insults or dozens, the accusations are so fanciful that the interlocutors are not personally attacked. The contest is to be witty, not de­ olinguists as a general term structive. Real personal remarks are serious, with corresponding consequences. rms in black metalinguistic Generational markers may also appear as a kind of register. Jive, for example, is !scriptive terminology and a form of social defiance that is regarded as adolescent when used to distance the : communities. Playing the family. And finally, in a double bind that undercuts the self-image of black men, the e. We place it here because official standards of the community may characterize the whole assemblage of rms of insult under which it street forms and tropes as adolescent - or at least rude.

Jpes tum words away from s makes signifying a master THE SIGNIFYINGMONKEY 1g in black rhetoric Gust as The linguistic features of Black English have been documented by sociolinguists Jric). like Smitherman, William Labov, and others, all of whom show that Black English is not incorrect Standard English, as white teachers have often thought, but a consis­ tent system with a coherent and regular grammar. But more than that, these re­ searchers identify the distinctive cultural content and relations that inhere in black speech forms: the background not only of African languages but also of tribal cul­ ture and social structures, myths, and music. They also note the effects of slavery and discrimination, the conflicted self-images of the oppressed and powerless, the succoring milieu of the church, and the push-pull relationship with the white world. Oates's work focuses on the distinctive qualities of black language and literature as an expression of black experience. In studying black language in its social uses and communal behavior, Gates thus studies not linguistics but rhetoric. This is a rhetoric of speech genres, of literature and conversation, of social interaction and enabling cultural content. In some ways, such as in the naming of tropes, Oates's use of rhetoric is quite traditional. But his analysis is located at a critical juncture of culture, linguistic operation, social interaction, and political marginality. Gates is forced to be inclusive, to see rhetoric as the connective force and to see tropes as cognitive and epistemic forms of language. Here, rhetoric means daily speech as a form of action. Gates traces the black rhetorical fascination with word magic back to the pan­ African myths of the trickster god Esu-Elegbara, messenger of the gods, speaker of

HENRY LOUIS GATES JR. 1549 all tongues, and sexual hero. Language for him and his admirers is a grand perfor­ well into the twentieth mance with strong effects. Gates finds in Esu-Elegbara the forerunner of the Signi ­ Wilson Jeremiah Moses fying Monkey of Afro-American folklore . The Monkey figures in some of the Esu­ lions of a Religious Myt

Elegbara stories as a secondary character, but in the translation to the United States, century to the rhetoric 0 the god disappears and the Monkey takes the primary role. The Monkey is the cham­ twentieth-century figurei pion signifier, fomenting strife between others by clever innuendo and escaping Justice in America (199 < blame by sophistry. Oates's examples make it quite clear how this operation works. with Frederick Douglass Gates notes that signifying, the act of linguistic misdirection, ironically redirects King . King, Du Bois, an, tory composition" are the the white word for the passive act of representation. Black rhetoric ~eems to say (as For additional referer modern literary and rhetorical theory says) that representing meaning is not passive, liographies accompanyin that it is the greatest trickery of all. Stew~rt and Frederick De

Selected Bibliography Henry Louis Oates's essay reprinted here, "The Signifying Monkey and the Language of Sig ­ The S nifyin(g): Rhetorical Difference and the Orders of Meaning," is the second chapter of The From Signffying Monkey: A Theory of Afro-American Literary Criticism (New York, 1988). the Langua~ The extensive notes provided by Gates in the excerpt printed here constitute an excellent bibliography of sources in black linguistics and protorhctoric . The richest of these sources are Difference c Geneva Smitherman's Ta/kin and Testifyin: The Language of Black America (Boston, 1977), Smitherman's Ta/kin That Talk: Language, Culture and Education in African A111erica(Lon­ don and New York, 2000), Roger Abrahams's Talking Black (Rowley, Mass., 1976), J. L. Some of the best dozens Dillard's Lexicon of Black English (New York, 1977), and the superb collection edited by you can signify you got Alan Dundes, Mother Wit fro111the Laughing Barrel: Readings in the lnte17,retation of Afro­ ing allowed you a c/wi, American Folklore (Englewood Cliffs, N.J., 1973). Gates emphasizes his debt to Blues, Ide­ cat feel good or bad. If. ology, and Afro-American Literature: A Vemacular Theory (Chicago, 1984), by Houston A. one or if tlzey were dm Baker Jr. The bibliographies in Smitherman's books arc quite extensive and helpful, though help them over. Signifyi, not annotated. Dundes discusses some of the bibliographic resources in black language and ing your ownfeelings . .. folklore at the end of his volume. Ta/kin That Talk, a collection of twenty-three of Smithcr­ heard when the hrotlzers man 's essays, reveals the political controversies than can ensue when teachers and adminis­ trators are not conversant with this sociolinguistic research. This collection includes several And they asked me righ penetrating essays on the Ebonics uproar as well as the important article '"What Go Round (f my blackness, would, Come Round': King in Perspective ." I said, ask your Mama. Collections of oratory by African Americans include Documents rl Upheaval (1966), ed. Truman Nelson; Negro Protest Pamphlets (1969), ed . Dorothy Porter; The Voice of Black America: Major Speeches by Negroes in the United States, 1797-1971 (1972), ed. Philip I Foner; Lift Eve,y Voice: African American Oratory, 1787-1900 (1998), ed. Philip Foner and James Branham (an enlarged and chronologically refocused edition of The Voice <~f8/acJ... If Esu-Elegbara' stands a America); and With Pen and Voice: A Critical Anthology of Ninetee11th-Cenll11)'African­ lfa system of interpretatic American Women (1995), ed. Shirley Wilson Logan. Richard Leeman has edited a helpful can relative, the Signifyii collection of biographical sketches with bibliographies, covering both the nineteenth and twentieth centuries: African-American Orators: A Bin-Critical Sourcebook ( 1996). 'In the pan-African Yoruba William C. Nell's Colored Patriots of the American Revo/111io11(1855; rpt. 1969) reprints the messenger-god. Esuspeaks r some texts of speeches and places early African American rhetorical activities in cultural and he is a trickster and a self-cons political contexts. Critical studies of African American rhetoric include Shirley Wilson oso. [Ed.J '!fa is the Yoruba god whc Logan's "We Are Coming": The Persuasive Discourse r~fNinetee11th-Ce11t111) ' Black Women that bear his name. The priests (1999), which begins with Maria Stewart and discusses a number of figures who were active chanting the Oclu !fa, the divina

1550 MODERN AND POSTMODERN RHETORlC GATES I THE S ·ers is a grand perfor­ well into the twentieth century, such as Anna Julia Cooper and Fannie Barrier Williams. rerunner of the Signi ­ Wilson Jeremiah Moses's Black Messiahs and Uncle Toms: Social and Literary Manipula­ :s in some of the Esu - tions of a Religious Myth ( 1982) traces the African American jeremiad from the nineteenth century to the rhetoric of Marcus Garvey, Martin Luther King Jr., Ralph Ellison, and other 1 to the United States, twentieth-century figures. David Howard-Pitney's The Afro-American Jeremiad: Appeals for · Monkey is the cham ­ Justice in America (1990) builds on Moses's work and focuses on major figures, beginning nuendo and escaping with Frederick Douglass and concluding with W. E. 8. Du Bois, Mary McLeod Bethune, and this operation works. King. King, Du Bois, and Malcolm X as proponents of what Bradford Stull calls "emancipa­ m, ironically redirects tory composition" are the focus of Stull's Amid the Fall, Dreaming of Eden (1999). :toric seems to say (as For additional references on nineteenth-century African American rhetoric, see the bib­ 1eaning is not passive, liographies accompanying the Introduction to Part Five and the headnotes for Maria W. Stew~rt and Frederick Douglass .

ind the Language of Sig­ From The Signifying Monkey and ! second chapter of The ~ew York, 1988). the Language of Signifyin( g): Rhetorical ·e constitute an excellent :hest of these sources are Difference and the Orders of Meaning 4merica (Boston, 1977) , 11African America (Lon- 1ley, Mass., 1976), J. L. Some of the best dozens players were girls . ... before rhetorical principle in Afro-American vernacular ,erb collection edited by you can signify you got to be able to rap . . .. Signify- discourse. Whereas my concern in Chapter I was e Interpretation of Afro ­ ing allowed you a choice-you co11ld either make a with the elaboration of an indigenous black herme­ !S his debt to Blues, Jde­ cal feel good or bad. If you had just destroyed some­ neutical principle, my concern in this chapter is to o, 1984), by Houston A. one or if they were down already, signifying could define a carefully structured system of rhetoric, tra­ sive and helpful , though help them over. Signifying was also a way of express­ ditional Afro-American figures of signification, :s in black language and ing your ow11feelings . ... Signifying at its best can be and then to show how a curious figure becomes the twenty-three of Smither ­ heard when the brothers are exchangillg tales. trope ofliterary revision itself. My movement, then, !n teachers and adminis - - H. RAP BROWN is from hermeneutics to rhetoric and semantics, 11lection includes several And they asked me right at Christmas only to return to hermeneutics once again. rticle '"What Go Round If my blackness, would it rub off? Thinking about the black concept of Signi­ I said, ask your Mama. fyin(g) is a bit like stumbling unaware into a hall of Upheaval (1966), ed . -LANGSTON HUGHES of mirrors: the sign itself appears to be doubled, rter; Tile Voice of Black at the very least, and (re)doubled upon ever closer examination. It is not the sign itself, how­ -1971 (1972), ed. Philip I 98), ed. Philip Foner and ever, which has multiplied. If orientation prevails n of The Voice of Black If Esu-Elegbara' stands as the central figure of the over madness, we soon realize that only the sig­ •teenth-Centttry African­ Ifa system of interpretation,2 then his Afro-Ameri­ nifier has been doubled and (re)doubled, a signi­ nan has edited a helpful can relative, the Signifying Monkey, stands as the fier in this instance that is silent, a "sound­ both the nineteenth and image" as Saussure defines the signifier, but a ·ebook (1996) . 'In the pan-African Yoruba mythologies, Esu-Elegbara is "sound-image" sans the sound. The difficulty I 855; rpt. I 969) reprints the messenger -god. Esu speaks the languages of gods and men; that we experience when thinking about the na­ activities in cultural and he is a trickster and a self-consciously rhetorical verbal virtu­ ture of the visual (re)doubling at work in a hall of oso. [Ed.] mirrors is analogous to the difficulty we shall include Shirley Wilson 2 lfa is the Yoruba god who gave men the cryptic verses ·Ii-Century Black Womell that bear his name. The priests divine the will of the gods by encounter in relating the black linguistic sign, · figures who were active chanting the Odu !fa, the divination poems. [Ed.] "Signification," to the standard English sign,

GATES I THE SIGNIFYING MONKEY AND THE LANGUAGE OF SIGNIFYIN(G) 1551 51~n 1·rc..,.h,.r_:;,rd.i:-h..>.::-i.,~;(> b t lM.h,V\.~ ~dw ~l-,.ocl \{,~h..

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"signification." This level of conceptual difficulty cape our sense of vertigo handily. We cannot, ing." The bracketed stems from-indeed, seems to have been inten­ however, precisely because the antanaclasis that I fact that this word is, tionally inscribed within-the selection of the am describing turns upon the very identity of by black people wi1 signifier "Signification" to represent a concept re­ these signifiers, and the play of differences gen­ fyin'." This arbitran markably distinct from that concept represented erated by the unrelated concepts (the signifieds) tion also enables me" by the standard English signifier, "signification." for which they stand. ever historical com For the standard English word is a homonym of What we are privileged to witness here is the coined this usage did the Afro-American vernacular word. And, to (political, semantic) confrontation between two ken, in contradistinct compound the dizziness and the giddiness that we parallel discursive universes: the black American ages of the standard must experience in the vertiginous movement be­ linguistic circle and the white. We see here the The bracketed or aw tween these two "identical" signifiers, these two most subtle and perhaps the most profound trace course of black Engli homonyms have everything to do with each other of an extended engagement between two separate ally, stands as the trac and, then again, absolutely nothing. 3 and distinct yet profoundly - even inextri­ markably sophisticate, ln the extraordinarily complex relationship cably - related orders of meaning dependent ritual graphically in between the two homonyms, we both enact and precisely as much for their confrontation on rela­ placing with a visua recapitulate the received, classic confrontation tions of identity, manifested in the signifier, as on black vernacular shal between Afro-American culture and American their relations of difference, manifested at the serve both to avoid c culture. This confrontation is both political and level of the signified. We bear witness here to a of these two distinct ~ metaphysical. We might profit somewhat by protracted argument over the nature of the sign identity and to stand , thinking of the curiously ironic relationship be­ itself, with the black vernacular discourse prof­ nifyin[g] difference ii •• tween these signifiers as a confrontation defined fering its critique of the sign as the difference ure for the Signifyin[~ by the politics of semantics, semantics here de­ that blackness makes within the larger political Let me attempt to a fined as the study of the classification of changes culture and its historical unconscious. of this (re)naming rit, in the signification of words, and more especially "Signification" and "signification" create a place anonymously a the relationships between theories of denotation noisy disturbance in silence, at the level of the !um America. Some bl and naming, as well as connotation and ambigu­ signifier. Derrida's neologism, "differance," in of witty and sensitive ity. The relationship that black "Signification" its relation to "difference," is a marvelous ex­ fier "signification" of bears to the English "signification" is, paradoxi­ ample of agnominatio, or repetition of a word filled this empty sigr cally, a relation of difference inscribed within a with an alteration of both one letter and a sound. cepts. By doing so, b) relation of identity. That, it seems to me, is inher­ In this clever manner, Derrida's term resists re­ standard English cone ent in the nature of metaphorical substitution and duction to self-identical meaning. The curiously convention with this the pun, particularly those rhetorical tropes de­ suspended relationship between the French verbs (un)wittingly disruptec pendent on the repetition of a word with a change to differ and to defer both defines Derrida's revi­ signified/signifier equ. denoted by a difference in sound or in a letter sion of Saussure's notion of language as a rela­ tingly with a negation (agnominatio), and in homonymic puns (antana- tion of differences and embodies his revision are always occasions clasis). These tropes luxuriate in the chaos of am­ which "in its own unstable meaning [is] a graphic less, I tend to think, or biguity that repetition and difference (be that ap­ example of the process at work." 4 guerrilla action occm parent difference centered in the signifier or in I have encountered great difficulty in arriving term, because of the ve the signified, in the "sound-image" or in the con­ at a suitably similar gesture. I have decided to associated in standard I cept) yield in either an aural or a visual pun. signify the difference between these two signi­ "Signification," in This dreaded, if playful, condition of ambigu­ fiers by writing the black signifier in upper case the meaning that a ter ity would, of course, disappear in the instance at ("Signification") and the white signifier in lower to convey. It is a fund hand if the two signs under examination did not case ("signification"). Similarly, I have selected dard English semantic bear the same signifier. If the two signs were des­ to write the black term with a bracketed final g least, the three terms s ignated by two different signifiers, we could es- ("Signifyin[g]") and the white term as "signify- 11ified have been func about general linguistic Jferdinand de Saussure, Co11rsein General li11g11istics, 4 For a superbly lucid discussion, see Christopher Norris. cism specifically. Thei ed. Charles Bally and Albert Sechehaye, trans. Wade Baskin Deco11structio11:Theo,y and Practice (New York: Methuen, demic-critical communi (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1966). p. 66ff. [Au.] 1982), p. 32. [Au.] in the black vernacular

1552 MODERN AND POSTMODERN RHETORIC GATES ITHE io handily. We cannot, ing." The bracketed g enables me to connote the turies old. By supplanting the received term's as­ se the antanaclasis that I fact that this word is, more often than not, spoken sociated concept, the black vernacular tradition m the very identity of by black people without the final g as "signi­ created a homonymic pun of the profoundest )lay of differences gen­ fyin' ." This arbitrary and idiosyncratic conven­ sort, thereby making its sense of difference from :oncepts (the signifieds) tion also enables me to recall the fact that what­ the rest of the English community o f speakers. ever historical community of Afro-Americans Their complex act of language Signifies upon d to witness here is the coined this usage did so in the vernacular as spo­ both formal language use and its conventions, frontation between two ken, in contradistinction to the literate written us­ conventions established, at least officially, by ses: the black American ages of the standard English "shadowed" term. middle-class white people. white. We see here the The bracketed or aurally erased g, like the dis­ This political offensive could have been :he most profound trace course of black English and dialect poetry gener­ mounted against all sorts of standard English nt between two separate ally, stands as the trace of black difference in a re­ terms-and, indeed, it was. I am thinking here of mndly - even inextri­ markably sophisticated and fascinating (re)naming terms such as down, nigger, baby, and cool, lf meaning dependent ritual graphically in evidence here. Perhaps re­ which snobbishly tend to be written about as "di­ tr confrontation on rela­ placing with a visual sign the g erased in the alect" words or "slang." There are scores of such ed in the signifier, as on black vernacular shall, like Derrida's neologism, revised words. But to revise the term significa­ nee, manifested at the serve both to avoid confusion and the reduction tion is to select a term that represents the nature : bear witness here to a of these two distinct sets of homonyms to a false of the process of meaning-creation and its repre­ ''-=\ · the nature of the sign identity and to stand as the sign of a (black) Sig­ sentation. Few other selections could have been nacular discourse prof- nifyin[g] difference itself. The absent g is a fig­ so dramatic, or so meaningful. We are witnessing sign as the difference ure for the Signifyin[g] black difference. here a profound disruption at the level of the sig­ hin the larger political Let me attempt to account for the complexities nifier, precisely because of the relationship of nconscious. of this (re)naming ritual, which apparently took identity that obtains between the two apparently signification" create a place anonymously and unrecorded in antebel­ equivalent terms. This disturbance, of course, has 1ce, at the level of the lum America. Some black genius or a community been effected at the level of the conceptual, or ,gism, "differance," in of witty and sensitive speakers emptied the signi­ the signified. How accidental, unconscious, or !," is a marvelous ex­ fier "signification" of its received concepts and unintentional (or any other code-word substi­ r repetition of a word filled this empty signifier with their own con­ tution for the absence of reason) could such a one letter and a sound. cepts. By doing so, by supplanting the received, brilliant challenge at the semantic level be? To :rrida's term resists re­ standard English concept associated by (white) revise the received sign (quotient) literally ac­ neaning. The curiously convention with this particular signifier, they counted for in the relation represented by signi­ tween the French verbs (un)wittingly disrupted the nature of the sign = fied/signifier at its most apparently denotative defines Derrida's revi- signified/signifier equation itself. I bracket wit­ level is to critique the nature of (white) meaning of language as a rela- tingly with a negation precisely because origins itself, to challenge through a literal critique of the embodies his revision are always occasions for speculation. Neverthe­ sign the meaning of meaning. What did/do black : meaning [is] a graphic less, I tend to think, or I wish to believe, that this people signify in a society in which they were in­ work."4 guerrilla action occurred intentionally on this tentionally introduced as the subjugated, as the at difficulty in arriving term, because of the very concept with which it is enslaved cipher? Nothing on the x axis of white ure. I have decided to associated in standard English. signification, and everything on the y axis of ween these two signi­ "Signification," in standard English, denotes blackness.s signifier in upper case the meaning that a term conveys, or is intended It is not sufficient merely to reveal that black ¥hite signifier in lower to convey. It is a fundamental term in the stan­ people colonized a white sign. A level of meta­ 1ilarly, I have selected dard English semantic order. Since Saussure, at discourse is at work in this process. If the signi­ ith a bracketed final g least, the three terms signification, signifier, sig­ fier stands disrupted by the shift in concepts de­ vhite term as "signify- nified have been fundamental to our thinking noted and connoted, then we are engaged at the about general linguistics and, of late, about criti­ ;ion, see Christopher Norris, cism specifically. These neologisms in the aca­ ssee my discussion of the word "down" in Figures in !ctice (New York: Methuen, demic-critical community are homonyms of terms Black: Words, Signs, and the Racial Se/f(New York: Oxford in the black vernacular tradition perhaps two cen- University Press, 1986). [Au.]

GATES I THE SIGNIFYING MONKEY AND THE LANGUAGE OF SIGNIFYIN(G) 1553 L.. '' e.<;. nL, .. -· level of meaning itself, at the semantic register. Whereas in standard English usage significa­ What does this n Black people vacated this signifier, then-in­ tion can be represented signified/signifier and that black homonym Sig, credibly-substituted as its concept a signified which is signified is a concept, or concepts, in the sion of the white terr that stands for the system of rhetorical strategies black homonym, this relation of semantics has that the signifier "S peculiar to their own vernacular tradition. been supplanted by a relation of rhetoric, wherein identical in spelling Rhetoric, then, has supplanted semantics in this the signifier "Signification" is associated with a demonstrate, first, most literal meta-confrontation within the struc­ concept that stands for the rhetorical structures of negated, parallel dis, ture of the sign. Some historical black commu­ the black vernacular, the trope of tropes that is cal) universe exists , nity of speakers most certainly struck directly at Signifyin(g). Accordingly, if in standard English cursive universe, lik, the heart of the matter, on the ground of the refer­ fabulations so comm, signification = signified = concept ent itself, thereby demonstrating that even (or es­ seems apparent that r signifier sound-image, pecially) the concepts signified by the signifier tier argues strongly ti are themselves arbitrary. By an act of will, some then in the black vernacular, of black-white differ~ historically nameless community of remarkably "signification" in the Sig11ificatio11= rhetorical figures self-conscious speakers of English defined their of doubles here occu1 ontological status as one of profound differences signifier the threshold or at Es1 vis-a-vis the rest of society. What's more, they In other words, the relation of signification itself and white semantic fi undertook this act of self-definition, implicit in a has been critiqued by a black act of (re)doubling. ine the relationship o (re)naming ritual, within the process of significa­ The black term of Signifyin( g) has as its associ­ verses as depicted in tion that the English language had inscribed for ated concept all of the rhetorical figures sub­ then, is an inappropri itself. Contrary to an assertion that Saussure sumed in the term Signify. To Signify, in other lar universes is perh, makes in his Course, "the masses" did indeed words, is to engage in certain rhetorical games, description. "have [a] voice in the matter" and replaced the which I shall define and then compare to standard The English-langt sign "chosen by language." We shall return to Western figures [later], in Chart 4. refers to the chain o Saussure's discussion of the "Immutability and It would be erroneous even to suggest that a horizontally, on the s Mutability of the Sign" below. 6 concept can be erased from its relation to a signi­ signification operates Before critiquing Saussure's discussion of sig­ fier. A signifier is never, ultimately, able to es­ a syntagmatic or h01 nification, however, perhaps I can help to clarify cape its received meanings, or concepts, no mat­ operates and can be an inherently confusing discussion by represent­ ter how dramatically such concepts might change matic or vertical axis ing the black critique of the sign, the replacement through time. In fact, homonymic puns antana­ self with that which is of the semantic register by the rhetorical, in clasis, turn precisely upon received meanings and chaos of what Saussu Chart r. their deferral by a vertical substitution. AJI tions," which we can homonyms depend on the absent presence of re­ puns on a word that ceived concepts associated with a signifier. axis of language and , for figurative substitu Black Vernacular in Signifyin(g) tend to (y axis) to name a person or a Vl ner. Whereas significal -~ s coherence on the exclu semantic axis I g ciations which any g -a n ·c::u i given time, Significati< 0 ----=s•=ni'""fi"'c=at""'io:..:.n=----- Standard English sion of the free play of d) f (x axis) -E i cal and semantic relati C these vertically suspen, a t articulation of relevan1 i means all of the associ, 0 Chart 1. The Sign, "Signification" n ries from other context. ignored, or censored 6Saussure, Course, p.71. [Au.] Chart 2. Black and Standard English lined up with a signifi

1554 MODERN AND POSTMODERN RHETORIC GATES] THE ,:, (, t~' p ~·'IA. r)...,lot 1. ...t ~v' (,\.!l\,t,\,.1(,r<,

English usage significa­ What does this mean in the instance of the meaning." 7 Everything that must be excluded for ignified!signifier and that b_lack homony~ Signifyin(g), the shadowy revi­ meaning to remain coherent and linear comes to ncept, or concepts, in the sion of the white term? It means, it seems to me, bear in the process of Signifyin(g). As Anthony !lation of semantics has that the signifier "Signification" has remained Easthope puts the matter in Poetry as Discourse, identical in spelling to its white counterpart to ation of rhetoric, wherein All of these absences and dependencies which have demonstrate, first, that a simultaneous, but on" is associated with a to_be barred in order for meaning to take place con­ he rhetorical structures of negate~, parallel discursive ( ontological, politi­ su tute what Lacan designates as the Other. The 1e trope of tropes that is cal) universe exists within the larger white dis­ presence of meaning along the syntagmatic chain ,y, if in standard English cursive universe, like the matter-and-antimatter necessarilydepends upon the absence of the Other fabulations so common to science fiction. It also the rest of language, from the syntagmatic chain.8 ' :nified = concept seems apparent that retaining the identical signi­ Signifyin(g), in Lacan's sense, is the Other of ?nifier sound -image, fier argues strongly that the most poignant level discourse; but it also constitutes the black Other's ~f. bl~ck-~hit~ ?ifferences is that of meaning, of ular, discourse as its rhetoric. Ironically, rather than a s1gmficat10n m the most literal sense. The play proclamation of emancipation from the white = rhetorical figures. of doubles here occurs precisely on the axes, on ~erso~' s standard English, the symbiotic rela­ signifier the threshold or at Esu's crossroads, where black t1onsh1p between the black and white, between ~nd white s~mant!c fields collide. We can imag­ Ltionof signification itself the syntagmatic and paradigmatic axes, between ine the relat10nsh1p of these two discursive uni­ black act of (re)doubling. b!ack vern~cular discourse and standard English 1ifyin(g) has as its associ- verses as depicted in Chart 2. Parallel universes then, is an inappropriate metaphor; perpendicu~ d1scours~,. ts underscored here, and signified, by 1e rhetorical figures sub­ far universes is perhaps a more accurate visual the vert1gmous relationship between the terms nify. To Signify, in other signification and Signification, each of which is certain rhetorical games, description. The English-language use of signification dependent on the other. We can, then, think of 1then compare to standard American discourse as both the opposition be­ ref~rs to the chain of signifiers that configure in Chart 4. tween and the ironic identity of the movement honzontally, on the syntagmatic axis. Whereas ms even to suggest that a the very vertigo, that we encounter in a mentai from its relation to a signi­ signification operates and can be represented on a syntagmatic or horizontal axis, Signifyin(g) shift between the two terms. er, ultimately, able to es­ The process of semantic appropriation in evi­ ,ings, or concepts, no mat- ope~ates and can be represented on a paradig­ matic or vertical axis. Signifyin(g) concerns it­ ~ence in the relation of Signification to significa­ 1ch concepts might change tion has been aptly described by Mikhail Bakhtin homonymic puns antana- self with_that which is suspended, vertically: the chaos of what Saussure calls "associative rela­ as a double-voiced word, that is, a word or utter­ Jon received meanings and tions," which we can represent as the playful ance, in this context, decolonized for the black's vertical substitution. All purposes "by inserting a new semantic orien­ the absent presence of re­ pu~s on a word that occupy the paradigmatic axis of language and which a speaker draws on tation into a word which already has-and re­ ated with a signifier. tains-its own orientation." Although I shall re­ for figurative substitutions. These substitutions turn later in this chapter to a fuller consideration in Signifyin(g) tend to be humorous, or function ;ular to name a person or a situation in a telling man­ of this notion of double-voiced words and double­ voiced discourse, Gary Saul Morson' s elabora­ ner. Whereas signification depends for order and tion on Bakhtin' s concept helps to clarify what coherence on the exclusion of unconscious asso­ Bakhtin implies: c(ation~ whic_h ~ny ~iven word yields at any given time, S1gmficat10n luxuriates in the inclu­ The audience of a double-voicedword is therefore ,,.,Jn,_____ Standard English sion of the free play of these associative rhetori­ meant to hear both a version of the original utterance (x axis) cal and semantic relations. Jacques Lacan calls as the embodimentof its speaker's point of view (or these vertically suspended associations "a whole "se~antic position") and the second speaker's eval­ articulation of relevant contexts," by which he uauon of that utterance from a different point of ~eans all of the associations that a signifier car­ 7 ~1es from other contexts, which must be deleted, Jacques Lucan, Ecrits: A Selection, trans. Alan Sheridan (New York: Norton, 1977), p. 154. [Au.] ,~nored, or censored "for this signifier to be "Anthony Easthope, Poetry as Discourse (New York : , and Standard English lmed up with a signified to produce a specific Methuen, 1983), p. 37. [Au.]

GATES J THE SIGNIFYING MONKEY AND THE LANGUAGE OF SIGNIFY!N(G) 1555 view. I find it helpful to picture a double-voiced II Of the many cola word as a special sort of palimpsest in which the up­ The Poetry of Signification black vernacular tales permost inscription is a commentary on the one be­ as enigmatic and com1 neath it, which the reader (or audience) can know The literature or tales of the Signifying Monkey the Signifying Monke· only by reading through the commentary that ob­ and his peculiar language, Signifyin(g), is both received racist image· scures in the very process of evaluating. 9 extensive and polemical, involving as it does as­ the Signifying Monk, The motivated troping effect of the disruption of sertions and counterassertions about the relation­ margins of discourse, , the semantic orientation of signification by the ship that Signifyin(g) bears to several other black ever embodying the a black vernacular depends on the homonymic rela­ tropes. I am not interested in either recapitulating our trope for repetitio tion of the white term to the black. The sign, in or contributing to this highly specialized debate trope of chiasmus, repc other words, has been demonstrated to be mutable. over whether or not speech act x is an example of taneously as he does ir Bakhtin's notion, then, implicitly critiques this black trope or that. On the contrary, I wish to Vico and Burke, or Saussure's position that argue that Signifyin(g) is the black trope of Bloom, are correct in tropes, the figure for black rhetorical figures. I "master tropes," then , the signifier ... is fixed, not free, with respect to wish to do so because this represents my under­ the linguistic community that uses it. The masses the "master's tropes," have no voice in the matter, and the signifier cho­ standing of the value assigned to Signifyin(g) by slave's trope, the trope sen by language could be replaced by no other. ... the members of the Afro-American speech com­ acterizes metalepsis, " [The] community itself cannot control so much as a munity, of which I have been a signifier for quite figure of a figure." S single word; it is bound to the existing language. 10 some time. While the role of a certain aspect of which are subsumed linguistics study is to discern the shape and func­ tropes, including met, Saussure, of course, proceeds to account for tion of each tree that stands in the verbal terrain, doche, and irony (the rr "shift(s) in the relationship between the signified my role as a critic, in this book at least, is to de­ perbole, litotes, and mf and the signifier," shifts in time that result di­ fine the contours of the discursive forest or, per­ ment to Burke). To thi rectly from "the arbitrary nature of the sign." haps more appropriately, of the jungle.' 2 aporia, chiasmus, and But, simultaneously, Saussure denies what he Tales of the Signifying Monkey seem to have are used in the ritual of terms to be "arbitrary substitution": "A particular had their origins in slavery. Hundreds of these Signifyin(g), it is c language-state is always the product of historical have been recorded since the early twentieth cen­ course modes of figur forces, and these forces explain why the sign is tury. In black music, Jazz Gillum, Count Basie, one Signifies, as Kimbe unchangeable, i.e., why it resists any arbitrary Oscar Peterson, the Big Three Trio, Oscar "tropes-a-dope." lndeec substitution." The double-voiced relation of the Brown, Jr., Little Willie Dixon, Snatch and the has its own subdivision two terms under analysis here argues forcefully Poontangs, Otis Redding, Wilson Pickett, could readily identify w: that "the masses," especially in a multiethnic so­ Smokey Joe Whitfield, and Johnny Otis - among tion received from classi ciety, draw on "arbitrary substitution" freely, to others-have recorded songs about either the as Bloom has done witl disrupt the signifier by displacing its signified in Signifying Monkey or, simply, Signifyin(g). The and which we could, apr an intentional act of will. Signifyin(g) is black theory of Signifyin(g) is arrived at by explicating "rap of misprision." Th double-voicedness; because it always entails for­ these black cultural forms . Signifyin(g) in jazz subsumed under Sign mal revision and an intertextual relation, and be­ performances and in the play of black language marking, loud-talking, t cause of Esu's double-voiced representation in games is a mode of formal revision, it depends one's name), soundin! art, I find it an ideal metaphor for black literary for its effects on troping, it is often characterized dozens, and so on. '4 [Set criticism, for the formal manner in which texts by pastiche, and, most crucially, it turns on repe­ seem concerned to address their antecedents. tition of formal structures and their differences. ')On Tar Baby, see Ralp Repetition, with a signal difference, is fundamen­ Learning how to Signify is often part of our ado­ Complex Fate: A Writer's Ex tal to the nature of Signifyin(g), as we shall see.'' lescent education. Shadow and Act (New York: and Toni Morrison, Tar Bat [Au.] 4 9Quoted in Gary Saul Morson, The Boundaries of Genre: "See, for example, Claudia Mitchell-Kernan, Language ' Geneva Smitherman d( Dostoevsky's "Diary of a Writer" and the Traditions of Liter­ Behavior in a Black Urban Community (Monographs of the tropes, then traces their use i, ary Utopia (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1981), p. 108. Language-Behavior Laboratory, University of California, man's work, like that of Mite [Au.] Berkeley, No. 2). pp. 88,-90; and Roger D. Abrahams. Talk­ especially significant for literru wsaussure, Course, p. 7 J. [Au.] ing Black (Rowley, Mass.: Newbury House Publishers, man, Ta/kin and Testifyin: Th "Ibid., pp. 75, 72. [Au.] 1976), pp. 50-51. [Au.] (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 19

MODERN AND POSTMODERN RHETORIC GATES I THE: Of the many colorful figures that appear in The Esu figures, among the Yoruba systems black vernacular tales, perhaps only Tar Baby is of thought in Benin and Nigeria, Brazil and 'ltion as enigmatic and compelling as is that oxymoron, Cuba, Haiti and New Orleans, are divine: they of the Signifying Monkey the Signifying Monkey. '3 The ironic reversal of a are gods who function in sacred myths, as do iage, Signifyin(g), is both received racist image of the black as simianlike, characters in a narrative. Esu's functional equiva­ al, involving as it does as­ the Signifying Monkey, he who dwells at the lent in Afro-American profane discourse is the ;ertions about the relation- margins of discourse, ever punning, ever troping, Signifying Monkey, a figure who would seem to 1ears to several other black ever embodying the ambiguities of language, is be distinctly Afro-American, probably derived ,ted in either recapitulating our trope for repetition and revision, indeed our from Cuban mythology which generally depicts highly specialized debate trope of chiasmus, repeating and reversing simul­ Echu-Elegua 1s with a monkey at his side. Unlike ~ech act x is an example of taneously as he does in one deft discursive act. If his Pan-African Esu cousins, the Signifying . On the contrary, I wish to Vico and Burke, or Nietzsche, de Man, and Monkey exists not primarily as a character in a g) is the black trope of Bloom, are correct in identifying four and six narrative but rather as a vehicle for narration it­ black rhetorical figures. I "master tropes," then we might think of these as self. Like Esu, however, the Signifying Monkey this represents my under- the "master's tropes," and of Signifyin(g) as the stands as the figure of an oral writing within tssigned to Signifyin(g) by slave's trope, the trope of tropes, as Bloom char­ black vernacular language rituals. It is from the fro-American speech com­ acterizes metalepsis, "a trope-reversing trope, a corpus of mythological narratives that Signi­ ·e been a signifier for quite figure of a figure." Signifyin(g) is a trope in fyin(g) derives. The Afro-American rhetorical role of a certain aspect of which are subsumed several other rhetorical strategy of Signifyin(g) is a rhetorical practice liscern the shape and func­ tropes, including metaphor, metonymy, synec­ that is not engaged in the game of information­ tands in the verbal terrain, doche, and irony (the master tropes), and also hy­ giving, as Wittgenstein said of poetry. Signifyin(g) this book at least, is to de­ perbole, litotes, and metalepsis (Bloom's supple­ turns on the play and chain of signifiers, and not e discursive forest or, per­ ment to Burke). To this list we could easily add on some supposedly transcendent signified. As 2 ly, of the jungle.' aporia, chiasmus, and catechresis, all of which anthropologists demonstrate, the Signifying 1/Jrt. 1ing Monkey seem to have are used in the ritual of Signifyin(g). Monkey is often called the Signifier, he who lavery. Hundreds of these Signifyin(g), it is clear, means in black dis­ wreaks havoc upon the Signified. One is signified ' .... ice the early twentieth cen­ course modes of figuration themselves. When upon by the signifier. He is indeed the "signifier Jazz Gillum, Count Basie, one Signifies, as Kimberly W. Benston puns, one as such," in Kristeva's phrase, "a presence that Big Three Trio, Oscar "tropes-a-dope." Indeed, the black tradition itself precedes the signification of object or emotion." lie Dixon, Snatch and the has its own subdivision of Signifyin(g), which we ~dding, Wilson Pickett, could readily identify with the figures of significa­ and Johnny Otis - among tion received from classical and medieval rhetoric, fying as a rhetorical trope, see Smitherman, Talki11and Testi­ as Bloom has done with his "map of misprision" fyi11,pp. Io 1-67; Thomas Kochman, Rappi11'a11d Sty/in' Out: d songs about either the Communicationin Urban Black America (Urbana: University , simply, Signifyin(g). The and which we could, appropriately enough, label a of Illinois Press, 1972); Thomas Kochman, '"Rappin' in the is arrived at by explicating "rap of misprision." The black rhetorical tropes, Black Ghetto," Trans-Action 6 (February I 969): 32; Alan arms. Signifyin(g) in jaz z subsumed under Signifyin(g), would include Dundes, Mother Wit from the Lattghing Barrel: Readings in he play of black language marking, loud-talking, testifying, calling out (of the Interpretation of Afro-American Folklore (Englewood Cliffs, NJ.: Prentice-Hall, 1973), p. 3rn; Ethen M. Albert, ormal revision, it depends one's name), sounding, rapping, playing the "'Rhetoric,' 'Logic,' and 'Poetics' in Burundi: Culture Pat­ 1g, it is often characterized dozens, and so on. '4 [See Chart 4, p. 1580.] terning of Speech Behavior," in John J. Gumperz and Dell crucially, it turns on repe­ Hymes, eds., The Ethnography of Commttnication,American ures and their differences. •JQn Tar Baby, see Ralph Ellison, "Hidden Name and Anthropologist 66 (1964): 35-54. One example of signifying fy is often part of our ado- Complex Fate: A Writer's Experience in the United States," can be gleaned from the following anecdote. While writing Shadow a11dAct (New York: Random House, 1964), p. 147; this essay, I asked a colleague, Dwight Andrews, if he had and Toni Morrison, Tar Baby (New York: Knopf, 1981). heard of the Signifying Monkey as a child. "Why, no," he [Au.] replied intently. "I never heard of the Signifying Monkey udia Mitchell-Kernan, La11gttage 14Geneva Smitherman defines these and other black until I came to Yale and read about him in a book." I had Co1111111111ity(Monograph~ of the tropes, then traces their use in several black texts. Smither­ been signified upon. If I had responded to Andrews, "I know 1tory, University of California, man's work, like that of Mitchell-Kernan and Abrahams, is what you mean: your Mama read to me from that same book >; and Roger D. Abrahams, Talk­ especially significant for literary theory. See Geneva Smither­ the last time I was in Detroit." I would have signified upon ;,: Newbury House Publishers, man, Ta/kin a11dTestifyi11: The La11g11ageof Black America him in return. [Au.] (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1977), pp. 101-67. And on signi- ' 5The Cuban variant of Esu-Elegbara. [Ed.]

GATES I THE SIGNIFYING MONKEY AND THE LANGUAGE OF SIGNIFYIN(G) 1557 ·-, ( <,V\.\,)f "'- \·'l.•,,.,....\

Alan Dunde's suggestion that the origins of of the rhetorical play in the black vernacular. Its Essentially, Abrahan Signifyin(g) could "lie in African rhetoric" is not self-consciously open rhetorical status, then, "technique of indirec as far-fetched as one might think. I have argued functions as a kind of writing, wherein rhetoric is language of implica for a consideration of a line of descent for the the writing of speech, of oral discourse. If Esu is boast, by indirect ver Signifying Monkey from his Pan-African cousin, the figure of writing in Ifa, the Signifying Mon­ name 'signifying,'" Esu-Elegbara. I have done so not because I have key is the figure of a black rhetoric in the Afro­ monkey to be a trick~ unearthed archeological evidence of a transmis­ American speech community. He exists to em­ guage of trickery, ti-; sion process, but because of their functional body the figures of speech characteristic to the achieving Hamlet's equivalency as figures of rhetorical strategies and black vernacular. He is the principle of self-con­ tion."' The Monkey, of interpretation. Esu, as I have attempted to sciousness in the black vernacular, the meta-fig­ of technique, as Abra show in Chapter I, is the Yoruba figure of writ­ ure itself. Given the play of doubles at work in nique, or style, or thi ing within an oral system. Like Esu, the Signify­ the black appropriation of the English-language guage; he is the great ing Monkey exists, or is figured, in a densely term that denotes relations of meaning, the Signi­ does not signify some structured discursive universe, one absolutely de­ fying Monkey and his language of Signifyin(g) some way.is pendent on the play of differences. The poetry in are extraordinary conventions, with Signification The Signifying Mc which the Monkey's antics unfold is a signifying standing as the term for black rhetoric, the ob­ the Yoruba Odu, 19 1 system: in marked contrast to the supposed trans­ scuring of apparent meaning. this sort of extensiv, parency of normal speech, the poetry of these Scholars have for some time commented on ever, is outside the sc tales turns upon the free play of language itself, the peculiar use of the word Signifyin( g) in black nating as it might be. upon the displacement of meanings, precisely be­ discourse. Though sharing some connotations poetry can vary a gre; cause it draws attention to its rhetorical structures with the standard English-language word, Signi­ ent from the selecti, and strategies and thereby draws attention to the fyin( g) has rather unique definitions in black dis­ appendix. The most 16 force of the signifier. course . While we shall consider these definitions rhyming couplet in In opposition to the apparent transparency of later in this chapter, it is useful to look briefly at within the same poem speech, this poetry calls attention to itself as an one suggested by Robert D. Abrahams: be modified, as in the extended linguistic sign, one composed of vari­ Signifying seems to be a Negro term, in use if not an a-a-b-c-b and an a ous forms of the signifiers peculiar to the black in origin. It can mean any of a number of things ; in lowed in the latter exa vernacular. Meaning, in these poems, is not prof­ the case of the toast about the signifying monkey, it ing '.'moral"). Rhymini fered; it is deferred, and it is deferred because the certainly refers to the trickster's ability to talk with tant m the production c relationship between intent and meaning, be­ great innuendo, to carp, cajole, needle, and lie. It these poems have and tween the speech act and its comprehension, is can mean in other instances the propensity to talk dication of expertise a, skewed by the figures of rhetoric or signification around a subject, never quite coming to the point. It narrate them. The rhy1 of which these poems consist. This set of skewed can mean making fun of a person or situation. Also crucial to the desired el relationships creates a measure of undecidability it can denote speaking with the hands and eyes, and in this respect encompasses a whole complex of ex­ forced by their quasimt within the discourse, such that it must be inter­ The Monkey tales preted or decoded by careful attention to its play pressions and gestures . Thus it is signifying to stir up a fight between neighbors by telling stories; it is ~orded from male poets, of differences. Never can this interpretation be signifying to make fun of a policeman by parody­ tmgs such as barrooms definitive, given the ambiguity at work in its ing his motions behind his back; it is signifying to ?ers. Accordingly, giv~1 rhetorical structures. The speech of the Monkey ask for a piece of cake by saying, "my brother needs insult and naming, recon exists as a sequence of signifiers, effecting mean­ 7 a piece a cake ."' centric bias. As we shall 1 ings through their differential relation and calling fyin(g) itself can be, and attention to itself by rhyming, repetition, and sev­ 11Roger D. Abrahams, Deep Down in the Jungle : Negro facility and effect by \\ eral of the rhetorical fi.gures used in larger cul­ Narrative Folklore from the Streets of Philadelphia (Chicago: tural language games. Signifyin(g) epitomizes all Aldine Publishing, 1970), pp. 51- 52. 66- 67, 264. Abraham s's '"Ibid. , pp. 66-67, 264. (E awareness of the need to define uniquely black significatio ns 9 ' The Od11/fa are the 256 is exemplary . As early as I 964, when he published the first I fa. These are arranged into 16 Julia Kristeva, Desire in language : A Semiotic Ap­ edition of Deep Down in the Jungle, he saw fit lo add a glos­ priests in a divination session. proach to literature and Art (New York : Columbia Univer­ sary, as an appendix of "Unusual Term~ and Expres~ions," a 20 Gloria Hall is a well-kno sity Press, 1980), p. 31; Dundes, editor's note, Mother Wit title which unfortunately suggests the social scienti st' s apolo­ she includes in her repertoire 1 from the Laughing Barrel, p. 3 Io. [Au.] gia . [Au.] [Au.)

MODERN AND POSTMODERN RHETORIC GATES I THE: the black vernacular. Its Essentially, Abrahams continues, Signifyin(g) is a Whereas only a relatively small number of people rhetorical status, then, "technique of indirect argument or persuasion," "a are accomplished narrators of Signifying Monkey ·iting, wherein rhetoric is language of implication," "to imply, goad, beg, tales, a remarkably large number of Afro-Ameri­ · oral discourse. If Esu is boast, by indirect verbal or gestural means." "The cans are familiar with, and practice, modes of Sig­ [fa, the Signifying Mon- name 'signifying,"' he concludes, "shows the nifyin(g), defined in this instance as the rubric for 1ck rhetoric in the Afro­ monkey to be a trickster, signifying being the lan­ various sorts of playful language games, some mnity. He exists to em­ guage of trickery, that set of words or gestures aimed at reconstituting the subject while others are ech characteristic to the achieving Hamlet's 'direction through indirec­ aimed at demystifying a subject. The poems are of .he principle of self-con­ tion."' The Monkey, in short, is not only a master interest to my argument primarily in three ways: vernacular, the meta-fig ­ of technique, as Abrahams concludes; he is tech­ as the source of the rhetorical act of Signification, y of doubles at work in nique, or style, or the literariness of literary lan­ as examples of the black tropes subsumed within of the English -language guage; he is the great Signifier. In this sense, one the trope of Signifyin(g), and, crucially, as evi­ 1s of meaning, the Signi ­ does not signify something; rather, one signifies in dence for the valorization of the signifier. One of anguage of Signifyin(g) some way.' 11 these subsumed tropes is concerned with repeti­ 1tions, with Signification The Signifying Monkey poems, like the ese of tion and difference; it is the trope, that of naming, r black rhetoric, the ob­ the Yoruba Odu, ' 9 reward careful explication; which I have drawn upon as a metaphor for black iing. this sort of extensive practical criticism, how­ intertextuality and, therefore, for fonnal literary me time commented on ever, is outside the scope of this book, as fasci­ history. Before discussing this process of revi­ ·ord Signifyin(g) in black nating as it might be. The stanzaic form of this sion, however, it is useful to demonstrate the for­ ring some connotations poetry can vary a great deal, as is readily appar­ mulaic structure of the Monkey tales and then to :h-language word, Signi ­ ent from the selections listed in this book's compare several attempts by linguists to define : definitions in black dis­ appendix. The most common structure is the the nature and function of Signifyin(g). While ·onsider these definitions rhyming couplet in an a-a-b-b pattern. Even other scholars have interpreted the Monkey tales , useful to look briefly at within the same poem, however, this pattern can against the binary opposition between black and D. Abrahams: be modified, as in the stanzas cited below, where white in American society, to do so is to ignore the an a-a-b-c-b and an a-b-c-b pattern obtain (fol­ trina,y forces of the Monkey, the Lion, and the a Negro term, in use if not lowed in the latter example by an a-b-a conclud­ 1y of a number of things; in Elephant. To read the Monkey tales as a simple al­ ut the signifying monkey, it ing "moral"). Rhyming is extraordinarily impor­ legory of the black' s political oppression is to ig­ ickster's ability to talk with tant in the production of the humorous effect that nore the hulking presence of the Elephant, the cru­ ,, cajole, needle, and lie. It these poems have and has become the signal in­ cial third term of the depicted action. To note this mces the propensity to talk dication of expertise among the street poets who is not to argue that the tales are not allegorical or quite coming to the point. It narrate them. The rhythm of the poems is also that their import is not political. Rather, this is to fa person or situation. Also crucial to the desired effect, an effect in part rein­ note that to reduce such complex structures of vith the hands and eyes, and forced by their quasimusical nature of delivery. meaning to a simple two-term opposition (white ;ses a whole complex of ex­ The Monkey tales generally have been re­ versus black) is to fail to account for the strength Thus it is signifying to stir corded from male poets, in predominantly male set­ of the Elephant. hbors by telling stories; it is tings such as barrooms, pool halls, and street cor­ of a policeman by parody­ There are many versions of the toasts of the his back; it is signifying to ners. Accordingly, given their nature as rituals of Signifying Monkey, most of which commence y saying, "my brother needs insult and naming, recorded versions have a phallo­ with a variant of the following fonnulaic lines: centric bias. As we shall see below, however, Signi­ Deep down in the jungle so they say fyin(g) itself can be, and is, undertaken with equal There's a signifying monkey down the way facility and effect by women as well as men.20 ep Down in the J11ngle: Negro There hadn't been no disturbin' in the jungle for reets of Philadelphia (Chicago : quite a bit, ;1- 52, 66-67, 264. Abrahams' s •RJbid.,pp . 66-67, 264. (Emphasis added. ) [Au.) For up jumped the monkey in the tree one day and 1e uniquely black significations 19The Od11/fa are the 256 cryptic verses given by the god laughed ,4, when he published the first Ila. These are arranged into ese, the poems uttered by the "I guess I'll start some shit." 21 1111gle,he saw fit to add a glos­ priests in a divination session . [Ed. J ual Tenns and Expressions," a " 'Gloria Hall is a well-known profes~ional storyteller, and !Sts the social scientist's a polo - she includes in her repertoire the Signifying Monkey poems. 21 Abrahams, p. I I 3. In the second line of the stanza, [Au.] "motherfucker" is often substituted for "monkey." [Au.]

GATES J THE SIGNIFYING MONKEY AND THE LANGUAGE OF SIGNIFYIN(G) 1559 Endings, too, tend toward the formulaic, as in the however. The Monkey's task, then, is to trick the Say, "Everytime me a following: Lion into tangling with the Elephant, who .is get a little bit, the true King of the Jungle for everyone else. m here you come down 1 "Monkey," said the Lion the animal kingdom. This the Monkey does with old 'Hi Ho' shit." 2 s Beat to his unbooted knees, "You and your signifying children a rhetorical trick, a trick of mediation. Indeed, This is a salient exampl· Better stay up in the trees." the Monkey is a term of (anti)mediation, as are a verbal fusilade of insu Which is why today all trickster figures, between two forces he seeks ture of ritual rhetorical 1 Monkey does his signifying to oppose for his own contentious purposes, and What happens next A-way-up out of the way. 22 then to reconcile. Monkey, at this point ir The Monkey's trick of mediation-or, more In the narrative poems, the Signifying Monkey pleased with himself, sli invariably repeats to his friend, the Lion, some properly, antimediation-i~ a play ~n l~nguage use. He succeeds in reversmg the Lion s status Now the little old Man i insult purportedly generated by their mutual by supposedly repeating a series of insults. pu;­ his feet slipped and friend, the Elephant. The Monkey, however, ground. speaks figuratively. The Lion, indignant and out­ portedly uttered by t~e El~phant.ab~.ut the ~.1on.s closest relatives (his wife, his mama, his The startled Monkey, 1 raged, demands an apology of t.he Elepha~t, who "grandmama, too!"). These intimations of sexual refuses and then trounces the Lion. The Lion, re­ repair his relationship , use abuse and violation constitute one well­ alizing that his mistake was to take the M?nk~y urgent manner. So he be kn~wn and commonly used mode of Signi­ literally, returns to trounce the Monkey. It 1s ~his Like a streak of lightnir fyin(g). 24 The Lion, who perceives his shaky, relationship between the literal and t~e figurat~ve, the Lion was on the Mc self-imposed status as having been challenged, and the dire consequences of their confus10n, Monkey looks up with , which is the most striking repeated element of rushes off in outrage to find the Elephant so that he says, 'Tm sorry, br he might redress his grievances and preserve ~p­ these tales. The Monkey's trick depends on the gize." pearances. The self-confident but unassum~ng Lion's inability to mediate between these two The Lion says, "Apolo Elephant, after politely suggesting to the L10n stop you from your : poles of signification, of .meaning. Th~re is a pro­ that he must be mistaken, proceeds to trounce the found lesson about readmg here. While we can­ The Lion now turns on Lion firmly. The Lion, clearly defeated and de­ not undertake a full reading of the poetry of the dentally, to be tricked rt throned from his self-claimed title, returns to find Signifying Monkey, we can, however, .identify cause he has been seven the Monkey so that he can at the very least exact the implications for black vernacular discourse has been beaten, then some sort of physical satisfaction and thereby re­ that are encoded in this poetic diction. text substitutes the folio store his image somewhat as the impr~gnable Signifyin(g) as a rhetorical strategy emanates Lion for that quoted imn fortress-in-waiting that he so urgently wishes to directly from the Signifying Monkey tales. The be. The Monkey, absolutely ecstatic at th~ s~c­ [The Lion say], 'Tm relationship between these poems and the related, cess of his deception, commences to S1gmfy 'cause that Elephant but independent, mode of formal language u~e upon the Lion, as in the following exchange: I'm gonna whip your as must be made clear. The action represented m Monkey tales turns upon the action of three stock Now the Lion come back more dead than alive, The Monkey's trick of , characters-the Monkey, the Lion, and the Ele­ that's when the Monkey started some more of his convince the hapless Lie phant-who are bound togeth.er in a trinary r~la­ old signifying. erally, when all along he tionship. The Monkey-a tnckster fi~ur;, ltke He said, "King of the Jungles, ain't you a bi.tch,,, The Lion, though slow­ Esu, who is full of guile, who tells hes, 3 an.d you look like someone with the seven-year-itch. his misreading through who is a rhetorical genius-is intent on demysti­ He said, "When you left [me earlier in the narra- realizes that his status h tive] the lightnin' flashed and the bells rung, fying the Lion's self-imposed status as King of cause of the Elephant' i you look like something been damn near hung." because he fundamentall the Jungle. The Monkey, clearly, is no match t:or He said, "Whup! Motherfucker, don't you roar, the Lion's physical prowess: the Elephant 1s, I'll jump down on the ground and beat your funky ass some more." >sSee Bruce Jackson, "G, 22 "The Signifying Monkey," Book of Negro Folklore, ed. Say, "While I'm swinging around in ~y tree:" Swim Like Me": Narrative Po Langston Hughes and Arna Bontemps (New York: Dodd, say, "I ought to swing over your ch1ckenshll head dition (Cambridge : Harvard U Mead, 1958), pp. 365-66. [Au.] . and pee." 164- 65. Subsequent reference >JLiesis a traditional Afro-American word for figurative will be given in the text. Jack discourse, tales, or stories. fAu.] •4Also known as "the dozens." [Au.] definitive. [Au.]

MODERN AND POSTMODERN RHETORIC GATES I THE task, then, is to trick the Say, "Everytime me and my old lady be tryin' to tus of the Monkey's statements. As still another get a Iittle bit, 1 the Elephant, who is poem represents this moment of clarity: 1gle for everyone else in here you come down through the jungle with that old 'Hi Ho' shit." 2 s Said, "Monkey, I'm not kicking your ass for !yin', is the Monkey does with I'm kicking your hairy ass for signifyin' ." :k of mediation. Indeed, This is a salient example of Signifyin(g), wherein (p. 172)26 ,f (anti)mediation, as are a verbal fusilade of insults spews forth in a struc­ veen two forces he seeks ture of ritual rhetorical exchanges. The black term to lie, as J. L. Dillard, Sterling A. ontentious purposes, and What happens next is also fascinating. The Brown, and Zora Neale Hurston amply demon­ Monkey, at this point in the discourse deliriously strate, signifies tale-telling and constitutes a sig­ 2 of mediation-or, more pleased with himself, slips and falls to the ground: nal form of Signifyin(g). 7 But it is the naming - is a play on language ritual, in which the Monkey speaks aloud his edi­ Now the little old Monkey was dancing all around versing the Lion's status torial recapitulation of the previous events and his feet slipped and his ass must have hit the their import, which even the dense Lion recog­ g a series of insults pur­ ground. ~lephant about the Lion's nizes to be his most crucial threat, and against wife, his "mama," his The startled Monkey, now vulnerable, seeks to which he must defend himself, especially since 1ese intimations of sexual repair his relationship with the Lion in the most the Lion returns to the Monkey's tree initially, at ion constitute one well­ urgent manner. So he begs initially: least, to impose his interpretation on his inter­ change with the Elephant: / used mode of Signi- Like a streak of lightning and a bolt of white heat, 1ho perceives his shaky, the Lion was on the Monkey with all four feet. Now the Lion looked up to the Monkey, "You having been challenged, Monkey looks up with tears in his eyes, know I didn't get beat." find the Elephant so that he says, 'Tm sorry, brother Lion," say, "I apolo­ He said, "You're a lyin' motherfucker, I had a ring­ ievances and preserve ap­ gize." side seat." )nfident but unassuming The Lion says, "Apologize, shit," say 'Tm gonna The Lion looked up out of his one good eye, said, 1 suggesting to the Lion stop you from your signifyin' ." (p. 165) "Lord, let that skinny bastard fall out of that tree before I die." (p. 172) ·n, proceeds to trounce the The Lion now turns on the Monkey (only, inci­ clearly defeated and de­ dentally, to be tricked rhetorically again), not be­ Which he, of course, does, only (in most cases) aimed title, returns to find cause he has been severely beaten but because he to escape once again, to return to Signify on an­ can at the very least exact has been beaten, then Signified upon. Another other day: atisfaction and thereby re­ text substitutes the following direct speech of the what as the impregnable He said, "You might as well stop, there ain't no use Lion for that quoted immediately above: tryin' he so urgently wishes to because no motherfucker is gonna stop me from ,lutely ecstatic at the suc- [The Lion say], 'Tm not gonna whip your ass 'cause that Elephant whipped mine, signifyin' ." (p. 163) 1, commences to Signify I'm gonna whip your ass for signifyin' ." (p. 168) ! following exchange: While the insult aspect of the Monkey's dis­ The Monkey's trick of Signification has been to course is important to the tales, linguists have 1ck more dead than alive, often failed to recognize that insult is not at all :ey started some more of his convince the hapless Lion that he has spoken lit­ erally, when all along he has spoken figuratively. central to the nature of Signifyin(g); it is merely Jungles, ain't you a bitch, The Lion, though slow-witted enough to repeat one mode of a rhetorical strategy that has several ! with the seven-year-itch." his misreading through the eternity of discourse, other modes, all of which share the use of trop­ left [me earlier in the narra­ realizes that his status has been deflated, not be­ ing. They have, in other words, mistaken the fashed and the bells rung, cause of the Elephant's brutal self-defense but trees for the forest. For Signifyin(g) constitutes ng been damn near hung." because he fundamentally misunderstood the sta- herfucker, don't you roar, 26A clear example of paradigmaticcontiguity is the addi­ ! ground and beat your funky tion of the metonym "hairy" as an adjective for "ass" in the 25 See Bruce Jackson, "Get Your Ass in the Water and second quoted line. [Au.] ging around in my tree," Swim Like Me": Narrative Poelly from the Black Oral Tra­ 27J. L. Dillard, lexicon of Black English (New York: g over your chickenshit head dition (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1974), e~p. pp. Continuum, 1977), pp. 130-41; Zora Neale Hurston, Mules I 64-65. Subsequent reference~ to tale~ collected by Jackson and Men (Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott, 1935), p. 37; will be given in the text. Jack~on's collection of "Toasts" is Sterling A. Brown, "Folk Literature," in The Negro Caravan ,iens ." [Au.] definitive. [Au.I (1941; New York: Arno, 1969), p. 433. [Au.]

GATES I THE SIGNIFYING MONKEY AND THE LANGUAGE OF SIGNIFYIN(G) all of the language games, the figurative substitu­ phants manifest their feelings in direct speech. critic is bound to tions, the free associations held in abeyance by Animals, of course, do not speak, except in "Little Man at Cheh Lacan's or Saussure's paradigmatic axis, which dreams or in mythological discourse. As Freud Who is he? Elli disturb the seemingly coherent linearity of the puts it in The Inte17Jretatio11of Dreams, about himself when syntagmatic chain of signifiers, in a way analo­ this symbolism is not peculiar to dreams, but is Tuskegee. Having I gous to Freud's notion of how the unconscious characteristic of unconscious ideation, in particular pensate for a lack relates to the conscious. The black vernacular among the people, and it is to be found infolk/ore, style of performanc trope of Signifyin(g) exists on this vertical axis, and in popular myths, legends, linguistic idioms, solace from the bril wherein the materiality of the signifier (the use of proverbial wisdom and current jokes, to a more his professors, wit~ words as things, in Freud's terms of the discourse complete extent than in dreams. 28 (emphasis added) personal relationshi of the unconscious) not only ceases to be dis­ The Signifying Monkey tales, in this sense, can ever, his friend and guised but comes to bear prominently as the be thought of as versions of daydreams, the Day­ tion with a riddle. dominant mode of discourse. dream of the Black Other, chiastic fantasies of here: I do not cite Freud idly here. Jokes and Their reversal of power relationships. One of the tradi­ Relation to the Unconscious and The Interpreta­ "All right," she sai tional Signifying poems names this relationship tion of Dreams have informed my reading of Sig­ best, even if it's explicitly: nifyin(g), just as have Lacan's reading of Freud Chehaw Station, be, ways be a little man and Saussure, and Derrida's emphasis on the The Monkey laid up in a tree and he thought up a "A what?" "graphematic" aspect of even oral discourse. Just scheme, She nodded. "T as jokes often draw upon the sounds of words and thought he'd try one of his fantastic dreams. always be the little rather than their meanings, so do the poetry of (p. 167) and he' 11know the ,. the Signifying Monkey and his language of Sig­ To dream the fantastic is to dream the dream of standards of music nifyin(g). Directing, or redirecting, attention the Other. you set out to perfor ~'!l'IL~ 1/.1 from the semantic to the rhetorical level defines Because these tales originated in slavery, we This little man, who 1,(.1>1'\~ the relationship, as we have seen, between signi­ do not have to seek very far to find typological way places as the Ch, . ~A(,(,{;1.·• fication and Signification. Il is this redirection analogues for these three terms of an allegorical course, a trickster fig that allows us to bring the repressed meanings of structure. Since to do so, inescapably, is to be re­ expect him, at a cros a word, the meanings that lie in wait on the para­ ductive, is to redirect attention away from the ticular little man e• digmatic axis of discourse, to bear upon the syn­ materiality of the signifier toward its supposed whose earthly dwellir tagmatic axis. This redirection toward sound, signified, I shall avoid repeating what other indicated in the fc without regard for the scrambling of sense that it scholars have done at such great length. For the Yoruba poem: entails, defines what is meant by the materiality importance of the Signifying Monkey poems is of the signifier, its thingness. As Freud explained, their repeated stress on the sheer materiality, and Latopa, Esu little ma there is nothing necessarily infantile about this, the willful play, of the signifier itself .... Latopa, Esu little ma although infants, of course, engage in such para­ Short, diminutive ma digmatic substitutions gleefully : Similarly, there Tiny, little man. is absolutely nothing infantile about Signifyin(g) III He uses both hands to either, except perhaps that we learn to use lan­ Sig11ifyi11(g):Definitions We call him master guage in this way in adolescence, despite the He who sacrifices wi strangely compulsive repetition of this adjective Signifyin(g) is so fundamentally black, that is, it Will find his sacrifice as a pejorative in the writings of linguists about is such a familiar rhetorical practice, that one en­ Manumitter, I call on Signifyin(g). counters the great resistance of inertia when writ­ Man by the roadside directly If Freud's analysis of the joke mechanism is a ing about it. By inertia I am thinking here of the useful analogue for Signifyin(g), then so too is difficulty of rendering the implications of a con­ cept that is so shared in one's culture as to have his analysis of the "dream-work," which by now 29 1-lousion A. Baker's is so familiar as not to warrant summary here. long ago become second nature to its users. The gcsted the alternative rcndi The Signifying Monkey poems can usefully be Baker. Blues, Ideology and thought of as quasi-dreams, or daydreams, dream 1wc11larThem)•, pp. 12- 13, '"Sigmund Freud, The hiterpretation of Dreams, trans. 10 Ralph Ellison, "The L narratives in which monkeys, lions, and ele- James Strachcy ( 1953; New York: Avon, 1965). p. 386. [Au.J American Scholar (winter 1,

MODERN AND POSTMODERN RHETORIC GATES I TH 1gs in direct speech. critic is bound to encounter Ralph Ellison's Master, and son of the owner of Jdere ot speak, except in "Little Man at Chehaw Station." 2 9 Who came from Jdere to found the town, discourse. As Freud Who is he? Ellison tells a marvelous story The son of the energetic small fellow of Dreams, about himself when he was a student of music at The little man who cleans the gates for the mas­ Tuskegee. Having failed at an attempt to com­ querade. Elderly spirit deity!J 1 uliar to dreams, but is pensate for a lack of practice with a virtuoso 1s ideation, in particular to be found in folklore, style of performance, Ellison had sought some The "little man" or woman is bound to surface ends, linguistic idioms, solace from the brilliant Hazel Harrison, one of when the literary critic begins to translate a sig­ ,rrent jokes, to a more his professors, with whom he had a sustained nal concept from the black vernacular milieu into 8 1ms.2 (emphasis added) personal relationship. Instead of solace, how­ the discourse of critical theory. While critics ever, his friend and mentor greeted his solicita­ write for writers and other critics, they also les, in this sense, can tion with a riddle . The exchange is relevant write-in this instance - for "little" men and f daydreams, the Day- here: women who dwell at the crossroads. chiastic fantasies of The critic of comparative black literature also "All right," she said, "you must always play your hips. One of the tradi­ dwells at a sort of crossroads, a discursive cross­ ames this relationship best, even if it's only in the waiting room at Chehaw Station, because in this country there'll al­ roads at which two languages meet, be these lan­ ways be a little man hidden behind the stove." guages Yoruba and English, or Spanish and tree and he thought up a "A what?" French, or even (perhaps especially) the black She nodded. "That's right," she said, "there'll vernacular and standard English. This sort of of his fantastic dreams. always be the little man whom you don't expect, critic would seem, like Esu, to live at the inter­ and he'll know the music, and the tradition, and the section of these crossroads. When writing a book standards of musiciansliip required for whatever to dream the dream of that lifts one concept from two discrete discur­ you set out to perform!"J" sive realms, only to compare them, the role of the ginated in slavery, we This little man, who appears at such out-of-the­ critic as the trickster of discourse seems obvious. far to find typological way places as the Chehaw Railroad Station, is, of The concept of Signification is such an instance. terms of an allegorical course, a trickster figure surfacing when we least What Ellison's professor did to him was a nescapably, is to be re­ expect him, at a crossroads of destiny . This par­ salient example of Signifyin(g). His professor, tention away from the ticular little man evokes Esu, the little man subtle and loving as she must have been, Signi­ !r toward its supposed whose earthly dwelling place is the crossroads, as fied upon her young protege so that he would repeating what other indicated in the following excerpts from a never allow himself to succumb to the lure of the ;h great length. For the Yoruba poem: temptation to skip the necessary gates placed in ying Monkey poems is the apprentice's path, gates which must somehow Latopa, Esu little man be opened or hurdled. Ellison was Signified upon ,e sheer materiality, and Latopa, Esu little man ,nifier itself .... because his dilemma was resolved through an al­ Short, diminutive man legory. This mode of rhetorical indirection, as Tiny, little man. Roger D. Abrahams and Claudia Mitchell­ He uses both hands to sniffle! Kernan have defined it, is a signal aspect of Sig­ We call him master nifyin(g). Despite its highly motivated, often He who sacrifices without inviting the manumitter phallocentric orientation, then, Signifyin(g), it is nentally black, that is, it Will find his sacrifice unacceptable clear, can mean any number of modes of rhetori­ Manumitter, I call on you. ::al practice, that one en­ cal play. nee of inertia when writ- Man by the roadside, bear our sacrifice to heaven directly An article printed in the New York Times on am thinking here of the April r7, 1983, entitled "Test on Street Language 1e implications of a con­ Says It's Not Grant in That Tomb," affords an one's culture as to have 29 1-louston A. Baker's reading of Ellison's essay sug­ i nature to its users. The gested the alternative reading that ! am giving it here. See Baker, Blues, Ideology a11dAji-o-American Literawre: A Ver­ 3 '0riki Esu, quoted by Ayodele Ogundipe, E.rn Elegbara. nacular Tlteo1)•,pp. 12-13, 64, 66. (Au.] the Yoruba God of Chance and Uncertainty: A Study in terpretatio11 of Dreams, trans. 30 Ralph Ellison, "The Little Man at Chehaw Station," The Yoruba Mythology, 2 vols. Ph.D. dissertation, Indiana Uni­ ork: Avon, 1965), p. 386. [Au.] American Scholar (winter 1977-78): 26. [Au.] versity, 1978, Vol.!!, pp. 12, 77. [Au.]

GATES I THE SIGNIFYING MONKEY AND THE LANGUAGE OF S!GNIFYIN(G) as in the other .. opportunity to expand somewhat on received defi­ self, then, is an extended Signifyin(g) sign of rep­ words which to 1 nitions of Signifyin(g). The test referred to in the etition and reversal, a chiastic slaying at the which, neverthel, story's title is one created by "some high school crossroads where two discursive units meet. As selves.JS students" in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, "who the Times article observes, "The students' point Meaning, Douglas were dismayed at [McGraw-Hill's] own standard­ was that they did not look at things in the same sound as by sens, ized tests." The examination, a multiple-choice in­ way as the people at McGraw-Hill. The results tions determined 1 telligence test, is entitled "The In Your Face Test of of the 'In Your Face' test clearly show that over, the neologisr No Certain Skills." It was created shortly after the McGraw-Hill and the ninth-graders at Hill High ated, "unmeaning students told their teacher, Rob Slater, that "they do not speak the same language."33 speakers, were "fu had trouble relating to a standardized achievement The language of blackness encodes and names test." As Slater explains, "They were taking one of its sense of independence through a rhetorical who were Jiterall) guage, just as die these tests one day and one of my students looked process that we might think of as the Signifyin(g) other slave narrate up and asked what the reason for the test was, be­ black difference. As early as the eighteenth cen­ ample of both sorts cause all it did to him was make him feel academi­ tury, commentators recorded black usages of Sig­ ular and standard cally inferior. After the test was over," Slater con­ nification. Nicholas Cresswell, writing between his discussion by cludes, "I asked them if they wanted to get even. 1774 and 1777, made the following entry in his slaves "would sing They took it from there."3 2 journal: "In [the blacks'] songs they generally re­ the most rapturous The students devised a test to measure vocab­ late the usage they have received from their Mas­ sentiment in the me ulary mastery in street language. They sent ten ters or Mistresses in a very satirical stile [sic] and positions which Jee copies to McGraw-Hill, where eight employees manner."34 Cresswell strikes at the heart of the nonslaves. As Dou~ took the test, only to score C's and D's. One of matter when he makes explicit "the usage" that the test's questions, to which the Times's article the black slaves "have received," for black people I have often been l title refers, is an example of the most familiar frequently "enounce" their sense of difference by the north, to find mode of Signifyin(g). The question reads, "Who repetition with a signal difference. The eigh­ singing, among sla is buried in Grant's tomb?" The proper response teenth century abounds in comments from philo­ ment and happines to this question is. "Your mama." It is difficult to sophers such as David Hume in "Of National a greater mistake.J• explain why this response is so funny and why it Characters" and statesmen such as Thomas This great mistake , is an example of Signifyin(g). "Your mama" Jefferson in Notes on the State of Virginia, who cause the blacks we1 jokes abound in black discourse, all the way from argued that blacks were "imitative" rather than to reverse their app. the field and the street to Langston Hughes's "creative." All along, however, black people encoding for self-~ highly accomplished volume of poems, Ask Your were merely Signifyin(g) through a motivated people under Cress, Mama, from which an epigraph to this chapter repetition. those Douglass kI has been taken. The presence in the students' test Frederick Douglass, a masterful Signifier him­ leading to the misn of this centuries-old black joke represents an in­ self, discusses this use of troping in his Narrative lass rails. As Doug!, scription of the test's Signifyin(g) nature, be­ of I 845. Douglass, writing some seventy years biography, however cause it serves as an echo of the significance of after Cresswell, was an even more acute ob­ rectly, as in the follo the test's title, "The In Your Face Test of No server. Writing about the genesis of the lyrics of Certain Skills." The title Signifies in two ways. black song, Douglass noted the crucial role of the We raise de wheat, First, "In your face" is a standard Signifyin(g) re­ signifier in the determination of meaning: Dey gib us de corn; We bake de bread, tort, meaning that by which you intend to confine [The slaves] would compose and sing as they went Dey gib us de cruss : (or define) me I shall return to you squarely in along, consulting neither time nor tune. The We sif de meal, your face. And second, the title is a parody (repe­ thought that came up, came out - if not in the Dey gib us de huss; tition motivated to underscore irony) of test titles word, in the smmd;-and as frequently in the one We peal de meat, such as "The Iowa Test of Basic Skills," which my generation was made to suffer through from "Frederick Douglass, the fourth grade through high school. The test it- 33Langston Hughes. Ask Your Mama: 12 Moods f or Jau. Douglass, An American (New York: Knopf, 1971), p. 8; "Test on Street Language," New York: Doubleday, 1g p. 30. (Emphasis added.) [Au.] (Au.] 2 3 "Test on Street Language Says It's Not Grant in That 34 Joumal of Nicholas Cresswell, 1774 ·I 777, ed. L. Mac­ 36 1bid., pp. 13, 15. [Au Tomb," New York Times, April 17, 1983, p. 30. [Au.] Veigh (New York: Dial Pres~. 1924). pp. 17- 19. [Au.]

GATES J T l MODERN AND POSTMODERN RHETORIC as in the other .. . they would sing, as a chorus, to Dey gib us de skin ignifyin(g) sign of rep­ words which to many ~eem unmeaning jargo11, but And dat's de way hiastic slaying at the which, nevertheless, were fit/I of 111ea11ingto them­ Dey takes us in.37 cursive units meet. As sel ves.1~ ,, "The students' point Meaning, Douglass writes, was as determined by As William Faux wrote in 1819, slaves com­ k at things in the same sound as by sense, whereby phonetic substitu­ monly used lyrics to Signify upon their oppres­ Graw-Hill. The results tions determined the shape of the songs. More­ sors: "Their verse was their own, and abounding test clearly show that over, the neologisms that Douglass's friends cre­ either in praise or satire intended for kind and un­ 8 th-graders at Hill High ated, "unmeaning jargon" to standard English kind masters. "3 guage."33 speakers, were "full of meaning" to the blacks, I cite these early references to motivated lan­ iess encodes and names who were literally defining themselves in lan­ guage use only to emphasize that black people :e through a rhetorical guage, just as did Douglass and hundreds of have been Signifyin(g), without explicitly calling 1k of as the Signifyin(g) other slave narrators. This, of course, is an ex­ it that, since slavery, as we might expect. One ex­ , as the eighteenth cen­ ample of both sorts of signification, black vernac­ slave, Wash Wilson, in an interview he granted a led black usages of Sig­ ular and standard English. Douglass continues member of the Federal Writers Project in the swell, writing between his discussion by maintaining that his fellow 1930s, implies that "sig'fication" was an especial : following entry in his slaves "would sing the most pathetic sentiment in term and practice for the slaves: songs they generally re­ the most rapturous tone, and the most rapturous When de niggers go round singin' "Steal Away to ~ceived from their Mas­ sentiment in the most pathetic tone," a set of op­ Jesus," dat mean dere gwine be a 'ligious meetin' y satirical stile [sic] and positions which led to the song's misreading by dat night. Dat de sig 'fication of a meetin'. De mas­ ikes at the heart of the nonslaves. As Douglass admits, ters 'fore and after freedom didn't like dem 'ligious xplicit "the usage" that meetin's, so us natcherly slips off at night, down in :eived," for black people I have often been utterly astonished, since I came to de bottoms or somewheres. Sometimes us sing and ir sense of difference by the north, to find persons who could speak of the pray all night.39 difference . The eigh- singing, among slaves, as evidence of their content­ ment and happiness. It is impossible to conceive of This usage, while close to its standard English 1 comments from philo ­ a greater mistake .36 shadow, recalls the sense of Signification as an Hume in "Of National indirect form of communication, as a troping. nen such as Thomas This great mistake of interpretation occurred be­ The report of Wilson's usage overlaps with Zora , State of Virginia, who cause the blacks were using antiphonal structures Neale Hurston's definition of signify in Mules "imitative" rather than to reverse their apparent meaning, as a mode of and Men, published in 1935. These two usages however, black people encoding for self-preservation. Whereas black of the words are among the earliest recorded; ~) through a motivated people under Cresswell's gaze Signified openly, Wilson's usage argues for an origin of "sig'fica­ those Douglass knew Signified protectively, tion" in slavery, as does the allegorical structure masterful Signifier him­ leading to the misreading against which Doug­ of the Monkey poems and the nature of their fig­ . troping in his Narrative lass rails. As Douglass writes in his second auto­ uration, both of which suggest a nineteenth­ ing some seventy years biography, however, blacks often Signified di­ century provenance. I shall defer a fuller exam­ 1 even more acute ob­ rectly, as in the following lyrics: ination of Hurston's sense of Signification to ! genesis of the lyrics of We raise de wheat, Chapter 5. I wish to explore, in the remainder of .ed the crucial role of the Dey gib us de corn; this section of this chapter, received definitions 1tion of meaning: We bake de bread, of Signifyin(g) before elaborating my own use of ,pose and sing as they went Dey gib us de cruss; this practice in literary criticism. her time nor tune. The We sif de meal, Dey gib us de huss; came out - if not in the 37Frederick Douglass, My Bondage and My Freedom We peal de meat, nd as frequently in the one (New York: Orton & Mulligan, 1855), p. 253. [Au.] 38William Faux, Memorable Days in America (London: 1sFrederick Douglas;, Narrative of the Life of Frederick W. Simpkins and R. Marshall, 1823), pp. 77-78. See also our Mama: 12 Moods for Jazz Douglass, A11America11 Slave, Writte11b y Him.1elf (1845; John Dixon Long, Pictures of Slavery in Church and State 8; "Test on Street Language," New York: Doubleday, 1963), pp. 13- 14. (Emphasis added.) (Philadelphia: the author, 1857), pp. 197-98. [Au.] [Au.] 39George P. Rawick, ed., The America11Slave: A Com­ ,swell, 1774- 1777, ed. L. Mac- 36lbid., pp. I 3, 15. [Au.J posite A111obiography,Vol. 5, Part 4, p. 198. [Au.] 1924), pp. 17- 19. [Au.]

GATES/ THE SIGN!fYING MONKEY AND THE LANGUAGE OF SIGNIFYIN(G) We can gain some appreciation of the com­ nary region of the mind in which is centered subtle. Signifyin(g) fo1 plexity of Signifyin(g) by examining various def­ one's vulnerable points, eccentricities, and sensi­ bal horseplay," design initions of the concept. Dictionary definitions tivities." "Screaming on" also means "embarrass­ think faster and be me give us an idea of how unstable the concepts are ing someone publicly." "Playing the dozens" row, then, is able to pt that can be signified by Signifyin(g). Clarence Roberts defines as "making derogatory, often ob­ black verbal horsepla Major's Dictio11a1)•of Afro-American Slang says scene, remarks about another's mother, parents, cance of the rhetorica that "Signify" is the "same as the Dirty Dozens; or family members. ('Yo' mama' is an expres­ any fixed form of Signi to censure in 12 or fewer statements," and ad­ sion used as retribution for previous vitupera­ insult rituals called the vises the reader to see "Cap on." The "Dirty tion.)" Roberts, in other words, consistently was one of the first c, Dozens" he defines as "a very elaborate game groups Signifyin(g) under those tropes of con­ that Signifyin(g) as a traditionally played by black boys, in which the tention wherein aggression and conflict predomi­ could apply equally to participants insult each other's relatives, espe­ nate. Despite this refusal to transcend surface texts. As he summarize cially their mothers. The object of the game is to meaning to define its latent meaning, Roberts's test emotional strength. The first person to give decision to group joning, playing the dozens, Through all these frie in to anger is the loser." To "Cap on" is "to cen­ screaming on, and sounding as synonyms of Sig­ you could see the Nei ent and merit, his de sure," in the manner of the dozens. For Major, nifyin(g) is exemplary for suggesting that Signi­ ardor for the best ma then, to Signify is to be engaged in a highly moti­ fyin(g) is the trope of tropes in the black vernacu­ around here with no ji vated rhetorical act, aimed at figurative, ritual in­ lar. ice; if you think you'v sult.40 Mezz Mezzrow, the well-known jazz musi­ time talking yourself u Hermese E. Roberts, writing in The Third cian, defines "Signify" in the glossary of his au­ you have the stuff thf Ear: A Black Glossa,y, combines Major's em­ tobiography, Really the Blues, as "hint, to put on frankly, with solid a, phasis on insult and Roger D. Abrahams's em­ an act, boast, make a gesture." In the body of his true in the field of mt phasis on implication. Roberts defines "signify­ text, however, Mezzrow implicitly defines signi­ portance to the Negro ing," or "siggin(g)," as "language behavior that fying as the homonymic pun. In an episode in ally shines, where hi makes direct or indirect implications of baiting or which some black people in a bar let some white come through in full fl their musical talents i boasting, the essence of which is making fun of gangsters know that their identity as murderers is cutting contests, and ti another's appearance, relatives, or situation." For common knowledge, the blacks, apparently de­ wins, because the Ne! Roberts, then, a signal aspect of Signifyin(g) is scribing a musical performance, use homonyms when it comes to musi "making fun of" as a mode of "baiting" or such as "killer" and "murder" to Signify upon the second-rate. These cut "boasting." It is curious to me how very many criminals. As Mezzrow describes the event: cal version of the ver definitions of Signifyin(g) share this stress on see which performer ci He could have been talking about the music, but what we might think of as the black person's musically. And by ti everybody in the room knew different. Right quick symbolic aggression, enacted in language, rather helped to produce som another cat spoke up real loud, saying, "That's cians.43 than upon the play of language itself, the murder man, really murder," and his eyes were sig­ metarhetorical structures in evidence. "Making nifying too. All these gunmen began to shift from Signifyin(g) for Mezzrc fun of" is a long way from "making fun," and it foot to foot, fixing their ties and scratching their said; it is rather a form I is the latter that defines Signifyin(g).4' noses, faces red and Adam's apples jumping. Be­ on-the-streets exercise Roberts lists as subcategories of Signifyin(g) fore we knew it they had gulped their drinks and which the play is the the following figures: 'joning, playing the beat it out the door, saying good-bye to the bar­ what is said, but how. dozens, screaming on, sounding." Under "joning" tender with their hats way down over their eye­ fyin(g) that do not dis and "sounding," Roberts asks the reader to "See brows and their eyes gunning the ground. That's what Harlem thought of the white underworld. 42 and matter succumb, J signifying." "Screaming on" is defined as "telling misreading. someone off; i.e., to get on someone's case," Signifying here connotes the play of language ­ Malachi Andrews "case" meaning among other things "an imagi- both spoken and body language-drawn upon to Black Language, acute name something figuratively. aspects of Signifyin(g): 4 °Clarence Major, Dictionary of Afro-American Slang Mezzrow's definitions are both perceptive and vents a myth to comme1 (New York: International Publishers, 1970), pp. 104, 46, 34. [Au.] that in the Monkey tale: 4 'Hermese E. Roberts, The Third Ear: A Black Glossary, 4 2 Mezz Mezzrow and Bernard Wolfe, Really the Blues entry on signifying. [Au.] (New York: Random Hou~e. 1946), pp. 378,230. [Au.] 41 lbid., pp. 230-31. [Au.]

1566 MODERN AND POSTMODERN RHETORIC GATES I THE ind in which is centered subtle. Signifyin(g) for him is one mode of "ver­ prevails over binary structure: "To Signify," they eccentricities, and sensi­ bal horseplay," designed to train the subject "to write, ; .. also means "embarrass­ think faster and be more nimble-witted." Mezz­ is to tease, to provoke into anger. The signifier cre­ ." "Playing the dozens" row, then, is able to penetrate the content of this ates a myth about someone and tells him a third king derogatory, often ob­ black verbal horseplay to analyze the signifi­ person started it. The signified person is aroused mother's mother, parents, cance of the rhetorical structures that transcend and seeks that person .... Signifying is completely Yo' mama' is an expres­ any fixed form of Signifyin(g), such as the verbal successful when the signifier convinces the chump m for previous vitupera­ insult rituals called the dozens. Indeed, Mezzrow he is working on, that what he is saying is true and ther words, consistently was one of the first commentators to recognize that it gets him angered to wrath.44 1der those tropes of con­ that Signifyin(g) as a structure of performance Andrews and Owens's definition sticks fairly ;ion and conflict predomi- could apply equally to verbal texts and musical closely to the action of the Signifying Monkey 1sal to transcend surface texts. As he summarizes: tales. While Signifyin(g) can, and indeed does, latent meaning, Roberts's Through all these friendly but lively competitions occur between two people, the three terms of the ing, playing the dozens, you could see the Negro's appreciation of real tal­ traditional mythic structure serve to dispel a 1ding as synonyms of Sig­ ent and merit, his demand for fair play, and his simple relation of identity between the allegori­ for suggesting that Signi­ ardor for the best man wins and don't you come cal figures of the poem and the binary political opes in the black vernacu- around here with no jive. Boasting doesn't cut any relationship, outside the text, between black and ice; if you think you've got something, don't waste white. The third term both critiques the idea of e well-known jazz musi- time talking yourself up, go to work and prove it. If the binary opposition and demonstrates that Sig­ in the glossary of his au­ you have the stuff the other cats will recognize it nifyin(g) itself encompasses a larger domain than , Blues, as "hint, to put on frankly, with solid admiration. That's especially merely the political. It is a game of language, in­ esture." In the body of his true in the field of music, which has a double im­ dependent of reaction to white racism or even to w implicitly defines signi- portance to the Negro because that's where he re­ ally shines, where his inventiveness and artistry collective black wish-fulfillment vis-a-vis white 1ic pun. In an episode in come through in full force. The colored boys prove racism. I cannot stress too much the import of the J!e in a bar Jet some white their musical talents in those competitions called presence of this third term, or in Hermese E. !ir identity as murderers is cutting contests, and there it really is the best man Roberts's extraordinarily suggestive phrase, he blacks, apparently de­ wins, because the Negro audience is extra critical "The Third Ear," an intraracial ear through which formance, use homonyms when it comes to music and won't accept anything encoded vernacular language is deciphered. urder" to Signify upon the second-rate. These cutting contests are just a musi­ J. L. Dillard, who along with William Labov · describes the event: cal version of the verbal duels. They're staged to see which performer can snag and cap all the others and William A. Stewart is one of the most sensi­ talking about the music, but musically. And by the way, these battles have tive observers of black language use, defines Sig­ 1 knew different. Right quick helped to produce some of the race's greatest musi­ nifyin(g) as "a familiar discourse device from the 1 real loud, saying, "That's cians.43 inner city, [which] tends to mean 'communicat­ 1rder," and his eyes were sig ­ ing (often an obscene or ridiculing message) by Signifyin(g) for Mezzrow is not what is played or gunmen began to shift from indirection. "'45 Dillard here is elaborating some­ said; it is rather a form of rhetorical training, an 1eir ties and scratching their what upon Zora Neale Hurston's gloss printed in Adam's apples jumping. Be- on-the-streets exercise in the use of troping, in Mules and Men, where she writes that to signify had gulped their drinks and which the play is the thing-not specifically is to "show off."46 This definition seems to be an saying good-bye to the bar­ what is said, but how. All definitions of Signi­ anomalous one, unless we supply Hurston's , way down over their eye- fyin(g) that do not distinguish between manner missing, or implied, terms: to show off with gunning the ground. That's and matter succumb, like the Lion, to serious of the white underworld. 42 misreading. ••Malachi Andrews and Paul T. Owens, Black Language .es the play of language­ Malachi Andrews and Paul T. Owens, in (West Los Angeles: Seymour-Smith, 1973), p. 95. (Emphasis language-drawn upon to Black Language, acutely recognize two crucial added.) See also their entry on "Wolf," p. 106. [Au.] tively. aspects of Signifyin(g): first, that the signifier in­ American Dialect Society, No. 40 (University, lernard Wolfe, Really the Blues Ala.: University of Alabama Press, 1963), pp. 1-12 . I analyze 1946), pp. 378, 230. [Au.] •llbid., pp. 230-31. [Au.J Hurston's uses of Signifyin(g) in Chapter 5. [Au.]

GATES I THE SIGNIFYING MONKEY AND THE LANGUAGE OF SIGNIFYIN(G) language use. Dillard, however, is more con­ cause so many black tropes are subsumed within l fucked your mama cerned with the dozens than he is with Signi­ it. Signifyin(g) does not, on the other hand, mean Till she went blind. fyin(g). In an especially perceptive chapter en­ "To pretend to have knowledge; to pretend to be Her breath smells ba titled "Discourse Distribution and Semantic hip, esp. when such pretentions cause one to trifle But she sure can grir Difference in Homophonous Items," Dillard ig­ with an important matter," as Wentworth and l fucked your mama 1 nores the homophone signify but suggests that Flexner would have it.s Indeed, this definition For a solid hour. so-called inner-city verbal rituals, such as the sounds like a classic black Signification, in which Baby came out dozens, could well be contemporary revisions of a black informant, as it were, Signified upon ei­ Screaming, Black Pc "the 'lies' told by Florida Blacks studied by ther Wentworth or Flexner, or lexicographers in Hurston and the Anansi stories of the southern general who "pretend to have knowledge." Elephant and the Bal Learning to screw. plantations," sans the "sex and scatology." "Put There are several other dictionary definitions Baby came out looki those elements back," Dillard continues, "and that I could cite here. My intention, however, Like Spiro Agnew. you have something like the rhymed 'toasts' of has been to suggest the various ways in which the inner city."47 The "toasts," as Bruce Jackson Signifyin(g) is (mis)understood, primarily be­ Brown argues that h has shown, include among their types the Signi­ cause few scholars have succeeded in defining it him "poetry," meanir fying Monkey tales.48 There can be little doubt as a full concept. Rather, they often have taken tradition, when he an that Signifyin(g) was found by linguists in the the part-one of its several tropes-as its poetry in the street: black urban neighborhoods in the fifties and six­ whole. The delightfully "dirty" lines of the study poetry," he mai ties because black people from the South mi­ dozens seem to have generated far more interest to study mine. We pl grated there and passed the tradition along to from scholars than has Signifyin(g), and per­ eludes, "like white fo subsequent generations. haps far more heat than light. The dozens are an call me Rap," he writ We can see the extremes of dictionary and especially compelling subset of Signifyin(g), cally, "'cause I coulc glossary definitions of Signify in two final ex­ and its name quite probably derives from an vernacular with great amples, one taken from The Psychology of Black eighteenth-century meaning of the verb dozen, from his poetry print< Language, by Jim Haskins and Hugh F. Butts, "to stun, stupefy, daze," in the black sense, tobiography, most and the other from the Dictionary of American through language.s 2 Let us examine more sub­ name.s3 Slang, compiled by Harold Wentworth and Stuart stantive definitions of Signifyin(g) by H. Rap Brown's definition Berg Flexner. Haskins and Butts, in a glossary Brown, Roger D. Abrahams, Thomas Kochman, as they are telling. t appended to their text, define "to signify" as "To Claudia Mitchell-Kernan, Geneva Smitherman, Mitchell-Kernan, that berate, degrade."49 In their text, however, they and Ralph Ellison .... play the dozens and define "signifying" as "a more humane form of H. Rap Brown earned his byname because he Dozens players," t verbal bantering" than the dozens, admitting, was a master of black vernacular rhetorical Whereas the dozens ~ however, that Signifyin(g) "has many meanings," games and their attendant well-defined rhetorical game because what ) ""'"'C-~ stroy somebody else ,;~ including meanings that contradict their own strategies. Brown's understanding of Signi­ ~" glossary listing: "It is, again, the clever and hu­ fyin(g) is unsurpassed by that of any scholar. In was "more humane": ~\f\.lJ morous use of words, but it can be used for many the second chapter of his autobiography, Die on somebody's mot ·\-wi l\ purposes- 'putting down' another person, mak­ Nigger Die!, Brown represents the scenes of in­ them." Brown's accm ing another person feel better, or simply express­ struction by which he received his byname. "I fyin(g) is especially a1 ~~P..11"­ ing one's feelings."so Haskins and Butts's longer learned to talk in the street," he writes, "not from A session would star1 ,U')'N\,1,~~ll/v definition seems to contradict their glossary list­ reading about Dick and Jane going to the zoo and saying, "Man, before ing- unless we recall that Signifyin(g) can mean all that simple shit." Rather, Brown continues, li-(M.11111 you'd rather run rabb all of these meanings, and more, precisely be- "we exercised our minds," not by studying arith­ bark at the moon." Tl 0(,¥\\?1~ metic but "by playing the Dozens": to me, I'd tell him: kl\~.\~:-~ 47 Dillard, lexico11of Black E11glish,p. 134. [Au .] Man, you must don't 48 See Jackson, Get Your Ass i11 the Water, esp. pp. I'm sweet peeler jeet, 161-80 . [Au.] s•Harold Wentworth and Stuart Berg Flexner, comp. and < 49Jim Haskins and Hugh F. Butts, The Psychology of ed., Dictio11aryof America11Sla11g, Second Supplemental The baby maker the Black LLmguage(New York: Barnes & Noble. 1973), p. 86. Edition (New York: Thomas Y. Crowell, 1975), p. 477, [Au.] 2 [Au.) s Peter Tamary , quoted in Robert S. Gold, Jazz Talk 5JH. Rap Brown, Die N 5°lbid., p. 51. [Au .] (New York: Bobbs-Merrill, 1975), p. 76. [Au.] 1969), pp. 25- 26. [Au.)

1568 MODERN AND POSTMODERN RHETORIC GATES I Tl tropes are subsumed within I fucked your mama The deerslayer the buckbinder the women finder not, on the other hand, mean Till she went blind. Known from the Gold Coast to the rocky shores of knowledge; to pretend to be Her breath smells bad, Maine Jretentions cause one to trifle But she sure can grind. Rap is my name and love is my game. matter," as Wentworth and I'm the bed tucker the cock plucker the mother­ I fucked your mama fucker it.S' Indeed, this definition For a solid hour. The milkshaker the record breaker the population black Signification, in which Baby came out maker s it were, Signified upon ei­ Screaming, Black Power. The gun-slinger the baby bringer ~lexner, or lexicographers in Elephant and the Baboon The hum-dinger the pussy ringer j to have knowledge." Learning to screw. The man with the terrible middle finger. other dictionary definitions Baby came out looking The hard hitter the bullshitter the poly-nussy •l ,re. My intention, however, Like Spiro Agnew. getter the various ways in which The beast from the East the Judge the sludge ,)understood, primarily be- Brown argues that his teachers sought to teach The women's pet the men's fret and the punks' pin- c. 1ave succeeded in defining it him "poetry," meaning poems from the Western up boy They call me Rap the dicker the ass kicker ather, they often have taken tradition, when he and his fellows were making poetry in the streets. "If anybody needed to The cherry picker the city slicker the titty licker its several tropes-as its And I ain't giving up nothing but bubble gum and tfully "dirty" lines of the study poetry," he maintains, "my teacher needed to study mine. We played the Dozens," he con­ hard times and I'm fresh out of bubble gum. ! generated far more interest I'm giving up wooden nickels 'cause I know they has Signifyin(g), and per­ cludes, "like white folks play Scrabble ." "[They] won't spend han light. The dozens are an call me Rap," he writes humorously if tautologi­ And I got a pocketful of splinter change. ng subset of Signifyin(g), cally, '"cause I could rap." To rap is to use the I'm a member of the bathtub club: I'm seeing a probably derives from an vernacular with great dexterity. Brown, judging whole lot of ass but I ain't taking no shit. meaning of the verb dozen, from his poetry printed in this chapter of his au­ I'm the man who walked the water and tied the daze," in the black sense, tobiography, most certainly earned his by­ whale's tail in a knot Let us examine more sub- name.53 Taught the little fishes how to swim Brown's definitions and examples are as witty Crossed the burning sands and shook the devil's of Signifyin(g) by H. Rap hand Jrahams, Thomas Kochman, as they are telling. He insists, as does Claudia Mitchell-Kernan, that both men and women can Rode round the world on the back of a snail carry­ ernan, Geneva Smitherman, ing a sack saying AIR MAIL. play the dozens and Signify: "Some of the best Walked 49 miles of barbwire and used a Cobra 1med his byname because he Dozens players," he writes, "were girls." snake for a necktie black vernacular rhetorical Whereas the dozens were an unrelentingly "mean And got a brand new house on the roadside made ndant well-defined rhetorical game because what you try to do is totally de­ from a cracker's hide, ; understanding of Signi­ stroy somebody else with words," Signifyin(g) Got a brand new chimney setting on top made from :!d by that of any scholar. In was "more humane": "Instead of coming down the cracker's skull Took a hammer and nail and built the world and of his autobiography, Die on somebody's mother, you come down on calls it "THE BUCKET OF BLOOD ." represents the scenes of in­ them." Brown's account of the process of Signi­ fyin(g) is especially accurate: Yes, I'm hemp the demp the women's pimp he received his byname. "I Women fight for my delight. : street," he writes, "not from A session would start maybe by a brother I'm a bad motherfucker. Rap the rip-saw the devil's md Jane going to the zoo and saying, "Man, before you mess with me brother'n law. " Rather, Brown continues, you'd rather run rabbits, eat shit and I roam the world I'm known to wander and this .45 tinds," not by studying arith­ bark at the moon." Then, if he was talking is where I get my thunder. g the Dozens": to me, I'd tell him: I'm the only man in the world who knows why white milk makes yellow butter. Man, you must don't know who I am. I know where the lights go when you cut the switch I'm sweet peeler jeeter the womb beater off. and Stuart Berg Flexner, comp. and The baby maker the cradle shaker 0 ica11Slang, Second Supplemental I might not be the best in the world, but I'm in the nas Y. Crowell, 1975), p. 477. [Au.] top two and my ,Jed in Robert S. Gold, Jazz Talk 53 H. Rap Brown, Die Nigger Die! (New York: Dial Press, brother's getting old. II, 1975), p. 76. [Au.] 1969), pp. 25-26. [Au.] And ain't nothing bad 'bout you but your breath.

GATES J THE SIGNIFYING MONKEY AND THE LANGUAGE OF SJGNIFYIN(G) e...l•t..u.l.,~'

Whereas the dozens were structured to make return to Brown's definition in the next section of 7. It can "also 1 one's subject feel bad, "Signifying allowed you a this chapter.56 hands and eyes choice-you could either make a cat feel good One of the most sustained attempts to define 8. It is "the Jang or bad. If you had just destroyed someone [ver­ Signifyin(g) is that of Roger D. Abrahams, a of words achi bally] or if they were just down already, signify­ well-known and highly regarded literary critic, through indirec ing could help them over."s4 linguist, and anthropologist. Abrahams's work in 9. The Monkey "i: Few scholars have recognized this level of this area is seminal, as defined here as a work therefore, is the complexity in Signifyin(g), which Brown argues against which subsequent works must, in some Finally, in his appen implicitly to be the rhetorical structures at work way, react. Between 1 962 and I 976, Abrahams in the discourse, rather than a specific content ut­ published several significant studies of Signi­ Terms and Expression nify" as "To imply, g ~,1>r tered. In addition to making "a cat feel good or fyin(g). To tract Abraharns's interpretative evo­ bad," Brown continues, "Signifying was also a lution helps us to understand the complexities of verbal or gestural mea tion."s9 way of expressing your own feelings," as in the this rhetorical strategy but is outside the scope of following example: this book.57 These definitions Abrahams in 1962 brilliantly defines Signi­ they emphasize "indir Man, I can't win for losing. fyin(g) in terms that he and other subsequent which we can read a If it wasn't for bad luck, I wouldn't have no luck at scholars shall repeat: Abrahams was the fi1 all. edge, to define Signi I been having buzzard luck The name "Signifying Monkey" shows [the hero] which he means a pai Can't kill nothing and won't nothing die to be a trickster, "signifying" being the language of Whereas he writes that I'm living on the welfare and things is stormy trickery, that set of words or gestures which arrives this technique, it is ev They borrowing their shit from the Salvation Army at "direction through indirection.'"sR But things bound to get better 'cause they can't get that he is technique, tt no worse Signifyin(g), Abrahams argues implicitly, is the the ultimate source for I'm just like the blind man, standing by a broken black person's use of figurative modes of lan­ of signification. If Wf window guage use. The word indirection hereafter recurs "writing" of spoken , I don't feel no pain. in the literature with great, if often unacknowl­ key's role as the sour, But it's your world edged, frequency. Abrahams expanded on this Signifyin(g) helps to n You the man I pay rent to theory of Signifyin(g) in two editions of Deep alency with his Pan-; If I had you hands I'd give 'way both my arms. Down in the Jungle (I964, 1970). It is useful to hara, the figure of writ Cause I could do without them Abrahams's work h I'm the man but you the main man list the signal aspects of his extensive definitions: I read the books you write Signifyin(g) is an adult I. Signifyin(g) "can mean any number of learn as adolescents, al You set the pace in the race I run things." Why, you always in good form learned the traditional 2. It is a black term and a black rhetorical You got more foam than Alka Seltzer .. .55 classically structured , device. ondary schools, trainir Signifyin(g), then, for Brown, is an especially ex­ 3. It can mean the "ability to talk with great turned to conternporar pressive mode of discourse that turns upon forms innuendo." see below, Claudia Mi of figuration rather than intent or content. Signi­ 4. It can mean "to carp, cajole, needle, and lie." pologist-linguist, sharei fyin(g), to cite Brown, is "what the white folks 5. It can mean "the propensity to talk around strates, first, how Sig call verbal skills. We learn how to throw them a subject, never quite corning to the point." scious rhetorical strate! words together." Signifying, "at its best," Brown 6. It can mean "making fun of a person or black people implicitly concludes, "can be heard when brothers are ex­ situation." its most profound and changing tales." It is this sense of storytelling, re­ mode of narration only peated and often shared (almost communal S6lbid. [Au.] to the Monkey tales, pe s1See Roger D. Abrahams, "The Changing Concept of the canonical stories, or on-the-spot recountings of the vanilla bean, or as current events) in which Signifyin(g) as a rhetori­ Negro Hero," in The Golden log, ed. Mody C. Boatright, Wilson M. Hudson, and Allen Maxwell (Dallas: Southern or, as Esu might add, a, cal strategy can most clearly be seen. We shall Methodist University Press, I 962), pp. I 19-34; Abrahams, Deep Down in the J1111gle,esp . "Introduction lo the Second s•Ibid., pp. 26-29. [Au.] Edition" (1970). [Au.] 59Abrahams, Deep Down ssibid., pp. 29-30. [Au.] S8Abrahams, "The Changing Concept," p. 125. [Au.] I 13-19, 142-47, 153-56, 264

1570 MODERN AND POSTMODERN RHETORIC GATES I THE ion in the next section of 7. It can "also denote speaking with the palm tree. Black adults teach their children this hands and eyes." exceptionally complex system of rhetoric, almost ained attempts to define 8. It is "the language of trickery, that set exactly like Richard A. Lanham describes a Roger D. Abrahams, a of words achieving Hamlet's 'direction generic portrait of the teaching of the rhetorical regarded literary critic, through indirection."' paideia to Western schoolchildren. The mastery iist. Abrahams' s work in 9. The Monkey "is a 'signifier,' and the Lion, of Signifyin(g) creates homo rhetoricus Afri­ defined here as a work therefore, is the signified." canus, allowing-through the manipulation of these classic black figures of Signification - the nt works must, in some Finally, in his appended glossary of "Unusual black person to move freely between two discur­ 62 and 1976, Abrahams Terms and Expressions," Abrahams defines "Sig­ sive universes. This is an excellent example of ficant studies of Signi­ nify" as "To imply, goad, beg, boast by indirect what I call linguistic masking, the verbal sign of tms' s interpretative evo­ verbal or gestural means. A language of implica­ :tand the complexities of the mask of blackness that demarcates the bound­ tion. "59 ary between the white linguistic realm and the ut is outside the scope of These definitions are exemplary insofar as black, two domains that exist side by side in a they emphasize "indirection" and "implication," homonymic relation signified by the very con­ >rilliantly defines Signi­ which we can read as synonyms of figurative. cept of Signification. To learn to manipulate lan­ e and other subsequent Abrahams was the first scholar, to my knowl­ guage in such a way as to facilitate the smooth edge, to define Signifyin(g) as a language, by navigation between these two realms has been which he means a particular rhetorical strategy. Monkey" shows [the hero] the challenge of black parenthood, and remains Whereas he writes that the Monkey is a master of ying" being the language of so even today. Teaching one's children the fine jg or gestures which arrives this technique, it is even more accurate to write art of Signifyin(g) is to teach them about this iirection. "58 that he is technique, the literariness of language, mode of linguistic circumnavigation, to teach the ultimate source for black people of the figures argues implicitly, is the them a second language that they can share with of signification. If we think of rhetoric as the 1gurative modes of 1an­ other black people.60 Black adolescents engaged "writing" of spoken discourse, then the Mon­ tirection hereafter recurs in the dozens and in Signifyin(g) rituals to learn key's role as the source and encoded keeper of eat, if often unacknowl­ the classic black figures of Signification. As -!u. Signifyin(g) helps to reveal his functional equiv­ hams expanded on this H. Rap Brown declares passionately, his true alency with his Pan-African cousin, Esu-Eleg­ ~ n two editions of Deep school was the street. Richard Lanham's wonder­ bara, the figure of writing in lfa. i-lh~ 64, 1970). It is useful to ful depiction of the student passing through the Abrahams's work helps us to understand that his extensive definitions: rhetorical paideia reads like a description of ver­ i:.h Signifyin(g) is an adult ritual, which black people nacular black language training: l)lt,.u. 1 mean any number of learn as adolescents, almost exactly like children learned the traditional figures of signification in Start your student young. Teach him a minute con­ a and a black rhetorical classically structured Western primary and sec­ centration on the word, how to write it, speak it, re­ ondary schools, training one hopes shall be re­ member it. ... From the beginning, stress behavior ability to talk with great turned to contemporary education. As we shall as performance, reading aloud, speaking with ges­ see below, Claudia Mitchell-Kernan, an anthro­ ture, a full range of histrionic adornment. ... De­ velop elaborate memory schemes to keep them -p,cajole, needle, and lie." pologist-linguist, shares an anecdote that demon­ readily at hand. Teach, as theory of personality, a propensity to talk around strates, first, how Signifyin(g) truly is a con­ Jite coming to the point." scious rhetorical strategy and, second, how adult king fun of a person or 6oRichard A. Lanham, The Motives of Eloquence: Liter­ black people implicitly instruct a mature child in ary Rhetoric in the Renaissance (New Haven: Yale Univer­ its most profound and subtle uses by an indirect sity Press, 1976), pp. 2-3. See also Abrahams, Deep Down in mode of narration only implicitly related in form the Jungle, p. 17; and Edith A. Folb, Rwmin' Down Some to the Monkey tales, perhaps as extract relates to Lines: The Language and Culture of Black Teenagers (Cam­ "The Changing Concept of the the vanilla bean, or as sand relates to the pearl, bridge: Harvard University Press, 1980), p. 90: "Young Log, ed. Mody C. Boatright, people growing up in the black community play endless ver­ en Maxwell (Dallas: Southern or, as Esu might add, as palm wine relates to the bal games with one another, much as their mainstream white 1962), pp. 119-34; Abrahams, counterparts play games of war, cops and robbers, or cow­ p. "Introduction to the Second boys and Indians. Like skilled musicians, children early on 59Abrahams, Deep Down in the Jungle, pp. 51- 53, 66-70, learn to refine their verbal skills, to develop their instrument ng Concept," p. 125. [Au.] I 13-19, 142-47, 153-56, 264. [Au.] so that it can play a variety of songs." [Au.]

GATES J THE SIGNIFYING MONKEY AND THE LANGUAGE OF SIGNIFYIN(G) 1571 corresponding set of accepted personality types, a Signifyin(g) standing as the linguistic sign of the as masking behavio1 taxonomy of impersonation .... Nourish an acute ultimate triumph of self-consciously formal lan­ ness of Signifyin(g) 1 sense of social situation ... . Stress, too, the need guage use. The black person's capacity to create for improvisation, ad-lib quickness, the coaxing of sessing the mastery this rich poetry and to derive from these rituals a calls "intergroup" Si chance. Hold always before the student rhetoric's complex attitude toward attempts at domination, practical purpose: to win, to persuade. But train for feet, if only because this purpose with continual verbal play, rehearsal which can be transcended in and through lan­ course most probabl for the sake of rehearsal. guage, is a sign of their originality, of their ex­ Still, Signifyin(g) is c Use the "case" method .... Practice this recre­ treme consciousness of the metaphysical. Abra­ bal masking or tropin ation always in an agnostic context. The aim is hams makes these matters clear. Abrahams's most scoring. Urge the student to go into the world and In Talking Black, published in 1976, Abra­ the literature on Signi observe its doings from this perspective. And urge ham's analysis of Signifyin(g) as an act of lan­ Signifyin(g) is prim: him to continue his rehearsal method all his life, guage is even more subtle than his earlier inter­ forever rehearsing a spontaneous real life . ... strategies, which ofte pretations. Abrahams repeats his insightful depending on which c Training in the word thus becomes a badge, as well definition that Signifyin(g) turns upon indirec­ as a diversion, of the leisure class. 61 As he concludes, "wit tion. Black women, he maintains, and "to a certain not only for a way of This reads very much like a black person's training extent children," utilize "more indirect methods cal strategy that may in Signifyin(g). Lanham's key words-among of signifying." His examples are relevant ones: ber of other designate which are "a taxonomy of impersonation," These range from the most obvious kinds of indi­ this statement that, fo "improvisation," "ad-lib quickness," "to win," rection, like using an unexpected pronoun in dis­ is the name for the fig "to persuade," "continual verbal play," "the 'case' course ("Didn't we come to shine, today?" or "Who the figure of the figu method," "the aim is scoring" -echo exactly the thinks his drawers don't stink?"), to the more subtle lowing terms as synm training of blacks to Signify. Even Lanham's con­ technique, of lauding or loud-talking in a different rived from several oth cept of a "leisure" class applies ironically here, sense from the one above. A person is loud-talking defining to be black since blacks tend in capitalist societies to occupy a when he says something of someone just loud the trope of Signifyi1 enough for that person to hear, but indirectly, so he disproportionate part of the "idle" unemployed, a spouting, muckty m1 cannot properly respond (Mitchell-Kernan) . An­ leisure-class with a difference. To Signify, then, is your gums, talking s,, to master the figures of black Signification. other technique of signifying through indirection is making reference to a person or group not present, on, playing, sou11di1 Few black adults can recite an entire Monkey in order to start trouble between someone present marking, shucking, J tale; black adults, on the other hand, can-and and the ones who are not. An example of this tech­ ging, mounting, cha do-Signify. The mastering of the Monkey nique is the famous toast, "The Signifying Mon­ rapping, bookooing, tales corresponds to this early part of Lanham's key. "62 sweet-talking, smart-t, account of Western rhetorical training. Words These examples are salient for two reasons: first, others that I have omit are looked at in the Monkey tales because the tribution to our unde1 test of this form of poeisis is to arrive at a pho­ because he has understood that adults use the modes of signification commonly, even if they cause it transcends the netic coincidence of similar parts of speech, as I guists, about whether 1 have shown above. The splendid example of cannot recite even one couplet from the Monkey tales, and, second, because he has realized that speech act a or b. W Signifyin(g) that I have cited in Ralph Ellison's veals, by listing its sy anecdote about Hazel Harrison, and the anec­ other tropes, such as loud-talking, are subtropes of Signifyin(g). His emphasis on the mature forms of can mean at least twe, dote of Claudia Mitchell-Kernan's that I shall call something Signi discuss below, conform to Lanham's apt de­ Signifyin(g)-that is, the indirect modes­ as more common among women and children few of the figures err scription of the mature capacity to look through Chart 3. He could h words for their full meaning. Learning the Mon­ does not agree with my observations. Indeed, I have found that black men and women use indi­ When black people sa key tales, then, is somewhat akin to attending Nigger's occupation," troping school, where one learns to "trope-a­ rection with each other to the same degree. Next, Abrahams states that Signifyin(g) can dope." 61 ibid., p. 33. [Au.] The Monkey is a hero of black myth, a sign of also be used "in recurrent black-white encounters 64 1bid., p. 51. [Au.] the triumph of wit and reason, his language of fiS(bid., pp. 49, 46, 53, ~ Abrahams, The Man-of-We 62 Roger D. Abrahams, Talking Black (Rawley, Mass. : 61 ma11ce and the E111erge11ct Lanham, The Motives of Eloquence, pp. 2-3. [Au.] Newbury House, 1976), p. 19. [Au .] Johns Hopkins University P

MODERN AND POSTMODERN RHETORIC 1572 GATES I TH the linguistic sign of the as masking behavior." Since the full effective­ they mean, since mastering all of these figures of consciously formal Ian­ ness of Signifyin(g) turns upon all speakers pos­ Signification is a lifetime's work! ·son' s capacity to create sessing the mastery of reading, what Abrahams When a black person speaks of Signifyin(g), rive from these rituals a calls "intergroup" Signifyin(g) is difficult to ef­ he or she means a "style-focused message ... attempts at domination, fect, if only because the inherent irony of dis­ styling which is foregrounded by the devices of :d in and through Ian­ course most probably will not be understood. making a point by indirection and wit." What is originality, of their ex­ Still, Signifyin(g) is one significant mode of ver­ foregrounded, of course, is the signifier itself, as ile metaphysical. Abra- bal masking or troping. 63 we have seen in the rhyme scheme of the Mon­ clear. Abrahams's most important contribution to key tales. The Monkey is called the signifier be­ ,Jished in 1976, Abra­ the literature on Signifyin(g) is his discovery that cause he foregrounds the signifier in his use of 'in(g) as an act of Ian­ Signifyin(g) is primarily a term for rhetorical language. Signifyin(g), in other words, turns on ~ than his earlier inter­ strategies, which often is called by other names the sheer play of the signifier. It does not refer epeats his insightful depending on which of its several forms it takes. primarily to the signified; rather, it refers to the ~) turns upon indirec­ As he concludes, "with sign(fying we have a term style of language, to that which transforms ordi­ ntains, and "to a certain not only for a way of speaking but for a rhetori­ nary discourse into literature. Again, one does not more indirect methods cal strategy that may be characteristic of a num­ Signify some thing; one Signifies in some way. 66 es are relevant ones: ber of other designated events." 64 I would add to The import of this observation for the study of st obvious kinds of indi­ this statement that, for black adults, Signifyin(g) black literature is manifold. When I wrote earlier :xpected pronoun in dis­ is the name for the figures of rhetoric themselves, that the black tradition theorized about itself in D shine, today?" or "Who the figure of the figure. Abrahams lists the fol­ the vernacular, this is what I meant in part. Signi­ ink?"), to the more subtle lowing terms as synonyms of Signifyin(g), as de­ fyin(g) is the black rhetorical difference that ne­ Jud-talking in a different rived from several other scholars, and which I am gotiates the language user through several orders A person is loud-talking defining to be black tropes as subsumed within of meaning. In formal literature, what we com­ of someone just loud the trope of Signifyin(g): talking shit, woofing, monly call figuration corresponds to Significa­ 1ear,but indirectly, so he (Mitchell-Kernan). An- spouting, muckty muck, boogerbang, beating tion. Again, the originality of so much of the 1g through indirection is your gums, talking smart, putting down, putting black tradition emphasizes refiguration, or repeti­ on or group not present, on, playing, sounding, telling lies, shaglag, tion and difference, or troping, underscoring the :tween someone present marking, shucking, jiving, jitterbugging, bug­ foregrounding of the chain of signifiers, rather \n example of this tech- ging, mounting, charging, cracking, ha,ping, than the mimetic representation of a novel con­ "The Signifying Mon- rapping, bookooing, low-rating, hoorawing, tent. Critics of Afro-American, Caribbean, and sweet-talking, smart-talking, and no doubt a few African literatures, however, have far more often 6 for two reasons: first, others that I have omitted. 5 This is a crucial con­ than not directed their attention to the signified, I that adults use the tribution to our understanding of this figure be­ often at the expense of the signifier, as if the lat­ unonly, even if they cause it transcends the disagreements, among lin­ ter were transparent. This functions contrary to ,Jet from the Monkey guists, about whether trope x or y is evidenced by the principles of criticism inherent in the concept he has realized that speech act a or b. What's more, Abrahams re­ of Signifyin(g). king, are subtropes of veals, by listing its synonyms, that black people Thomas Kochman's contribution to the litera­ n the mature fonns of can mean at least twenty-eight figures when they ture on Signifyin(g) is the recognition that the indirect modes­ call something Signifyin(g). He represents a Monkey is the Signifier, and that one common vomen and children few of the figures embedded in Signifyin(g) in form of this rhetorical practice turns upon repe­ servations. Indeed, I Chart 3. He could have listed several others. tition and difference. Kochman also draws an md women use indi- When black people say that "Signification is the important distinction between directive and ex­ same degree. Nigger's occupation," we can readily see what pressive modes of Signification. Directive Signi­ 1at Signifyin(g) can fyin(g), paradoxically, turns upon an indirective 6 3 1ck-white encounters lbid., p. 33. [Au.] strategy: 0 4Jbid., p. 51. [Au.] 65 lbid., pp. 49, 46, 53, 56, 73-76, 50. See also Roger D. Abrahams, The Man-of-Words in the West Indies: Pe,for­ 66 Abrahams, Talking Black, p. 52. (Emphasis added.} Black (Rawley, Ma~s.: mance and the Emergence of Creole Culture (Baltimore: "Duke Ellington and John Coltrane," Impulse Records, AS- Johns Hopkins University Press, 1983), pp. 56-57. [Au.] 30. [Au.]

GATES I THE SIGNIFYING MONKEY AND THE LANGUAGE OF SJGNIFYIN(G) 1573 Chart 3. Roger D. Abrahams's Figure I in Talking Black, p. 46. work connects lingui American literary trac CONVERSATION ON THE STREETS; Mitchell-Kernan i: WAYS OF SPEAKING BETWEEN EQUALS Signifyin(g) has reef tion as "a tactic em infonnational; aggressive, witty performance talk verbal dueling-whi content focus signifying in itself," as if this c running it down serious, clever conflict talk nonserious contest talk concept amounted to "me-and-you and no one else" focus "any of us here" focus "Signifying ... also r talking smart talking shit messages or meanin! cases, an element of i1 overtly aggressive talk covertly aggressive, nondirective directive definition amounts to putting down manipulative talk playing sounding critique of the lingui: putting on since the subtleties '--v----1 somehow escaped rr conversational arises within conversational context, perfonnance interaction, yet built Mitchell-Kernan. As (apparently yet judged in perfonnance (stylistic) tenns on model of conversational "This kind of signifyi spontaneous) back-and-forth an alternative messag< tic merit, and may oc of discourse. Such si linguistic interaction .. . when the function of signifying is directive, and Kochman's definition of expressive Signifyin(g), i define the entire speec the tactic which is employed is one of indirection­ while useful, is less inclusive than that proposed I cannot stress to< i.e., the signifier reports or repeats what someone by H. Rap Brown, including as it does only nega­ this definition, for it ~ has said about the listener; the "report" is couched tive intentions: "to arouse feelings of embarrass­ pervasive mode of in plausible language designed to compel belief and ment, shame, frustration, or futility, for the pur­ arouse feelings of anger and hostility. 67 merely one specific v pose of diminishing someone's status, but without that somehow escape1 Kochman argues that the function of this sort of directive implication." Expressive Signifyin(g), scholar before Mitch, claim to repetition is to challenge and reverse the Kochman continues, employs "direct" speech tac­ alone serves as a corr, status quo: tics "in the form of a taunt, as in the ... example the tendency among where the monkey is making fun of the lion." For There is also the implication that if the listener fails their gaze upon the Kochman, Signifyin(g) implies an aggressive to do anything about it-what has to be "done" is thereby avoided seein mode of rhetoric, a form of symbolic action that usually quite clear-his status will be seriously What's more, Mitchell yields catharsis .6 9 compromised. Thus the lion is compelled to vindi­ to the implicit parallel While several other scholars have discussed cate the honor of his family by fighting or else leave the use of language t~ the nature and function of Signifyin(g), the theo­ the impression that he is afraid, and that he is not figurative, by which I "king of the jungle." When used to direct action, sig­ ries of Claudia Mitchell-Kernan and Geneva tentiona[ deviation fro1 nifying is like shucking in also being deceptive and Smitherman are especially useful for the theory tactical relation of wo, subtle in approach and depending for success on the of revision that I am outlining in this chapter.7'' 68 naYveteor gullibility of the person being put on. Mitchell-Kernan's theory of Signifyin(g) is 71 Sce Claudia Mitchell ­ among the most thorough and the most subtle in Black Urban Community, 67'fhomas Kochman, "Towards an Ethnography of Black the linguistic literature, while Smitherman's Behavior Laboratory, Uni American Speech Behavior," in Rappin' and Sty/in' Out: No. 2 (February 1971 ), esp Communicationin Urban Black America (Urbana: University fying as a Form of Verb, of Illinois Press , 1972), p. 257. See also Kochman's "'Rap­ 69Jbid., p. 258. [Au.] laughi11g Barrel: Reading ping' in the Black Ghetto," Trans-action 6 (February 1969) : 70 See also Herbert L. Foster, Ribbin ·• Jivi11·. and Playi11' America11Folklore, ed . Alai 26-35. Kochman's "Toward's an Ethnography" was origi­ the Dozens: The Unrecognized Dilemma of /1111erCit\ ' Prentice-Hall, I 973), pp. 31 nally published in Afro-American Anthropology: Contempo­ Schools (Cambridge: Ballinger, 1974), pp. 203-w; and Edith Styli11' Out, pp. 315- 36. Th, rary Perspectives, ed . Norman E. Whitten, Jr., and John F. A. Folb, Rwmin' Down Some Line,<; The Language and Cul­ the Dundes reprint. All sub! Szwed (New York: Free Press, 1970), pp . 145-63. [Au.] ture of Black Teenagers (Cambridge: Harvard University volume . [Au.J 68 Kochman, "Ethnography," p. 257. [Au.] Press, 1980), esp. pp. 69-131. [Au. ] 72Mitchell-Kernan, "Sig

1574 MODERN AND POSTMODERN RHETORIC GATES I TH work connects linguistic analysis with the Afro­ Signifyin(g), in other words, is synonymous American literary tradition .... with figuration. Mitchell-Kernan's work is so Mitchell-Kernan is quick to demonstrate that rich because she studied the language behavior of Signifyin(g) has received most scholarly atten­ adults as well as adolescents, and of women as tion as "a tactic employed in game activity ­ well as men. Whereas her colleagues studied verbal dueling - which is engaged in as an end lower-class male language use, then general­ in itself," as if this one aspect of the rhetorical ized from this strictly limited sample, Mitchell­ concept amounted to its whole. In fact, however, Kernan' s data are derived from a sample more rious contest talk of us here" focus "Signifying ... also refers to a way of encoding representative of the black speech community. talking shit messages or meanings which involves, in most Hers is a sample that does not undermine her data cases, an element of indirection." This alternative because it accounts for the role of age and sex as ve directive definition amounts to nothing less than a polite variables in language use. In addition, Mitchell­ sounding critique of the linguistic studies of Signifyin(g), Kernan refused to be captivated by the verbal in­ since the subtleties of this rhetorical strategy sult rituals, such as sounding, playing the dozens, ~ somehow escaped most other scholars before and Signifyin(g), as ritual speech events, unlike ;e interaction, yet built Mitchell-Kernan. As she expands her definition, other linguists whose work suffers from an undue el of conversational "This kind of signifying might be best viewed as attention to the use of words such as mother­ ack-and-forth an alternative message form, selected for its artis­ fucker, to insults that turn on sexual assertions tic merit, and may occur embedded in a variety about someone's mama, and to supposed Oedipal of discourse. Such signifying is not focal to the complexes that arise in the literature only be­ linguistic interaction in the sense that it does not cause the linguist is reading the figurative as a lit­

GATES I THE SIGNIFYING MONKEY AND THE LANGUAGE OF SIGNIFYIN(G) 1575 critiques the work of other linguists who have Because in standard English signification denotes assimilation or cultun wrestled unsuccessfully with this difficult con­ meaning and in the black tradition it denotes middle-class blacks n cept (specifically Abrahams and Kochman) and ways of meaning , Mitchell-Kernan argues for the traditional black c1 provides an ardently needed corrective by defin­ discrepancies between meanings of the same bels this form of Signi ing Signifyin(g) as a way of figuring language . term in two distinct discourses: "the significance or rr Mitchell-Kernan's penetrating work enables Sig­ The Black concept of signifying incorporates essen­ be derived from know1 nifyin(g) to be even further elaborated upon for tially a folk notion that dictionary entries for words This mode of Signi use in literary theory .13 are not always sufficient for interpreting meanings ticed by Afro-Americ, Because it is difficult to arrive at a consensus or messages, or that meaning goes beyond such in­ equivalent to one of i of definitions of Signifyin(g), as this chapter al­ terpretations. Complimentary remarks may be de­ called louding or lo ready has made clear, Mitchell-Kernan proceeds livered in a left-handed fashion. A particular utter­ might expect connote "by way of analogy to inform the reader of its ance may be an insult in one context and not that which it denotes : 1 various meanings as applied in interpretation." another. What pretends to be informative may in­ by speaking to a seco This difficulty of definition is a direct result of tend to be persuasive. The hearer is thus con­ directed to a third per: strained to attend to all potential meaning carrying the fact that Signifyin(g) is the black term for to the third person . A what in classical European rhetoric are called the symbolic systems in speech events-the total uni­ verse of discourse.16 practice is an indignai figures of signification. Because to Signify is to person, to which the si be figurative, to define it in practice is to define it Signifyin(g), in other words , is the figurative dif­ talking to you." Of co through any number of its embedded tropes. No ference between the literal and the metaphorical, simultaneously was Ill wonder even Mitchell-Kernan could not arrive at between surface and latent meaning. Mitchell­ to Mitchell-Keman's i a consensus among her informants-except for Kernan calls this feature of discourse an "implicit tion, which she calls what turns out to be the most crucial shared as­ content or function, which is potentially obscured and which I shall call pects of all figures of speech, an indirect use of by the surface content or function ." Finally, Sig­ one commonly used 1 words that changes the meaning of a word or nifyin(g) presupposes an "encoded" intention to "the remark is, on the ~ words. Or, as Quintilian put it, figuration turns on say one thing but to mean quite another.7 7 one in particular": some sort of "change in signification." While lin­ Mitchell-Kernan presents several examples of guists who disagree about what it means to Sig­ Signifyin(g), as she is defining it. Her first ex­ I saw a woman the c pants, she must have nify all repeat the role of indirection in this ample is a conversation among three women knew how she lool rhetorical strategy, none of them seems to have about the meal to be served at dinner. One things.79 understood that the ensuing alteration or devia­ woman asks the other two to join her for dinner, tion of meaning makes Signifyin(g) the black that is, if they are willing to eat "chit'Iins ." She If a member of the sr trope for all other tropes, the trope of tropes, the ends her invitation with a pointed rhetorical weight and frequently figure of figures. Signifyin(g) is troping.14 question: "Or are you one of those Negroes who this message could W( Mitchell-Kernan begins her elaboration of the don't eat chit'lins?" The third person, the wo­ she protests, the speak concept by pointing to the unique usage of the man not addressed, responds with a long defense she was speaking abou word in black discourse: of why she prefers "prime rib and T-bone" to why her auditor is so p "chit'lins," ending with a traditional ultimate ap­ speaker can say, "if th What is unique in Black English usage is the way Kernan says that a chf in which signifying is extended to cover a range of peal to special pleading, a call to unity within the Signifyin(g) is the sel1 meanings and events which are not covered in its ranks to defeat white racism . Then she leaves. After she has gone, the initial speaker replies to "selectively relevant Standard English usage. In the Black community it 80 is possible to say, "He is signifying" and "Stop sig­ her original addressee in this fashion: "Well, I ence . " I once heard ; nifying" -sentences which would be anomalous wasn't signifying at her, but like I always say, if illicit behavior of spec elsewhere.1s the shoe fits wear it." Mitchell-Kernan concludes gregation by performin that while the manifest subject of this exchange "The Text of the Dry I was dinner, the latent subject was the political or gloss upon Ezekiel 73 lbid.,pp. 312-13, 311-12, 322- 23. [Au.] orientation of two black people vis-a-vis cultural sermon, a prayer was 74 Ibid., p. 313. See RichardA . Lanham, A Hand/isl of Rhetorical Terms (Berkeley: Universityof CaliforniaPress, 1"Ibid.,pp. 314-15 . [Au. 1969), pp. 101-3, 52. [Au.] 76 lbid., p. 314. [Au.) 79 lbid. [Au.) 75 [Au.] 0 Mitchell-Keman,"Signifying," p. 313. [Au.] nJbid. " lbid.,p. 316. [Au.]

MODERN AND POSTMODERN RHETORIC GATES J THI glish signification denotes assimilation or cultural nationalism, since many "Mr. Lin," as we called him, said, "Dear Lord, go ,Jack tradition it denotes middle-class blacks refuse to eat this item from with the gambling man ... not forgetting the tchell-Keman argues for the traditional black cuisine. Mitchell-Kernan la­ gambling woman," the little church's eerie si­ meanings of the same bels this form of Signifyin(g) "allegory," because lence was shattered by the loud-talking voice of ~ourses: "the significance or meaning of the words must one of my father's friends (Ben Fisher, rest his be derived from known symbolic values ."78 soul), whom the congregation "overheard" say­ ;ignifying incorporates essen­ This mode of Signifyin(g) is commonly prac­ ing, "Got you that time, Gates, got you that time, t dictionary entries for words :nt for interpreting meanings ticed by Afro-American adults. It is functionally Newtsy!" My father and one of our neighbors, ,eaning goes beyond such in­ equivalent to one of its embedded tropes, often Miss Newtsy, had been Signified upon. nentary remarks may be de­ called lauding or loud-talking, which as we Mitchell-Kernan presents several examples of d fashion. A particular utter ­ might expect connotes exactly the opposite of Signifyin(g) that elaborate on its subtypes. 81 Her ult in one context and not that which it denotes: one successfully loud-talks conclusion is crucial to the place of her research ls to be informative may in­ by speaking to a second person remarks in fact in the literature of Signification. "Signifying," she e. The hearer is thus con ­ directed to a third person, at a level just audible declares as conclusion, "does not .. . always have II potential meaning carrying to the third person. A sign of the success of this negative valuations attached to it; it is clearly peech events - the total uni· practice is an indignant "What?" from the third thought of as a kind of art- a clever way of con­ person, to which the speaker responds, "I wasn't veying messages." 82 A literary critic might call 1ords, is the figurative dif­ talking to you." Of course, the speaker was, yet this troping, an interpretation or mistaking of eral and the metaphorical , simultaneously was not. Loud-talking is related meaning, to paraphrase Harold Bloom, because, latent meaning . Mitchell ­ to Mitchell-Kernan's second figure of Significa­ as Mitchell-Kernan maintains, "signifying . . . al­ e of discourse an "implicit tion, which she calls "obscuring the addressee" ludes to and implies things which are never made ich is potentially obscured and which I shall call naming. Her example is explicit." 83 Let me cite two brief examples. In or function." Finally, Sig­ one commonly used in the tradition, in which the first, "Grace" introduces the exchange by an "encoded" intention to "the remark is, on the surface, directed toward no defining its context: :an quite another.n one in particular" : (After I had my little boy, I swore I was not having !sents several examples of I saw a woman the other day in a pair of stretch any more babies . I thought four kids was a nice ­ defining it. Her first ex­ pants, she must have weighed 300 pounds. If she sized family. But it didn't turn out that way. I was a ion among three women knew how she looked she would bum those little bit disgusted and didn't tell anybody when I e served at dinner. One things .n discovered I was pregnant. My sister came over two to join her for dinner, one day and I had started to show by that time.) . . . ing to eat "chit'lins." She If a member of the speaker's audience is over­ ROCHELLE: Girl, you sure do need to join the vith a pointed rhetorical weight and frequently wears stretch pants, then Metrecal for lunch bunch. one of those Negroes who this message could well be intended for her. If rhe third person, the wo­ she protests, the speaker is free to maintain that GRACE: (noncommittally) Yes, I guess I am .ponds with a long defense she was speaking about someone else and to ask putting on a little weight. why her auditor is so paranoid. Alternatively, the )rime rib and T-bone" to ROCHELLE: Now look here, girl , we both stand­ h a traditional ultimate ap- speaker can say, "if the shoe fits .... " Mitchell­ Kernan says that a characteristic of this form of ing here soaking wet and you still trying to tell me 5, a call to unity within the it ain't raining. 84 racism. Then she leaves. Signifyin(g) is the selection of a subject that is e initial speaker replies to "selectively relevant to the speaker's audi­ This form of Signifyin(g) is obviously a long in this fashion: "Well, I ence."80 I once heard a black minister name the way from the sort usually defined by scholars . !r, but like I always say, if illicit behavior of specific members of his con­ One final example of the amusing, troping ex­ vtitchell-Kernan concludes gregation by performing a magnificent reading of change follows, again cited by Mitchell-Kernan: ,t subject of this exchange "The Text of the Dry Bones," which is a reading subject was the political or gloss upon Ezekiel 37: 1- 14. Following this H•Jbid., pp. 316-21. [Au.] :k people vis-a-vis cultural sermon, a prayer was offered by Lin Allen. As H2 Jbid., p. 3 I 8. [Au.] H3 Harold Bloom, A Map of Misreading (New York: 1•Jbid., pp. 314- 15. [Au.] Oxford University Press, 1975), p. 93, esp. pp. 83- ID5; 79Jbid. [Au.] Mitchell-Kernan,"Signifying," p. 319. [Au.] 80 Ibid., p. 316. [Au.] 84 Mitchell-Keman, "Signifying," pp. 318 19. [Au.]

GATES J THE SIGNIFYING MONKEY AND THE LANGUAGE OF SIGNIFYIN(G) 1577 I. Man, when you gon pay me my five dollars? had not been this woman. He explained to me that only by virtue oft he was not lazy and that he didn't work because he Ir: Soon as I get it. as signifying that 1 had been laid-off from his job and couldn't find particular message I: (to audience) Anybody want to buy a five dollar work elsewhere, and that if the lady had said what I lying, the speaker nigger? I got one to sell. reported, she had not done so out of meanness but the converse is tnH because she didn't understand. Guilt-ridden, I went recognize the speec II: Man, if I gave you five dollars, you wouldn't to fetch the can of Milnol milk. Upon returning, the fying Monkey toas have nothing to signify about. tale of the "Signifying Monkey" was told to me, a ing the lion into a r censored prose version in which the monkey is I: Nigger, long as you don't change, I'll always define the monkey' 8 rather brutally beaten by the lion after having suf­ have me a subject. 5 fered a similar fate in the hands of the elephant. I In other words, th<: This sort of exchange is common in the black liked the story very much and righteously approved Signification functio community and represents Signifyin(g) at its of its ending, not realizing at the time that he was the maturation procc signifying at me. Mr. Waters reacted to my re­ more evolved levels than the more obvious ex­ were, from the repel sponse with a great deal of amusement. It was sev­ cation . amples (characterized by confrontation and in­ eral days later in the context of retelling the tale to The Monkey tale: sult) discussed by linguists other than Mitchell­ another child that I understood its timely telling. terpretation, where;; Kernan. My apology and admission of lying were met by The highly evolved form of Signifyin(g) that affectionate humor, and I was told that I was finally fyin(g) addresses th H. Rap Brown defines and that Ralph Ellison's getting to the age where I could "hold a conversa­ rhetoric. The import anecdote about Hazel Harrison epitomizes is rep­ tion," i.e., understand and appreciate implica­ interpretation of liter resented in a wonderful anecdote that Mitchell­ tions.86 thrones the Lion on Kernan narrates. This tale bears repeating to read the nature of t demonstrate how black adults teach their chil­ Black people call this kind of lesson "schooling," Kernan argues cage dren to "hold a conversation": and this label denotes its function. The child thing of symbolic rel, must learn to hold a conversation. We cannot but of language in this p At the age of seven or eight I encountered what I recall Richard Lanham' s ideal presentation of do not speak the san believe was a version of the tale of the "Signifying rhetorical training and conclude that what Mr . able to interpret the Monkey." In this story a monkey reports to a lion Waters says to the child, Claudia, is analogous to he is an outsider, ur that an elephant has been maligning the lion and his an adult teacher of rhetoric attempting to show family. This stirs the lion into attempting to impose w_ords, the Monkey sr his pupils how to employ the tropes that they sanctions against the elephant. A battle ensues in Lion reads his discot which the elephant is victor and the lion returns ex­ have memorized in an act of communication and misinterpretation, he : tremely chafed at the monkey. In this instance, the its interpretation. This subtle process of instruc ­ This valorization of t recounting of this story is a case of signifying for tion in the levels of Signification is related to, but most important mora directive purposes. I was sitting on the stoop of a far removed from, adolescent males insulting the Monkey's maste ; neighbor who was telling me about his adventures each other with the Signifying Monkey tales. The him one of the cane as a big game hunter in Africa, a favorite tall-tale language of Signifyin(g), in other words, is a American mythic trac topic, unrecognized by me as tall-tale at the time. A strategy of black figurative language use. by Mitchell-Kernan . RH neighboring woman called to me from her porch I have been drawing a distinction between the Mitchell- Kernan' s and asked me to go to the store for her. I refused, ritual of Signifyin(g), epitomized in the Monkey saying that my mother had told me not to, a lie characteristics of "Sig tales, and the language of Signifyin(g), which is which Mr. Waters recognized and asked me about. bal Art" helps to clar Rather than simply saying I wanted to listen to his the vernacular term for the figurative use of lan­ elusive, mode of rhet , stories, I replied that I had refused to go because I guage. These terms correspond to what Mitchell­ characteristics for con hated the woman. Being pressured for a reason for Kernan calls "third-party signifying" and "meta­ tant defining features my dislike, and sensing Mr. Waters's disapproval, I phorical signifying." Mitchell-Kernan defines rect intent" and "met countered with another lie, "I hate her because she their distinction as follows: aspect of indirection ii say you were lazy," attempting, I suppose, to regain pears to be almost p, In the metaphorical type of signifying, the speaker his favor by arousing ire toward someone else. Al­ "its art characteristics though I had heard someone say that he was lazy, it attempts to transmit his message indirectly and it is

87 1bid.• p. 322 . [Au.J 86 RsIbid., pp. 320-2 l. [Au.] Jbid., pp. 321 - 22 . [Au.] RRSee ibid., pp. 322 - 23. I

MODERN AND POSTMODERN RHETORIC GATES I THJ He explained to me that only by virtue of the hearers defining the ullerance Signifyin(g), in other words, turns upon the fore­ didn't work because he as signifying that the speaker'~ intent (to convey a grounding of the Signifier. By "indirection" s job and couldn't find particular me~sage) is realized. In third-party signi­ Mitchell-Kernan means the lady had said what I fying, the speaker may realize his aim only when so out of meanness but the converse is true, that is, if the addressee fails to that the correct semantic (referential interpretation) md. Guilt-ridden, I went recognize the speech act as .1ig11ifyi11g.In [the Signi­ or signification of the uuerance cannot be arrived at 1ilk. Upon returning, the fying Monkey toastj the monkey succeeds in goad­ by a consideration of the dictionary meaning of the nkey" was told to me, a ing the lion into a rash act because the lion does not lexical items involved and the syntactic rules for which the monkey is define the monkey' s me~sage as signifying. 87 their combination alone. The apparent significance 1e lion after having suf­ of the message differs from its real significance. hands of the elephant. I In other words, these two dominant modes of The appare11tmea11ing of the sentence signifies its nd righteously approved Signification function conversely, another sign of actual meaning. 89 at the time that he was the maturation process demanded lo move, as it 1ters reacted to my re­ were, from the repetition of tropes to their appli­ The relationship between latent and manifest amusement It was sev­ cation. meaning is a curious one, as determined by the itt of retelling the tale to The Monkey tales inscribe a dictum about in­ formal properties of the Signifyin(g) utterance. In stood its timely telling. terpretation, whereas the language of Signi­ one of several ways, manifest meaning directs at­ n of lying were met by fyin(g) addresses the nature and application of tention away from itself to another, latent level of 1as told that I was finally rhetoric. The import of the Monkey tales for the meaning. We might compare this relationship to could "hold a conversa - that which obtains between the two parts of a 1d appreciate implica - interpretation of literature is that the Monkey de­ thrones the Lion only because the Lion cannot metaphor, tenor (the inner meaning) and vehicle read the nature of his discourse. As Mitchell­ (the outer meaning) . :>flesson "schooling," Kernan argues cogently, "There seems some­ Signifyin(g), according to Mitchell-Kernan, function. The child thing of symbolic relevance from the perspective operates so delightfully because "apparent mean­ sation. We cannot but of language in this poem. The monkey and lion ing serves as a key which directs hearers to some ideal presentation of do not speak the same language; the lion is not shared knowledge, attitudes, and values or signals 1clude that what Mr. able to interpret the monkey's use of language, that reference must be produced metaphorically." audia, is analogous to he is an outsider, un-hip, in a word." In other The decoding of the figurative, she continues, de­ pends "upon shared knowledge ... and this shared ~ attempting to show words, the Monkey speaks figuratively, while the the tropes that they Lion reads his discourse literally. For his act of knowledge operates on two levels." One of these ,f communication and misinterpretation, he suffers grave consequences. two levels is that the speaker and his audience re­ le process of instruc­ This valorization of the figurative is perhaps the alize that "signifying is occurring and that the dic­ ation is related to, but most important moral of these poems, although tionary-syntactical meaning of the utterance is to cent males insulting the Monkey's mastery of figuration has made be ignored." In addition, a silent second text, as it ng Monkey tales. The him one of the canonical heroes in the Afro­ were, which corresponds rightly to what Mitchell­ in other words, is a American mythic tradition, a point underscored Kernan is calling "shared knowledge," must be language use. by Mitchell-Kernan. 88 brought to bear upon the manifest content of the stinction between the Mitchell-Kernan's summary of the defining speech act and "employed in the reinterpretation mized in the Monkey characteristics of "Signifying as a Form of Ver­ of the utterance." Indeed, this element is of the ut­ ,ignifyin(g), which is bal Art" helps to clarify this most difficult, and most importance in the esthetics of Signifyin(g), figurative use of lan­ elusive, mode of rhetoric. We can outline these for "it is the cleverness used in directing the atten­ )nd to what Mitchell­ characteristics for convenience. The most impor­ tion of the hearer and audience to this shared gnifying" and "meta­ tant defining features of Signifyin(g) are "indi­ knowledge upon which a speaker's artistic talent is ;hell-Keman defines rect intent" and "metaphorical reference." This judged." Signifyin(g), in other words, depends on aspect of indirection is a formal device, and "ap­ the success of the signifier at invoking an absent pears to be almost purely stylistic"; moreover, meaning ambiguously "present" in a carefully · signifying, the speaker "its art characteristics remain in the forefront." wrought statement.9° :sage indirectly and it is 89 lbid., p. 325. (Emphasis added.) [Au.] 87 lbid., p. 322. [Au.] 9"lbid. For an excellent summary of the literature of Sig­ 88See ibid., pp. 322-23. [Au.] nifyin(g), see Lawrence W. Levine, Black C11lt11rea11d Black

GATES I THE SIGNIFYING MONKEY AND THE LANGUAGE OF SIGNIFYIN(G) 1579 Chart 4. The Figures of Signification talk about metonymy other such names in BLOOM'S AFRO·AMERICAN LEXICALLY that they mean some r RHETORICALTROPE REVISIONARYRATIO SIGNIFYIN(G) TROPE CLASSICAL YORUBA BORROWED YORUBA guage?" Rather, Mont: terms that apply to th, Irony Clinamen Signifyin(g) Rfrim (erim) Alroni maid."93 We can add ("Nigger business" to the rapping of bla in the West Indies) who recite and there black rhetorical structt Synecdoche Tessera} Calling out } of M~t<)nfmi Signification is a , Metonymy Kenosis one's name that has elicited variou nitions from linguists, Hyperbole, litotes Daemonization Stylin' or woofing this summary of its ("Flash" in the many of its manifesta West Indies) figured in the tales o Mete/fa (indirect most people who Sig A~we (eleloo) "naming")' narration of these tale~ Metaphor Askesis Naming { Sfmfli (direct stand as the canonical Afiwe gaa11 "naming")' am calling the languai

Metalepsis Apophrades Capping Afiku11;Ajtinu); Eni 93Montaigne, "Of the Vi Essays of Montaigne, tran Stanford University Press. 1 1N.B. "Naming" is an especially rich trope in Yoruba. Positive naming is called Oriki, while negative naming is called /nagije. Naming is also an especially lu,rnrious (if potentially volatile) trope in the Afro-American vernacular tradition . "Naming" someone and "Calling [someone] Out of [his] name" are among the most commonly used tropes in Afro -American vernacular discourse. Scores of proverbs and epigrams in the black tradition turn upon figures for naming.

As I have attempted to show, there is much Afro-American tropes that correspond to their confusion and disagreement among linguists Western counterparts. about the names and functions of the classical We can, furthennore, chart our own map, in black tropes. While the specific tenninology may which we graph the separate lines of a "Signi­ vary from scholar to scholar, city to city, or gen­ fyin(g) Riff," as follows:92 eration to generation, however, the rhetorical Slave Trope of Tropes, Signifyin(g) functions of these tropes remain consistent. It is a Your mama's a man (metaphor) fairly straightforward exercise to compare the Your daddy's one too (irony) black slave tropes to the master tropes identified They live in a tin can (metonymy) by Vico, Nietzsche, Burke, and Bloom, and to That smells like a zoo (synecdoche) map a black speech act, such as Signifyin(g), into its component Western tropes. Chart 4 is in­ The fact that the street rhymes of blacks and their tended to Signify upon Harold Bloom's "map of received rhetorical tropes configure into the cate­ misprision."9' I echo the essence of this map gories of classical Western rhetoric should come here, adding columns that list the Yoruba and as no surprise. Indeed, this aspect of black lan­ guage use recalls Montaigne's statement, in "Of the Vanity of Words," that "When you hear people Consciousness: Afro-American Folk Thought from Slavery to Freedom (New York: Oxford University Press, 1977), pp. 346, 378-80, 483, 498-99. [Au.] 9'The source for this riff and its analysis is a personal 9' Harold Bloom, A Map of Misreading, p. 84. [Au.] conversation with Kimberly W. Benston. [Au.]

1580 MODERN AND POSTMODERN RHETORIC GATES In talk about metonymy, metaphor, allegory, and The degree to which the figure of the Monkey is other such names in grammar, doesn't it seem anthropologically related to the figure of the Pan­ LEXICALLY that they mean some rare and exotic form of lan­ African trickster, Esu-Elegbara, shall most prob­ )RUBA BORROWED YORUBA guage?" Rather, Montaigne concludes, "They are ably remain a matter of speculation. terms that apply to the babble of your chamber­ Nevertheless, the two figures are related as 'in) Arro11i maid."93 We can add that these terms also apply functional equivalents because each in its own to the rapping of black kids on street comers, way stands as a moment of consciousness of who recite and thereby preserve the classical black formal language use, of rhetorical struc­ black rhetorical structures. tures and their appropriate modes of interpreta­ M?t9nfm i Signification is a complex rhetorical device tion. As I have argued, both figures connote what that has elicited various, even contradictory, defi­ we might think of as the writing implicit in an nitions from linguists, as should be apparent from oral literature, and both figures function as repos­ in) this summary of its various definitions . While itories for a tradition's declarations about how many of its manifestations and possibilities are and why formal literary language departs from figured in the tales of the Signifying Monkey, ordinary language use. The metaphor of a double­ Metafo(indirect most people who Signify do not engage in the voiced Esu-Elegbara corresponds to the double­ ~6) "naming")• narration of these tales. Rather, the Monkey tales voiced nature of the Signifyin(g) utterance. Sfmfli (direct stand as the canonical poems from which what I When one text Signifies upon another text, by ·n "naming")' am calling the language of Signifyin(g) extends. tropological revision or repetition and difference, the double-voiced utterance allows us to chart 111j; 91 Montaigne, "Of the Vanity of Words," in The Complete discrete formal relationships in Afro-American Essays of Monwigne, trans. Donald M. Frame (Stanford: literary history. Signifyin(g), then, is a metaphor Stanford University Pre~s. 1965), p. 223. (Au.J for textual revision. while negative naming is called ,-American vernacular tradition. ly used tropes in Afro-American for naming .

that correspond to their e, chart our own map, in !parate lines of a "Signi­ s:92 'ropes, Signifyin(g) (metaphor) o (irony) 1 (metonymy) o (synecdoche) ·hymes of blacks and their !S configure into the cate­ :em rhetoric should come this aspect of black lan- aigne' s statement, in "Of at "When you hear people

· and its analysi~ is a personal / . Benston. [Au.]

GATES I THE SIGNIFYING MONKEY AND THE LANGUAGE OF SIGNIFYIN(G)