Sign Languages Commons^™

Numeral Incorporation In American Sign Language, Vanessa L. Jones

Theses and Dissertations

Numeral incorporation is a moderately productive process in ASL which combines a numeral and a base to form a compounded fully formed sign. Numeral-incorporated signs involve some sort of simultaneity of the base and the numeral. I interviewed six individuals who use ASL as their primary language in order to gather examples of numeral-incorporated signs in ASL, thus getting a sampling of variation in the American deaf community.

Traditionally, numeral incorporation has been viewed as a process of combining a numeral sign with a noun, which I call a source sign. Instead, I found that the source signs are separate …

Resemblance-Oriented Communication Strategies: Understanding The Role Of Resemblance In Signed And Spoken Languages, Daniel R. Eberle

Theses and Dissertations

The goal of this thesis is to propose that resemblance plays an important role in human communication. Saussure proposed a characteristic principle of the linguistic sign: that connections between linguistic codes and the objects they signify are arbitrary; however, I intend to show that resemblance, which I define as the visual or aural similarity between a stimulus, the thought it is intended to activate, and the real world target that utterance is about, is an important part of human communication and should be taken into consideration when defining language and proposing theories of human communication.

I have chosen Relevance Theory …

A Survey Of Those In The U.S. Deaf Community About Reading And Writing Asl, Jennifer Keogh

Theses and Dissertations

On average, students who are deaf do not develop English literacy skills as well as their hearing peers. The linguistic interdependence principle suggests that literacy in American Sign Language (ASL) may improve literacy in English for students who are deaf. However, the Deaf community in the United States has not widely adopted a written form of ASL. This research surveys individuals in the U.S. Deaf community to better understand the opinions surrounding literacy in ASL.

The survey was presented online, containing both ASL in embedded videos and written English. The survey asked for the participants' demographic information, language and educational …

Full Issue

International Journal of Interpreter Education

No abstract provided.

Teaching Mental Health Discourse, Mary Thumann, Kendra Smith

International Journal of Interpreter Education

In this article, we present an approach to teaching a course on Interpreting Mental Health Discourse, based on our experiences in developing and teaching this course at Gallaudet University. We report on how faculty from two departments, Interpreting and Counseling, worked together with the goal of providing students in the Interpreting program with knowledge and skill-building opportunities for interpreting mental health discourse. We include examples from the course content and format, and suggestions for using available resources, as well as a discussion of what worked well and what did not. The article is a valuable resource for interpreter educators who …

Leadership: Perspectives From Deaf Leaders And Interpreter Leaders, Marty M. Taylor

International Journal of Interpreter Education

This article examines leadership from the perspectives of 50 deaf leaders and interpreter leaders from Canada and the United States. This qualitative research study contributes to knowledge about what leaders value and what are important leadership practices to each group of leaders. Data were collected through individual interviews using semistructured open-ended questions. Twenty most frequent themes were identified in the interview data. The values of respect and communication were strongly related among and within the two groups. When participants were asked about the differences and similarities between deaf leaders and interpreter leaders, five themes were identified: the importance of relationships, …

Editorial Evidence-Based Pedagogy, Jemina M. Napier

International Journal of Interpreter Education

No abstract provided.

Teaching For Effective Learning In Interpreter Education, Mark Taylor

International Journal of Interpreter Education

This article is based on the keynote presentation given at the convention of the Conference of Interpreter Trainers in Charlotte, North Carolina, in October 2012. It draws upon key principles for consideration in educating the next generation of interpreting students in further and higher education.

Innovative And Collaborative Use Of Ipads In Interpreter Education, Jemina M. Napier, Zhongwei Song, Shiyi Ye

International Journal of Interpreter Education

This article reports on findings from a collaborative action research project that was conducted to investigate the use of iPad in teaching interpreting students. Action research is well documented as a method for encouraging innovation and change in education, and it has been applied in translation and interpreting educational research. The goal of the project was to investigate how iPad technology can be used to enhance the learning experience for interpreting students in a master’s-level Conference Interpreting program, with an evaluation of the benefits of using the iPad generally and in relation to the development of interpreting skills, as well …

Getting To The Core Of Role: Defining Interpreters’ Role-Space, Peter Llewellya-Jones, Robert G. Lee

International Journal of Interpreter Education

This article describes a new model of interpreted interactions that will help students, as well as experienced practitioners, define and delineate the decisions that they make. By understanding the dimensions that comprise the concept we call role, interpreters can more effectively allow participants to have successful communicative interactions.

In Pursuit Of Meaningful Dialogue: Using Protocols To Improve Discussion In Online And Face-To-Face Courses, Suzanne Ehrlich

International Journal of Interpreter Education

The purpose of our article is to discuss the use of a discussion strategy called protocols, which can be used in both online and face-to-face environments. Protocols provide a structured way of having a discussion that empowers all students to contribute their ideas in a safe environment by providing specific rules and clear roles for guiding the discussion. First, we provide a brief background on protocols and our experience with using protocols within an online course titled Orientation to Deafness. We then provide readers with a variety of example protocols that can be used in both face-to-face and online environments. …

Research Studies In Interpretation From Gallaudet University Doctoral Students, Cynthia Roy

International Journal of Interpreter Education

The following three studies were presented at the Conference of Interpreter Trainers Conference in October 2012. The studies were undertaken as predissertation work by students in the first cohort of the doctoral program in the Department of Interpretation at Gallaudet University. In the first study, Erica Alley addresses the population of students of American Sign Language–English interpretation in the United States who are employed in the video relay service (VRS) industry while pursuing their degree. It is proposed that VRS is changing from a specialization to an introduction to the field of interpreting and that students may find comfort in …

Book Review - Service Learning In Interpreter Education: Strategies For Extending Student Involvement In The Deaf Community, Eileen Forestal, Debra Russell

International Journal of Interpreter Education

No abstract provided.

Toward A Further Understanding Of The Extensibility Of Sign Languages, Jason Hopkins

Theses and Dissertations

Sign language video recordings have limited extensibility when compared with live, face-to-face communication by signers. In an effort to improve the extensibility of video recordings this study explores the possibility of leveraging a common meaning negotiation technique, depictional signing, to increase understanding of recorded texts. In an effort to gauge the understanding of depictional signing compared to lexical signing a Recorded Text Test was devised using two texts, one with a high number of visual depictions, the other with a high number of lexical signs. While a comparison of the results of the two tests did not substantiate the hypothesis …

The Mouthing Of Verbs In Japanese Sign Language, Mark Penner

Theses and Dissertations

Analyzing four publicly available stories told by Japanese Deaf people, this paper shows that verbs are mouthed in natural Japanese Sign Language roughly 20% of the time, whereas other word classes are mouthed roughly 46% of the time. More than half of mouthed verbs are always or nearly always mouthed as one of their lexical properties. Abstract verbs tend to be mouthed more frequently than concrete verbs. When a Japanese Sign Language verb corresponds to a word that is not a verb in Japanese, it is far more likely to be mouthed. Verbs in headed relative clauses are mouthed whenever …

Locative Expressions In Signed Languages: A Cross-Linguistic Comparison, Sarah E. Eberle

Theses and Dissertations

The primary focus of this paper is to examine whether sign languages organize their locative expressions similarly to spoken languages. Paving the way in the study of spatial relations by focusing on the structuring of ON and IN locatives in spoken languages, Bowerman and colleagues (Bowerman 1980; Melissa Bowerman & Eric Pederson 1992a; Bowerman 1993; 1994; 1996a; 1996b; Bowerman & Levinson 2001) found that spoken languages organize the locative phrases representing the relationships of ON and IN in a continuum which is called the ON-IN continuum.

This thesis shows that sign languages do not linguistically pattern similarly to spoken languages …

Predicate Structures, Gesture, And Simultaneity In The Representation Of Action In British Sign Language: Evidence From Deaf Children And Adults, Kearsy Cormier, Sandra Smith, Zed Sehyr

Communication Sciences and Disorders Faculty Articles and Research

British Sign Language (BSL) signers use a variety of structures, such as constructed action (CA), depicting constructions (DCs), or lexical verbs, to represent action and other verbal meanings. This study examines the use of these verbal predicate structures and their gestural counterparts, both separately and simultaneously, in narratives by deaf children with various levels of exposure to BSL (ages 5;1 to 7;5) and deaf adult native BSL signers. Results reveal that all groups used the same types of predicative structures, including children with minimal BSL exposure. However, adults used CA, DCs, and/or lexical signs simultaneously more frequently than children. These …

Editorial Intersecting Interpreting Modalities, Jemina M. Napier

International Journal of Interpreter Education

No abstract provided.

Full Issue

International Journal of Interpreter Education

No abstract provided.

Autopoiesis: Scaffolding The Reflective Practitioner Toward Employability, Sarah Bown

International Journal of Interpreter Education

Sign language interpreters confront a diversity of complex situations in their everyday work. To be able to consider and appropriately respond to such situations, interpreters need robust cognitive reflective frameworks to support them. Since 1993, the University of Wolverhampton’s BA (honors) Interpreting British Sign Language/English course has delivered undergraduate training to aspiring sign language interpreters. The end product has been high levels of “appropriate” graduate employability success, in part due to the strong correlation between what employers regard as essential and desirable in an employee, and the attributes demonstrated by the reflective practitioners created by the program. In this article, …

Teaching Globish? The Need For An Elf Pedagogy In Interpreter Training, Michaela Albi-Mikasa

International Journal of Interpreter Education

Research on the global spread of English as a lingua franca (ELF) has made headway since the 1990s. In this effort, language teaching and pedagogy have been one of the major areas of research, concentrating on how to make nonnative English learners more effective participants in ELF interactions without taking the native speaker as a benchmark. However, this research has not considered settings of mediated communication. Even in the field of interpreting studies, it is only recently that the implications of ELF on the interpreters’ activity and profession have become an object of research. Findings that the “ELF condition” adversely …

Should Interpreters Be Trained And Tested In Telephone And Video-Link Interpreting? Responses From Practitioners And Examiners, Jim Hlavac

International Journal of Interpreter Education

This article focuses on the use of telephone and video-link technology in interpreting, presenting data from current research as well as from surveys conducted with practicing interpreters and examiners. The surveys asked interpreters to report on their own experiences using such technologies and asked examiners for their impressions of the technologies’ suitability as components of training and testing for certification. Technological advances in the means of audio and audiovisual communication are now being trialed in interpreted interactions, but most research reveals that increased use of technology accompanies rather than forms a part of the interlingual transfer. Responses from two groups …

Vocabulary Games For The Beginner Interpreter Classroom, Fatima Cornwall

International Journal of Interpreter Education

According to the (American) National Association of Judiciary Interpreters and Translators (NAJIT) and many experts in the field of court and legal interpretation, every court interpreter should strive for an ample and extensive vocabulary in his or her working languages. Although some more traditional vocabulary activities such as fill-in-the-blank exercises, crosswords, and word searches may aid prospective and practicing court interpreters reach this goal, there are some new approaches to language teaching that make this daunting task more entertaining and engaging. In this article, the author shares five vocabulary development games for any beginner spoken-language court interpretation classroom.

Streetleverage.Com: A Social Web For Interpreter Educators, Deb Russell

International Journal of Interpreter Education

This Open Forum article features an interview conducted with Brandon Arthur, curator of StreetLeverage.com. In this interview, he describes the creation of StreetLeverage.com and the ways in which it is impacting educators, students, and practitioners. He explores the ways in which social media is shaping our field and how educators can embrace this new form of publishing in order to provide students with rich, meaningful material to bridge theory and practice. Finally, the article expands on the role of live events that build on dialogue as a mechanism for mobilizing interpreters and bringing changes to the profession.

Classifier Constructions As Procedural Signs In American Sign Language, Stephen Perry Jones Ii

Theses and Dissertations

In this thesis I will be analyzing what has typically, in sign language literature, been termed classifiers and classifier constructions. I will be approaching them from the pragmatic perspective by applying Relevance Theory to explain their usage as representations that manipulate and modify their referents. The data comes from texts signed by native users of American Sign Language and are from academic lectures, interviews, narrative, and course curriculum. I have found that Relevance Theory adequately describes why and when classifiers constructions are used and that they function as a procedural referring expression.

Sensual Cultures: Exploring Sensory Orientation, Lauren Sonnenstrahl Benedict

Undergraduate University Honors Capstones

We use our senses every day, consciously or unconsciously, based on our cultural needs and preferences. These sensory orientations shape and are shaped by what a given culture defines as acceptable. For this reason, different sensory orientations result in different strengths and areas of emphasis and de-emphasis. Becoming aware of different sensory orientations and their associated cultures allows us to realize what we are missing in our own sensory orientations that inform our cultural habits. Familiarity with various sensory orientations may cultivate greater cultural acceptance as well. To analyze and illustrate such differences, an educational app for iPads was created …

The Paradox Of Amnesia: Tondelli's Un Weekend Postmoderno, Stefano Giannini

Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics - All Scholarship

Tondelli opens his Un weekend postmoderno. Cronache dagli anni Ottanta declaring an intention opposite to the display of amnesia. In the long table of contents of his book, he writes down everything, in an excruciating streaming of details, so that the table of content becomes an exhaustive index of names and ideas. Yet, hidden within the hundreds of analytical snapshots, one of its many characters mentions the importance of dissimulation. Dissimulation, according to Tondelli, hides what is known, to protect the dissimulator and to mask the truth. Also, amnesia is a voluntary practice that can be enacted in order to …