1. ASL presenters and Hearing Interpreters: Equivalent Pace?
A Study of ASL Register
Brice Boiles
ABSTRACT
This research compares the rate of sign production of Deaf presenters with that of hearing interpreters working simultaneously from spoken English to ASL. On average, the Deaf presenters exhibited a lower sign production rate than the hearing interpreters. This may have impacts on message equivalency with regards to register.
DISCOURSE SAMPLES
DISCUSSION
With only one exception, all of the Deaf presenters analyzed during this research produced fewer signs-per- minute than did the hearing interpreters.
Hearing Interpreters
Deaf Presenters
Topic: What to expect during a colonoscopy visit.
Topic: during visit.
to expect colonoscopy
Possibly attributable to simultaneous interpretation process:
Setting: Online audience
Rate: -per-minute
SI is inherently time-bound: It is necessarily affected by the rate of the spoken English source text.
Further research needed to compare SI and CI processes
Setting: Online audience
Rate: 79 signs-per-minute
INTRODUCTION
Question: Do Deaf presenters and hearing interpreters produce ASL at an equivalent rate?
Topic: Cardiovascular System
Topic: Cardiovascular System
Possibly attributable to discourse structure
English and ASL discourse have different structure
SI Interpreting utterance by utterance, not goal- by-goal (Gish, 1987).
Setting: Online audience
Setting: Online audience
Rate: -per-minute
“If this were a naturally occurring piece of discourse, would it be an appropriate one?” (Roy, 1987)
Rate: 57 signs-per-minute
Limitations
Interpreters’ task: To produce an equivalent rendition of the source text in the target language.
Equivalent Register
Limited in scope
Outlier skewing research
If excluded the average rate for Deaf presenters would be 78 signs-per-minute
Sociolinguistic variation
Topic: Genetics
Topic:
Setting: Platform
Setting: Platform
Rate: signs-per- minute
Sign speed and prosody are functions of register
Rate: 96 signs-per-minute
This research analyzes the interpretations of hearing interpreters as freestanding discourse, comparing them with the ASL discourse of Deaf presenters functioning in the same register
CONCLUSION
Topic: Deaf culture in Rochester, NY
Topic: Diversity in higher education
Hearing interpreters working simultaneously produce signs at a higher rate than Deaf
Setting: Platform
Setting: Platform
Rate: signs-per- minute
presenters in similar settings
METHOD
Rate: 80 signs-per-minute
Data suggest a possible causal link between the simultaneous interpreting process and the difference in the rate of production.
Three minutes of each sample are analyzed.
Transcribe three minutes of the video into written English gloss.
Count the total number of signs produced in the three-minute segment.
Only discrete signs are counted.
Compound signs, repetition, etc. are counted as a single production
Divide the total number of signs produced by three to determine the average speed-per- minute
RESULTS
Future Research
Compari presenters and hearing interpreters in similar settings
Comparing SI & CI with Deaf presenters as control
What effect does the rate of sign production have on comprehension
Deaf Presenters
Hearing Interpreters 79 77 57 78 86
108 80
119
Average Signs-per-minute: 88 96
140
120
Rate: Signs-per-minute
100 80
Deaf Presenters Hearing Interpreters 60 40
References
Isham, W. (1985). The role of message analysis in interpretation. In Marina McIntire (ed.) Interpreting: the art of cross cultural mediation.
Silver Spring, MD: RID Publications, p
Lawrence S. (1998). The effect of sign language interpreters on audience perception of Deaf speakers credibility. In Joseph A. Alvarez (ed.) The Keys to Highly Effective Interpreter Training, Conference of Interpreter Trainers 14th National Conference Proceedings, p
Lucas, C., Bayley, R., & Valli, C. (2001). Sociolinguistic variation in american sign language. Washington, D.C.: Gallaudet University Press. 20
Platform Platform
Totals
RESEARCH POSTER PRESENTATION DESIGN © 2012