1. Comparison of ASL vs. English Mouthing Used by Female and Male Interpreters?
Tabatha Podleiszek INT Spring 2017
Introduction
Conclusion
Results
Research Question: Comparison of ASL mouthing vs. English mouthing used by Male and Female Interpreters?
Overall, the research didn’t show a significant difference in male and female interpreters using more ASL or English mouth movements while they interpret.
While generally speaking, both groups of
interpreters used more English mouth movements than ASL mouth movements. However, there is a .1% increase in ASL mouth movements in female interpreters over male interpreters.
Lastly, female interpreters used 55% more mouth movements than male interpreters. Females were calculated at 126 mouth movements while males were calculated at 81 mouth movements.
Table 1. is the chart in which each mouth movement was recorded.
Graph 1. is the pie graph formulated from the results of the chart. Female English mouth movements were 76/126 which equated to 60.3%. Female ASL mouth movements were 50/126 which equated to 39.6%. Male English mouth movements were 49/81 which equated to 60.4%. Male ASL mouth movements were 32/81 which equated to 39.5%.
From the pie graph, the male and females percent's are only a .1% difference.
Mouthing is a crucial part of American Sign Language (ASL) and interpreting in general. Interpreters have to use mouth movements to add grammar or meaning to a sentence.
This research focuses on mouth movements in platform settings.
This research will look at whether males or females use more ASL mouthing or English
mouthing than the other.
Table 1. Chart of mouthings by video
English Mouthing
ASL Mouthing
English Mouthing ASL Mouthing
Literature Review
Liddell (1980), came up with three defined mouth movements: ‘mm’, ‘cs’, and ‘th’. They all have different meanings when used.
Limitations and Recommendations
Limitations:
All of the videos were different in context. The audience language preferences were
not noted in any of the videos. There is a huge lack of interpreters of color in the field. There was one video of a POC
interpreter, which was used.
Lewin and Schembri (2013), expanded a bit more on mouth movements and added: ‘puff’, ‘cha’, ‘pah’, and ‘pow’.
Bickford and Fraychineaud (2008), discussed the idea of mouth movements not having anything to do with the English word.
Recommendations:
More research on mouth movements for interpreters in general.
More videos of interpreters in platform
settings.
More diverse interpreters including race, age, and gender.
Methodology
Graph 1. Female and Male mouth movements
Four videos of female interpreters and four videos of male interpreters were analyzed. All of the videos were taken from Gallaudet University Colloquium lectures.
Female
Male
English
English ASL
60.3%
60.4%
39.5%
39.6%
References
ASL
The videos were all from spoken English and interpreted into ASL. Each video was watched for two minutes and data was collected onto charts. Each video was watched twice and recorded onto the chart twice to ensure accuracy.
Bickford, J., & Fraychineaud, K. (2008). Mouth Morphemes in ASL: A closer look.
Liddell, S. K. (1980). American Sign Language Syntax. (Vol. 59). (J. Woodward, Ed.)
Lewin, D., & Schembri, A. (2013). Mouth gestures in
British sign language: Nonmanuals in Sign Language. Pp. 99-­‐110.