This questionnaire-based study evaluates interpretations of TV news broadcasts into South African Sign Language from the perspective of 360 adult Deaf respondents, who identify factors hindering comprehension. Methodologically, findings are based on both open-ended and closed questions. The sources of difficulty identified, together with viewer assessments of current interpreting services and viewer expectancy norms, are explored in relation to the profile of the Deaf target audience represented by the study sample. Despite potentially low literacy levels, the study found a stronger stated preference for subtitles than for signed interpretation. The limited size of the signed language screen inset and the type of signed language used by the interpreters were found to be the main factors limiting comprehension; to a lesser extent, problems can also be related to various features of the interpreters’ performance (facial expression, mouthing, sign articulation and general language proficiency), viewers’ insufficient background knowledge and signing skills, the difficulty of dividing attention between different forms of visual input, as well as the positioning of the screen inset showing the interpreter. The cultural and linguistic heterogeneity of the South African Deaf community poses a further challenge to interpreters. Recommendations for both interpreting practice and further research emerge from the discussion.
Because of the visual nature of signed language, the compilation of a signed language interpreting corpus along the lines of spoken-language interpreting corpora has been viewed as extremely challenging, if not impossible. This study offers a unique contribution in the construction of a lemmatized, annotated text-based corpus of signed language media interpretations, which allows analysis of interesting features using readily-available concordance software. In this article, characteristics of original (not interpreted) signed language corpora are explored in terms of metadata conventions, transcription and annotation, in order to provide a framework for an interpreting corpus. Within this framework, the decisions and steps taken in the construction of the interpreting corpus are discussed and explained.
Until recently, the translator’s personality was a relatively unexplored area of research, but growing evidence points to the influence of personality on the translator’s decisions. Although findings are not always statistically significant, empirical research indicates that professional translators’ profiles differ from that of the local population, and that certain personality types are more likely to make creative translation choices in translation. This article explores the relationship between personality traits as defined by the Big Five Inventory (McCrae and Costa 1989), and translation choices as defined by Baker (2018) and Molina & Hurtado (2016). The findings indicate that professional translators with a dominant neurotic personality trait are the most creative, whereas those with a dominant conscientious personality trait prefer literal translation choices. However, the findings also indicate that age and experience are competing variables, both indicating a preference for literal translation.
Concerted attention in sign language linguistics has focused on finding ways to document signs. Until now, most notation systems rely on a complex plethora of symbols and are under-specific, to the extent that visual images are still the most widely accepted way of recording primary data. This paper presents a novel phonetic notation of handshape in a step towards deriving an International Phonetic Alphabet for sign languages, based on digit shape (configuration) and position in terms of reference coordinates, aiming at both readability and precision. It is sufficiently hybrid to allow for both accurate measurements and estimates of digit positions, thereby affording a way of representing handshapes suitable for lexicography, studying phonetic variation and avatar programming. Originally tailored to describe handshapes in South African Sign Language, it can also notate gestures. After discussing transcription methods and hand physiology, digit configurations are defined in terms of joint angles. Variations in configuration positions are then specified in terms of Cartesian reference coordinates.
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