Expressing time through space

2018 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 6-26
Author(s):  
Anna-Lena Nilsson
Keyword(s):  
Sign Language ◽  
Language Production ◽  
Target Language ◽  
Crucial Aspect ◽  
Body Movements ◽  
Signed Language ◽  
Interpreter Training ◽  
L1 And L2 ◽  
Language Output

Abstract This study describes how temporal discourse content is expressed in signing space in Swedish Sign Language (SSL) and identifies and describes the differences between L1- and L2-interpreters’ signed target language output. The study found that L1-interpreters systematically use complex simultaneous combinations of lexical signs and various hand, arm and body movements on and along time lines. The L2-interpreters stand more still, and their use of body movements differs from that of the L1-interpreters. Though the L2-interpreters in the study often succeed in showing that two or more entities/events are separate, they are less successful in showing the more specific, temporal and/or other, relationship(s) between them. This crucial aspect of idiomatic signed language production, therefore, should be included in interpreter training to improve the quality of interpreted target language output.

Language-switch costs and dual-response costs in bimodal bilingual language production

2015 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 418-434 ◽  
Author(s):  
EMILY KAUFMANN ◽  
ANDREA M. PHILIPP
Keyword(s):  
Sign Language ◽  
Language Production ◽  
Control Mechanisms ◽  
Language Switching ◽  
Switch Costs ◽  
Signed Language ◽  
Dual Response ◽  
Single Response ◽  
Mixing Costs ◽  
German Sign Language

In communication, different forms of language combinations are possible for bimodal bilinguals, who use a spoken and a signed language. They can either switch from one language to another (language switching) or produce a word and a sign simultaneously (language blending). The present study examines language control mechanisms in language switching and simultaneous bimodal language production, comparing single-response (German or German Sign Language) and dual-response trials (Blend of the German word and the German Sign Language sign). There were three pure blocks, one for each Target-response (German, German Sign Language, Blend), as well as mixed blocks, in which participants switched between all three Target-responses. We observed language mixing costs, switch costs and dual-response costs. Further, the data pattern showed a specific dual-response advantage for switching into a Blend (i.e., a dual-response trial), indicating the specific nature of a blended response in bimodal bilingual language production.

“What’s the sign for nitty gritty?”

2018 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 49-70 ◽  
Author(s):  
Giulia Petitta ◽  
Mark Halley ◽  
Brenda Nicodemus
Keyword(s):  
American Sign Language ◽  
Training Session ◽  
Spoken Language ◽  
Target Language ◽  
Original Form ◽  
American Sign ◽  
Signed Language ◽  
Linguistic Term ◽  
Language Output ◽  
Unique Capability

Abstract Humans have the unique capability of using language to talk about language (Jakobson 1957). For example, one can say, “The Italian word for dog is cane.” These metalinguistic references can create a dilemma for interpreters because the critical linguistic term (i.e., cane) must be maintained in the target language to create meaning. Spoken language interpreters can render the original form since both working languages are expressed in the same modality (speech-speech). However, signed language interpreters who work between languages having distinct modalities (speech-sign), thus, must interpret forms between different phonological structures. We videorecorded ten experienced American Sign Language-English interpreters as they interpreted a mock training session containing metalinguistic references. Results showed interpreters employed numerous strategies to manage and coordinate the target language output.

Effects of required and optional exchange tasks in online language learning environments

ReCALL ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 85-107 ◽  
Author(s):  
Klaus Brandl
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Learning Environments ◽  
Language Production ◽  
Target Language ◽  
Synchronous Mode ◽  
Online Language Learning ◽  
Beginning Learners ◽  
Task Types ◽  
The Impact

AbstractThis study investigates the effects of an optional and required (jigsaw) task on learners’ quantity and quality of use of language under synchronous and asynchronous conditions. The question raised is: Does performing either of these task types under synchronous conditions cause a compounding effect that either positively or negatively impacts language production? Eighty-six beginning learners of German participated in this study. The results show that the optional task yielded significantly more learner output, both in terms of target language and c-unit counts. The impact of the condition appears to be mixed, favoring the synchronous mode. Regarding quality, students produced fewer errors when performing the required than the optional task. The results of this study have implications for task design and implementation in online learning environments.

Interactional Modifications in Internet Chatting

2009 ◽  
pp. 1390-1409
Author(s):  
Neny Isharyanti
Keyword(s):  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Classroom Environment ◽  
Language Production ◽  
Computer Mediated Communication ◽  
Target Language ◽  
College Level ◽  
Mediated Communication ◽  
Computer Mediated ◽  
Esl Learners

Studies in computer-mediated communication (CMC) have shown that it has the potential to provide opportunities for ESL learners to actively participate in communication using the target language, to notice inter-language gaps in their language production, and to negotiate meaning by the use of interactional modifications (IMs). The use of certain types of communication tasks also seems to play an important role in how to increase the quantity and quality of interactions among learners. Such a role is believed to affect the effectiveness of language acquisition. This chapter reports the findings of a study that investigates Internet chatting interactions between 28 college-level Indonesian non-native speakers (NNSs) of English using two different communicative language tasks, a jigsaw task and a decision- making task, which are believed to facilitate language acquisition. The main aim of this chapter is to discuss how the differences in tasks may generate different frequencies and types of IMs, as well as the possibilities of employing the results of the study in a classroom environment.

Interactional Modifications in Internet Chatting

2011 ◽  
pp. 271-290
Author(s):  
Neny Isharyanti
Keyword(s):  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Classroom Environment ◽  
Language Production ◽  
Computer Mediated Communication ◽  
Target Language ◽  
College Level ◽  
Mediated Communication ◽  
Computer Mediated ◽  
Esl Learners

Studies in computer-mediated communication (CMC) have shown that it has the potential to provide opportunities for ESL learners to actively participate in communication using the target language, to notice inter-language gaps in their language production, and to negotiate meaning by the use of interactional modifications (IMs). The use of certain types of communication tasks also seems to play an important role in how to increase the quantity and quality of interactions among learners. Such a role is believed to affect the effectiveness of language acquisition. This chapter reports the findings of a study that investigates Internet chatting interactions between 28 college-level Indonesian non-native speakers (NNSs) of English using two different communicative language tasks, a jigsaw task and a decision- making task, which are believed to facilitate language acquisition. The main aim of this chapter is to discuss how the differences in tasks may generate different frequencies and types of IMs, as well as the possibilities of employing the results of the study in a classroom environment.

Chinese Deaf viewers’ comprehension of sign language interpreting on television

Interpreting ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 91-117 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiaoyan Xiao ◽  
Xiaoyan Chen ◽  
Jeffrey Levi Palmer
Keyword(s):  
Experimental Study ◽  
High Pressure ◽  
Sign Language ◽  
Language Fluency ◽  
Signed Language ◽  
Written Form ◽  
Negative Effect ◽  
Program Content ◽  
Sign Language Interpreting

Over 200 television channels in China broadcast news with signed language interpreting, making this one of the most visible forms of public accessibility for Deaf citizens. However, previous surveys have reported that most viewers have difficulty understanding the sign language interpreter. This experimental study examines how well a group of 49 Deaf individuals do, comparing their level of comprehension with that of twenty hearing viewers whose medium of access to program content is spoken Mandarin. All participants completed simple comprehension questions, in written form, after viewing twenty short news clips. These were shown once to the hearing viewers, and twice to Deaf viewers so as to compensate for any intrinsic difficulty related to the limited visual clarity of televised signed language interpreting. Results show that, even with interpretation, the Deaf viewers do not benefit equally from the news clips. Analysis of the interpretations suggests that the interpreters’ lack of Chinese Sign Language fluency might have contributed to the Deaf viewers’ lesser comprehension. In addition to insufficient training, the high pressure the interpreters experience in relation to interpreting in media settings might have a negative effect on the quality of their interpretation.

SPECIFIC FEATURES OF ALTERNATIVE COMMUNICATION WITH CHILDREN WITH SENSORY DISORDERS AND MULTIPLE DISABILITIES

2018 ◽  
Vol 28 (3) ◽  
pp. 1027-1030
Author(s):  
Gergana Todorova - Markova
Keyword(s):  
Sign Language ◽  
Mutual Influence ◽  
Multiple Disabilities ◽  
Educational Needs ◽  
Special Focus ◽  
Special Educational Needs ◽  
Alternative Communication ◽  
Sensory Disorders ◽  
Communication Situations

The article is focused on the communication with children with special educational needs. The main topic is alternative communication with children with sensory disorders and multiple disabilities. It explores the phenomenon of communication, citing current definitions developed by a number of authors, which place the emphasis on different aspects of this complex and multilayered process, with a special focus on alternative communication with the groups of special needs children mentioned in the title.The issue is investigated from a special pedagogical and from a social perspective.The author is especially interested in the exploration of the multiple strata of communication (the universal, functional and specific levels). Apart from the different forms, contents, methods and means of communication (the last of which is most commonly discussed in Bulgaria), the article is focused primarily on the important methodological issues related to this topic.One of these basic questions of methodology is the attempt not to place at the center of this process its bi-directional nature, its algorithm or code (sign language, Braille writing system, etc.), but instead to focus on the personalities of those involved in the interaction, their initiative, relationship and goals manifested in different communication situations (mutual influence, emancipation and therapy). Particular emphasis is given to therapy, i.e. the way of influencing the communication behavior of children with sensory disorders and multiple disabilities. It is not viewed as a unilateral process (stimulus-response), but as an interactive one, based on mutual influence. The relationship between the communicators is of utmost significance.Communication is characterized by a number of specific features. Those can mostly be found in the specificity of the communication situations (for example the interactive situations in the following pairs of communicators: deaf – hard of hearing; deaf – deaf; deaf-blind – deaf, etc.), in the presence of an intermediary (for example a sign language interpreter) and above all in the personalities of the communicators. They change the quality of communication. It is for this reason, and not just because of the different means of communication, that this interaction is defined as “alternative”, or more precisely, it is an alternative to the communication of children without disabilities.Based on the analyzed information, the author formulates a number of inferences and recommendations. The main conclusion is the following:When discussing alternative communication with children with special educational needs, the focus should shift from the specific means of communication towards the equally socially important quality of the complex process of communication, which is centered on the personality of the handicapped child.

scholarly journals Spatial Vantage Points in Norwegian Sign Language

2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 583-600
Author(s):  
Lindsay Ferrara ◽  
Torill Ringsø
Keyword(s):  
Sign Language ◽  
Mobile Agent ◽  
Preliminary Evidence ◽  
Vantage Point ◽  
Spatial Language ◽  
Fixed Position ◽  
External Observer ◽  
Point Position ◽  
Signed Language ◽  
Vantage Points

AbstractPrevious studies on perspective in spatial signed language descriptions suggest a basic dichotomy between either a route or a survey perspective, which entails either the signer being conceptualized as a mobile agent within a life-sized scene or the signer in a fixed position as an external observer of a scaled-down scene. We challenge this dichotomy by investigating the particular couplings of vantage point position and mobility engaged during various types of spatial language produced across eight naturalistic conversations in Norwegian Sign Language. Spatial language was annotated for the purpose of the segment, the size of the environment described, the signs produced, and the location and mobility of vantage points. Analysis revealed that survey and route perspectives, as characterized in the literature, do not adequately account for the range of vantage point combinations observed in conversations (e.g., external, but mobile, vantage points). There is also some preliminary evidence that the purpose of the spatial language and the size of the environments described may also play a role in how signers engage vantage points. Finally, the study underscores the importance of investigating spatial language within naturalistic conversational contexts.

scholarly journals Domains of Health-Related Quality of Life Are Associated With Specific Deficits and Lesion Locations in Chronic Aphasia

2021 ◽  
pp. 154596832110175
Author(s):  
Elizabeth L. Dvorak ◽  
Davetrina S. Gadson ◽  
Elizabeth H. Lacey ◽  
Andrew T. DeMarco ◽  
Peter E. Turkeltaub
Keyword(s):  
Quality Of Life ◽  
Language Production ◽  
Depression Symptoms ◽  
Stroke Survivors ◽  
Factor Scores ◽  
Lesion Location ◽  
Related Quality ◽  
Health Related ◽  
Left Hemisphere Stroke

Background Health-related quality of life (HRQL) in stroke survivors is related to numerous factors, but more research is needed to delineate factors related to HRQL in people with aphasia. Objective To examine the relationship between HRQL and demographic factors, impairment-based measures, and lesion characteristics in chronic aphasia. Methods A total of 41 left-hemisphere stroke survivors with aphasia underwent cognitive testing and magnetic resonance imaging. To address relationships with demographic and impairment-based measures, test scores were entered into a principal component analysis (PCA) and multiple linear regression was performed for overall and domain (physical, communication, psychosocial) scores of the Stroke and Aphasia Quality of Life Scale (SAQOL-39g). Independent variables included factor scores from the PCA, motricity, lesion volume, depressed mood, and demographic variables. To address relationships with lesion location, multivariate support vector regression lesion-symptom mapping (SVR-LSM) was used to localize lesions associated with SAQOL-39g scores. Results The PCA yielded 3 factors, which were labeled Language Production, Nonlinguistic Cognition, and Language Comprehension. Multiple linear regression revealed that depression symptoms predicted lower SAQOL-39g average and domain scores. Lower motricity scores predicted lower SAQOL-39g average and physical scores, and lower Language Production factor scores predicted lower communication scores. SVR-LSM demonstrated that basal ganglia lesions were associated with lower physical scores, and inferior frontal lesions were associated with lower psychosocial scores. Conclusions HRQL in chronic left-hemisphere stroke survivors with aphasia relates to lesion location, depression symptoms, and impairment-based measures. This information may help identify individuals at risk for specific aspects of low HRQL and facilitate targeted interventions to improve well-being.

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