LL-L "Language contacts" 2004.10.17 (02) [E]

[Lowlands-L]

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L O W L A N D S - L * 17.OCT.2004 (02) * ISSN 189-5582 * LCSN 96-4226
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From: Sandy Fleming <sandy at scotstext.org>
Subject: "Language contacts" [E]

I sometimes give general background on deaf culture, but linguistically I
try to concentrate on how BSL interfaces with English to keep things on
topic. This time I'm talking more about the interface between the speakers
rather than between the languages, and also some of the terminology used in
English to describe the situations that arise.

When neither speaks the other's language, the interaction between the
hearing and deaf is simple enough - the hearing think the deaf are rude and
stupid, and the deaf think the hearing are rude and stupid, and that's about
it.

When the hearing are absent the linguistic situation is pretty "normal"
except for some cultural differences due at least partly to the difference
in the communication medium.

When deaf and hearing people get together with a view to communicating,
however, things get a lot more interesting. Sometimes it just means that
everybody speaks in sign language, but if some of the hearing don't know
sign language, a lot of interpretation goes on, whether between professional
interpreters or just friends.

Even when everybody knows BSL, special situations keep arising because of
situational factors. Often a hearing person is in a better position than
another hearing person to get a message to a deaf person, resulting in relay
interpretation.

Once when I was driving some friends (two hearing, one hard of hearing) to a
conference, we got seriously lost in Bournemouth. After some time, the
person in the passenger seat started giving me directions. I began to
realise that she somehow knew exactly where to go, but she'd never been here
before! I asked her where she was getting them. She explained that the
hearing person in the back was on the phone to someone at the conference and
relaying directions to her (the person in the front) in English, and she was
signing them to me in BSL!

On arriving in the conference hall we were all sitting quietly looking
around at the other people. Then the conversation started: "One of the
speakers is ill and might not make it", "That little girl's here because the
babysitter cancelled at ten o'clock last night" and so on. This is because
when a lot of people are signing, a group that's just entered naturally sits
eavesdropping on conversations all over the hall and then they inform each
other of what they've learned about the current situation.

If it were just "deaf" and "hearing", the situation at a meeting or
conference would be relatively simple. There would just be an interpreter
who interprets back and forth between BSL and English. However, there are
two other categories that need to be considered - "deafened", and "hard of
hearing".

The hard of hearing, unless they choose to learn BSL, usually use hearing
aids with a special switch position (marked "T" for telephone because it was
originally designed for use with specially-equipped telephones), which
receives magnetic fields and converts them to sound. This depends on having
a microphone communicating by radio with a loop of wire which runs all round
the room and generates the required magnetic fields.

Loops cut out all background noise but are often problematic. Either the
people who set it up didn't wear hearing aids and don't realise it isn't
working, or the loop makes weird feedback-like noises periodically, or in
church only the minister has a microphone and they can hear him making a
dog's dinner of the hymn because he thinks he's drowned out beneath the
beautiful singers in the choir and congregation!

Another facility for the hard of hearing is the lipspeaker. A lipspeaker is
someoe with perfect hearing who can listen to a speaker and move his lips
silently but with very clear enunciation almost in perfect synch with what
the speaker is saying. Synchronisation is important as the hard of hearing
person is depending on listening to the speaker at the same time as watching
the lipspeaker. Lipspeakers are also aware of which words are difficult to
lipread and will fingerspell a crucial one or two letters of these words.

For deafened people (again, we're only talking about those who haven't
learned BSL) there's the SpeedText typist. SpeedText has replaced the old
palantype system in the UK. It's the same idea, but instead of requiring
special keying hardware like palantype, it's just a piece of software which
can be used on any laptop. I don't know how it works but I've notice that
typing something like "hspl" results in "hospital" being displayed on the
projection screen. The SpeedText typist dusts her hands with powdered chalk,
then places the laptop on her lap and types very fast with almost no errors.
She must be typing faster than the speakers and interpreters can talk,
because she also inserts the speakers' names as in the script of a play, and
switches to different colours of text for different speakers.

And of course, there are sign language interpreters for the hearing (if the
speaker is using BSL) and for the deaf (if the speaker is using English). In
the UK is takes seven years to train as a BSL interpreter, but you can make
a lot of money out of it.

Finally, the agenda for a meeting or conference may list an "Eyebreak"
between speakers, which is a few minutes for people to give their eyes a
rest. But (as many humourists have noted) the deaf never stop talking.

A hearing person said to me a long time ago that you can always tell when a
signer is really deaf because they always make a lot of noise when they're
signing. I never used to believe this, until one day I was talking to three
hearing signers - two opposite me and one sitting at the wall to my right. I
asked them if it seemed strange to them to have a conversation and yet the
room was still quiet. The woman to my right signed, "It's quiet on THIS side
of the room!" Her signing indicated the opposite side of the room from me,
so I suppose it's true!

Sandy
http://scotstext.org/

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