small, unclear signs?

[Frank Harrington]

Tessa

You said...
> One problem I have encountered, and I would like to know whether it is
> unique or not, is that of signing to interpreters.  I have observed that
> some deaf people seem to dislike signing to interpreters, and articulate
> their signs very small and without clarity, making them very hard to
> understand.  Is this a phenomena that only I have seen??

Is this something you have encountered as a working interpreter, or
as an observer?  It raises a number of questions for me - in no
particular order...

If you observed this while interpreting, is it possible that your
perception is influenced by the difficulty of the task you are
undertaking?  Does the signing just seem less clear because you
are doing so much more than simply being a passive receiver?

If this is not so, and see this when you are an observer, then is it
possible that what you see is Deaf people altering their language
production out of a sense either of comfort or discomfort with the
interpreter?

It has been suggested that Deaf people alter their communication
when 'talking' with non-deaf people, and use a 'pidgin'.  I have
sometimes wondered whether, as an interpreter, I have ever been
asked to produce or voice real BSL, or whether Deaf people use
some degree of pidgin when communicating through me?  I also
wonder whether, if this is so, it relates to their perception of me, or
their perception of the non-deaf person with whom they are using
me to communicate?

I don't know for sure whether this happens or not.  As an
interpreter, I am using what I believe to be BSL, but this as been
taught to me over a number of years as a second language by a
mixture of Deaf and non-deaf people.  I am certain that I do not use
it with native competence.

I know Bencie and others have observed, researched and written
about the language, but I think that there is still a lot that we don't
know (certainly there is a lot that has not yet been written) about
the intricacies and subtleties of BSL structure and grammar as
used by native Deaf people, hence my uncertainty.

A final thought about your observation... Perhaps what you have
seen has something to do with the perceived balance of power
between the interpreter and the Deaf person (as suggested by
Charlotte Baker-Schenk).  Does the fact that I am a non-deaf
person, with the potential to 'influence' or even 'control' the
communication event, have an impact on the deaf person's
language delivery?

Just thoughts and questions...

Frank


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Frank Harrington
Deaf Studies Team
Department of Education Studies
University of Central Lancashire
Preston PR1 2HE
ENGLAND

Tel:    +44 1772 893107 (Direct line)
fax:    +44 1772 892922
email:  f.j.harrington at uclan.ac.uk