Adverbial Morphemes in Tactile ASL - Gallaudet University

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PDE – Steven D. Collins Intellectual Context and Literature Review _________________________________________________________________________________________________________ the fingers. Furthermore, Tactile ASL is a clear example of a dialect in a signed language, for two reasons: 1) we see variation at all levels of the language – phonological, morphosyntactic, and lexical, and 2) there is a community of users who show systematic use of the dialect. Opportunities for Deaf-Blind adults to interact and socialize with each other have greatly increased over the past 30 years. With the establishment of the American Association of the Deaf-Blind, Deaf-Blind adults from all over the United States have begun to convene for weeklong conventions and have established local chapters in various states. As state agencies are set up, and Deaf-Blind people learn of cities that provide quality services, they have begun to move to these cities, e.g., Seattle and Minneapolis. This fact, and the addition of job and leadership opportunities, has lead to the emergence of many Deaf-Blind communities (McNamara 1997). Padden and Humphries (1988), Lucas and Valli (1992), Patrick and Metzger (1996), and Parasnis (1997) discuss the wide range of language diversity that occurs in the Deaf Community. It is because many Deaf-Blind persons were first members of the Deaf Community, similar language diversity is found in the Deaf-Blind community. In fact, one of the problems that appeared in early research on ASL is that Deaf informants were not always ASL users. The same is true of research into Tactile ASL: not every Deaf-Blind person who uses tactile signing is a Tactile ASL user and some might use a more English-like form of signing, or one of the manual systems developed and used in educational settings. The focus of this review as well as the focus of this paper’s research study is to show that language diversity exists between Tactile ASL users, as opposed to other types of tactile signing, and other communication methods used by deaf-blind persons such as palm writing, Tadoma and others. While the Deaf-Blind community in the United States is growing and Tactile ASL is receiving increased recognition, there has not been a corresponding growth in the amount of information about Tactile ASL. When Tactile ASL is mentioned, it is usually in materials for sign language interpreters. This material is generally based on personal experiences and observations of the authors, most of whom are involved in the field of Deaf-Blind interpreting, e.g., Smith (1977, 1994); Petronio (1988); and Atwood, Clarkson and Laba, (1994). Dr. Theresa Smith, an anthropologist and author of Guidelines: Practical Tips for Involving and Socializing with Deaf-Blind People, has worked as an interpreter at international conferences in Tokyo, Paris 23
PDE – Steven D. Collins Intellectual Context and Literature Review _________________________________________________________________________________________________________ and Vienna and has been on the Coordinating Board for national conventions of the American Association of the Deaf-Blind since 1984. She has published a book on communicating with and interpreting for Deaf-Blind people and has often presented workshops as either a visiting or guest lecturer on interpreting for Deaf-Blind people, interpreting in legal settings, and the cultural aspects of interpreting and discourse. Smith states that while tactile interpreting, the interpreter must “pay particular attention to the manner in which grammatical information is presented, including: non-manual signals, the grammatical use of space, movement in time and place, and movement in space (arc, zigzags, bounces, etc.) to inflect and inform individual signs, phrases and larger chunks” (Smith 1994, p.91). Smith notes that these areas have to be ‘modified somewhat’ to fit the tactual mode. With the exception of Smith’s work, there is little information available for interpreters on how to modify their signing. For example, Deaf-Blind interpreting was the theme of the December 1997 issue of Views, the monthly publication of the Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf. However, while this issue contains 11 articles on Deaf-Blind Interpreting, none of the articles describes the linguistic features of Tactile ASL. As well, there is not one article suggesting what linguistic modifications should be made while tactile interpreting. Petronio (1986) did the first study examining linguistic features of Tactile ASL as used by fluent Deaf-Blind adults. This study questioned how Deaf-Blind adults are able to successfully use and understand ASL tactually when placing one hand on the back of the signer’s hand. In Petronio’s study, three skilled Deaf-Blind Tactile ASL users were videotaped as they retold a short story to each other tactually. They also retold the story non-tactually to two Deaf ASL users. Three 2-3 minute stories were designed which contained examples of three targeted features: 1) sequences involving non-manual ‘role-shifts’ and eye gaze, 2) examples of two-handed signs, and 3) examples of signs with detailed information provided by the fingers. Petronio’s study compared and contrasted the use of these features in the tactile and non-tactile story retellings. Additional findings show that Deaf-Blind signers use role-shift and eye-gaze in both tactile and non-tactile signing. In ASL, role-shift and eye gaze can be used to indicate direct speech: a signer’s upper body will “shift” and their eye-gaze will be directed toward a spatial location, e.g., to the left or to the right (Valli and Lucas 1995). Deaf receivers can visually see 24
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