This article discusses ways in which misunderstandings arise in Tactile Australian Sign Language (Tactile Auslan) and how they are resolved. Of particular interest are the similarities to and differences from the same processes in visually signed and spoken conversation. This article draws on detailed conversation analysis (CA) and demonstrates the power of this methodology for uncovering the subtleties of misunderstanding and repair in deaf-blind communication. In doing so, it aids our understanding of the challenges deaf-blind people encounter in adapting a visual sign language for tactile delivery. Above all, this article demonstrates that experienced tactile signers have a range of strategies at their disposal to resolve interactional trouble and deploy them quickly and effectively when misunderstandings arise.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.