Tactile sign languages

Willoughby, Louisa; Iwasaki, Shimako; Bartlett, Meredith; Manns, Howard

doi:10.1075/hop.21.tac1

Cited by 32 publications

(21 citation statements)

References 29 publications

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“…Tactile sign languages also require that individuals are close to one another as some signs may be articulated on the other person's face, hands or body (Raanes, 2011). Furthermore, reception of tactile sign languages may be one-handed (e.g., in the United States, Sweden, and France) or two-handed (e.g., Norway and Australia), and this variation depends on different factors including the language itself or the community using it, among others (Willoughby et al, 2018).…”

Section: Specifics Of Tactile Sign Language Interpretingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Although there are many aspects of tactile sign languages which are still unresearched, this is an issue that is attracting more and more attention from scholars, especially with respect to tactile American Sign Language (ASL), tactile Swedish Sign Language (STS), tactile French Sign Language (LSF), tactile Norwegian Sign Language (NTS), tactile Japanese Sign Language (JSL), tactile Australian Sign Language (Auslan) (see Willoughby et al, 2018 for an overview), and tactile Italian Sign Language (LIS) (Checchetto et al, 2018). Furthermore, there are some research initiatives on the practice of tactile sign language interpreters (Frankel, 2002;Metzger et al, 2004;Edwards, 2012;Slettebakk Berge and Raanes, 2013;Raanes and Slettebakk Berge, 2017).…”

Section: Research On Tactile Sign Language Interpretingmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Conveying Environmental Information to Deafblind People: A Study of Tactile Sign Language Interpreting

Gabarró-López

Mesch

2020

Front. Educ.

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Many deafblind people use tactile sign language and interpreters in their daily lives. Because of their hearing and sight status, the role of interpreters does not only involve translating the content expressed by other deaf or hearing people, but it also involves conveying environmental information (i.e., multimodal communication regarding what is happening at a given moment to be able to understand the context). This paper aims to contribute to the field of tactile sign language interpreting by describing how two Tactile Swedish Sign Language interpreters convey environmental information to two deafblind women in a particular situation, that is, a guided visit to a cathedral by a hearing Norwegian speaker. We expect to find various strategies including the use of haptic signs (i.e., a system of signs articulated on the body of the deafblind person aimed to provide environmental and interactional information). After summarizing the small amount of existing research on the issue to date, we present our data and how they were annotated. Our analysis shows that a variety of strategies are used, including Tactile Swedish Sign Language, using locative points to show locations with some type of contact with the body of deafblind individuals, depicting shapes on the palm of the hand of deafblind individuals, using objects to depict shapes, touching elements of the cathedral with the hands or with the feet such as surfaces, and walking around. Some of these strategies are more frequent than others and some strategies are also used in combination, whereas others are used in isolation. We did not observe any use of haptic signs to convey environmental information in our data, which calls for further research on which criteria apply to use this strategy in a particular situation.

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Section: Specifics Of Tactile Sign Language Interpretingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Research On Tactile Sign Language Interpretingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Conveying Environmental Information to Deafblind People: A Study of Tactile Sign Language Interpreting

Gabarró-López

Mesch

2020

Front. Educ.

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“…In what follows, we argue that the complex multifunctionality taps have taken on can be traced back to a simple backchanneling cue used to signal continued attention or agreement. Backchanneling signals like these have been described in other DeafBlind communities (e.g., “YES-tapping” in Mesch, 2001 ; and see Willoughby et al, 2018 , p. 9–11). We argue that these signals have been co-opted by protactile language to serve several different attention-modulating functions, including demonstrative reference.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 66%

The Grammatical Incorporation of Demonstratives in an Emerging Tactile Language

Edwards

Brentari

2021

Front. Psychol.

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In this article, we analyze the grammatical incorporation of demonstratives in a tactile language, emerging in communities of DeafBlind signers in the US who communicate via reciprocal, tactile channels—a practice known as “protactile.” In the first part of the paper, we report on a synchronic analysis of recent data, identifying four types of “taps,” which have taken on different functions in protacitle language and communication. In the second part of the paper, we report on a diachronic analysis of data collected over the past 8 years. This analysis reveals the emergence of a new kind of “propriotactic” tap, which has been co-opted by the emerging phonological system of protactile language. We link the emergence of this unit to both demonstrative taps, and backchanneling taps, both of which emerged earlier. We show how these forms are all undergirded by an attention-modulation function, more or less backgrounded, and operating across different semiotic systems. In doing so, we contribute not only to what is known about demonstratives in tactile languages, but also to what is known about the role of demonstratives in the emergence of new languages.

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“…Deafblind signers are a group at high risk of social isolation. They are also a group made up predominantly of people who have been deaf since a young age, but lost their vision later in life, and thus are adapting a previously known visual sign language to perception via touch (see Willoughby et al, 2018 for more on this point). What these two points mean in practice is that in situations where deafblind people have relatively few opportunities to come together socially and use a tactile sign language with each other, ways of adapting the local sign language for tactile delivery may remain ad hoc or relatively ineffectual.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It is thus our umbrella term of choice in this article. Terminological issues in this area are discussed at greater length in Willoughby et al (2018).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Are you trying to be funny? Communicating humour in deafblind conversations

et al. 2019

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Humour is a prevalent feature in any form of human interaction, regardless of language modality. This article explores in detail how humour is negotiated in conversations among deafblind Australians who are fluent users of tactile Australian Sign Language (Auslan). Without access to the visual or auditory cues that are normally associated with humour (e.g. smiles, laughter, eye crinkles and ‘smile voice’), there is a risk that deafblind interactants will misconstrue humorous utterances as serious, or be unsure whether their conversation partner has got the joke. In this article, we explore how humorous utterances unfold in tactile signed interactions. Drawing on Conversation Analytic principles, we outline the ad hoc and more conventionalised signals deafblind signers use to signal amusement. Looking at humour in these conversations contributes to a greater understanding of how humour is conveyed across language modalities and further support for humour’s centrality to interactional solidarity.

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Tactile sign languages

Cited by 32 publications

References 29 publications

Conveying Environmental Information to Deafblind People: A Study of Tactile Sign Language Interpreting

Conveying Environmental Information to Deafblind People: A Study of Tactile Sign Language Interpreting

The Grammatical Incorporation of Demonstratives in an Emerging Tactile Language

Are you trying to be funny? Communicating humour in deafblind conversations

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