American Special Education Community Needs Assessment
Linguistic Equivalence
Strategies for creating message equivalence:
The interpreter first needs to recognize linguistic differences to be able to provide semantic equivalence. A main difference is between male and female salient linguistic styles. ASL is contextual. The individual words matter less than the total overall message.
ASL has its own salient linguistic styles that we do not use in English: Expansion and Compression Techniques.
Rule of Thumb: English- Voice the first sample portion only. Use vocal intonation and body language for emphasis. Pacing and pausing is a critical element.
CONTRASTING: use space in front of you for organization.
ASL-What it is (shift) and then what it is not (shift) or you can sandwich - sample-contrast-sample.
Example: It’s bitter cold outside. It’s cold (shift) not cool (shift) it’s COLD (fs).
English- That whale was huge ASL- whale (reference) huge, not tiny, really really big
FACETING: using more than one related descriptive sign in conjunction with the word, using adjectives and adverbs.
Example- A sparkling clean window. Window clean, bright, shiny.
English- The test was easy ASL- test, nothing to it, easy, finish fast
REITERATION: signs repeated exactly as stated, using adjectives and adverbs. They can be sandwiched or consecutive.
Example- I waited in a long line forever. Long line, I wait wait wait long line.
English - it was my job ASL- it was MY job, not teachers, my duty, responsibility
Explaining by example- listing to ensure larger concept comprehension (like faceting but with nouns) Example- Weapon, Middle East, Balanced diet, Hippy
English- Jewelry ASL -fs, you know, ring, bracelet, earring, nose ring, necklace…that.
Couching/Scaffolding - no specific lexical ASL items- a metacomment explaining connections of familiar things, a shrinking of one language and a flushing out of another. Example: English- sewer pipes /ASL- fs first then scaffold, you know toilet flush, water carry away, goes to BIG pipe…that
English- Endangered Species ASL- you know animals, not-many, people kill, maybe soon all die, gone, vanish
Describe then Do- shift from narrator to character. Eye gaze will shift as you become the role with a slight body shift Example: English- I called a friend ASL- me friend call, classifier video phone, sit, chat chat chat.
Skydiving - if something happens to the main shoot, you must activate the auxiliary shoot
ASL - I must do-do? Disconnect main shoot, Have behind another shoot. PULL that.
3D space- Create a picture of what it is with many visual details. There are five spacial features used in ASL:
v Referential space- pointing, eye gazing-how things are referred to in a space Example: Where the trees are
v Topographical space- mini view of larger space- map, real world view Example- Longitude and latitude of South America
v Spacial local - nouns/concepts set-up to be referred back to during work Example- describing alias and axis
v Classifiers - layered information- many categories - visual modality Example- the car entered the underground garage and parked to the left of the lot.
v Descriptive discourse- visual memory- have near and far9combined features) to create the whole. Example-become a lion, show sleepiness, enact distance by squinting and shading brows
The garden was beautiful. The flowers were blooming in reds, yellows, purples. The cat always naps in those beds, off in the far corner. Just above it are the birds signing in the trees.
Strategies for creating message equivalence:
The interpreter first needs to recognize linguistic differences to be able to provide semantic equivalence. A main difference is between male and female salient linguistic styles. ASL is contextual. The individual words matter less than the total overall message.
ASL has its own salient linguistic styles that we do not use in English: Expansion and Compression Techniques.
Rule of Thumb: English- Voice the first sample portion only. Use vocal intonation and body language for emphasis. Pacing and pausing is a critical element.
CONTRASTING: use space in front of you for organization.
ASL-What it is (shift) and then what it is not (shift) or you can sandwich - sample-contrast-sample.
Example: It’s bitter cold outside. It’s cold (shift) not cool (shift) it’s COLD (fs).
English- That whale was huge ASL- whale (reference) huge, not tiny, really really big
FACETING: using more than one related descriptive sign in conjunction with the word, using adjectives and adverbs.
Example- A sparkling clean window. Window clean, bright, shiny.
English- The test was easy ASL- test, nothing to it, easy, finish fast
REITERATION: signs repeated exactly as stated, using adjectives and adverbs. They can be sandwiched or consecutive.
Example- I waited in a long line forever. Long line, I wait wait wait long line.
English - it was my job ASL- it was MY job, not teachers, my duty, responsibility
Explaining by example- listing to ensure larger concept comprehension (like faceting but with nouns) Example- Weapon, Middle East, Balanced diet, Hippy
English- Jewelry ASL -fs, you know, ring, bracelet, earring, nose ring, necklace…that.
Couching/Scaffolding - no specific lexical ASL items- a metacomment explaining connections of familiar things, a shrinking of one language and a flushing out of another. Example: English- sewer pipes /ASL- fs first then scaffold, you know toilet flush, water carry away, goes to BIG pipe…that
English- Endangered Species ASL- you know animals, not-many, people kill, maybe soon all die, gone, vanish
Describe then Do- shift from narrator to character. Eye gaze will shift as you become the role with a slight body shift Example: English- I called a friend ASL- me friend call, classifier video phone, sit, chat chat chat.
Skydiving - if something happens to the main shoot, you must activate the auxiliary shoot
ASL - I must do-do? Disconnect main shoot, Have behind another shoot. PULL that.
3D space- Create a picture of what it is with many visual details. There are five spacial features used in ASL:
v Referential space- pointing, eye gazing-how things are referred to in a space Example: Where the trees are
v Topographical space- mini view of larger space- map, real world view Example- Longitude and latitude of South America
v Spacial local - nouns/concepts set-up to be referred back to during work Example- describing alias and axis
v Classifiers - layered information- many categories - visual modality Example- the car entered the underground garage and parked to the left of the lot.
v Descriptive discourse- visual memory- have near and far9combined features) to create the whole. Example-become a lion, show sleepiness, enact distance by squinting and shading brows
The garden was beautiful. The flowers were blooming in reds, yellows, purples. The cat always naps in those beds, off in the far corner. Just above it are the birds signing in the trees.