Advances in Teaching Sign Language Interpreters

Beyond He Said, She Said: The Challenge of Referring Expressions for Interpreting Students

L A U R I E S W A B E Y Beyond He Said, She Said: The Challenge of Referring Expressions for Interpreting Students Referring expressions are an integral part of language and are present in every discourse that students interpret. In a sentence such as “The woman next door gave the green book to my son’s friend,” referring forms such as “the woman next door” and “the green book” are descriptive. However, the same meaning in context could be conveyed by the sentence, “She gave it to him.” In this version , the pronominal forms she, it, and him are based on previous information that would have to be known to the listener in order for the sentence to be understood. Thus pronouns, more than other words, depend greatly on their context for their meaning. For instance, the pronoun it is constrained only by the fact that its referent must be singular and inanimate ; beyond that, many meanings are possible. However, in conversations we regularly understand sentences such as “She showed it to him” or “That doesn’t tell her how it is.” Even though pronouns such as these have the potential to cause ambiguities, in context listeners usually understand the intended referent without confusion (Halmari 1996). However, most second-language learners have an easier time producing and comprehending full noun phrases (the teacher, my boyfriend’s mother, doctor, my school) than other, less explicit 78 referring expressions such as pronouns or referential shifting. Thus, although interpreting students may be able to understand the sign teacher in an American Sign Language (ASL) text, they may be less confident in their ability to track the other forms that are used to refer to the actions or thoughts of this teacher. This observation is supported by Taylor (2002) who reports that a common error for interpreters is “to omit information about referents in their interpretations , particularly when more than one character or object is referenced in the same sentence or when the signer switches quickly between constructed dialogue (speaking as the characters) and narrator mode (speaking directly to the audience).” Many interpreting students produce interpretations before they have had the opportunity to develop sufficient competency and fluency in ASL. When faced with the complexities of the interpreting task, they tend to rely on their knowledge of referencing in English. As is typical for second-language learners, they overlay the knowledge and strategies that they use in their first language on the language they are acquiring. This strategy is ineffective and results in poor interpretations and student frustration. Students need to keep in mind that referencing in ASL is much more complex than learning a pronominal system and then figuring out how and when to alternate between a full noun phrase (such as “the teacher”) and a pronoun (she). The linguistic resources available in ASL, including the use of both hands, eye gaze, facial expression , torso/head movement, and space around the signer, allow fluent signers to refer to entities in multiple ways, both simultaneously and sequentially. As they begin interpreting, students face the complex task of having to track several types of information about reference simultaneously. The teaching and learning approach described in this chapter involves students in developing an understanding of how, when, and why specific forms of reference are used in ASL and in English. This approach is based on observation, analysis, and application. In this way, students develop more effective strategies for using and comprehending referring forms; a more specific framework for analyzing their use of referring expressions in their own work and Beyond He Said, She Said 79 discussing that use with peers; and, over time, more facility with referring expressions, which leads to the ability to produce interpretations that are more fluent and accurate. Background on Reference for Interpreting Students One of the aspects of reference that students find useful is the distinction between given and new information. New information is that which the speaker assumes to be introducing to the addressee or reactivating in the addressee’s mind. In contrast, given information is the knowledge that the speaker assumes to be in the consciousness of the listener at the time of the utterance (Chafe 1976). In all languages, information that is given and that the speaker assumes to be in focus can by conveyed with forms that have the least phonetic content, such as pronouns or zero pronominals...