THE “INTERPRETATION” OF EXPRESSIVE INTONATION FOR TACTILE SIGN LANGUAGE AT CONFERENCES

Abstract

The guide-interpreter for deaf-blind people corresponds to a specialization of work of Sign Language Translator and Interpreter (Portuguese abbreviation: TILS). The aim of this study is to provide fundamental considerations about the guide-interpretation within the context of conferences for the Brazilian Tactile Sign Language (Libras Tátil). These considerations regard more specifically to adaptations and specific lexicon for interpretation of expressive intonation of the utterances, considering effects of language modality and conditions of production and reception. For this purpose, three conferences guide-interpretation video records and a teamwork field diary of other conferences were analyzed. We observed the use of different lexical units assuming the function of expressive intonation for affirmative and negative sentences, replacing morphemes produced by non-manual elements (facial and body expressions) or by movement. We consider that in the interpretation activity for Libras Tátil, a simple lexical item can assume different grammatical functions. It seems spare or redundant, but it becomes an element of expressive intonation. For this reason, acting in conferences requires specific linguistic competence from the professional guide-interpreter, in addition to description and translation skills.

Keywords
Guide-interpretation; Expressive intonation; Tactile Libras; Conferences