Australian Sign Research Articles

Healthcare interpreting as relational practice: Understanding the interpreter’s role in facilitating rapport in health interactions

This article explores the extent to which healthcare interpreting can be considered “relational practice.” It describes an interactional sociolinguistic study conducted in Australia, based on video recordings of two naturally occurring interpreted general practice consultations. Participants were hearing Australian Sign Language (Auslan)/English interpreters, deaf patients, and hearing doctors. Analysis of these recordings was supplemented by reflective interviews with participants. The study examines the ways in which interpreters facilitate good working relationships between participants, and to explore the extent to which their decision-making is driven by relational considerations. The analyses presented in this article provide evidence that relational work is an important aspect of the healthcare interpreter’s role. Some of the ways in which it is achieved, however, may challenge our ideas about “appropriate” interpreter behaviour. Thus, the skilled and experienced interpreters in the study were seen to modify face threats, directly influence the flow of interaction, and actively facilitate social talk and humour, occasionally even engaging in it themselves. It is argued that interpreters’ decisions can only be understood within the discursive context in which they occur, and such behaviour can highlight interpreters’ attentiveness to the maintenance of good rapport.

A New Method for Documenting Sign Language Productions in Schools

Purpose: There are well-established guidelines for the recording, transcription, and analysis of spontaneous oral language samples by researchers, educators, and speech pathologists. In contrast, there is presently no consensus regarding methods for the written documentation of sign language samples. The Handshape Analysis Recording Tool (HART) is an innovative method for documenting and analyzing word level samples of signed languages in real time. Fluent sign language users can document the expressive sign productions of children to gather data on sign use and accuracy. Method: The HART was developed to document children's productions in Australian Sign Language (Auslan) in a bilingual–bicultural educational program for the Deaf in Australia. This written method was piloted with a group of fluent signing Deaf educational staff in 2014–2016, then used in 2022–2023 with a group of fluent signing professionals to examine inter- and intrarater reliability when coding parameters of sign accuracy. Results: Interrater reliability measured by Gwet's Agreement Coefficient, was “good” to “very good” across the four phonological parameters that are components of every sign: location, movement, handshape, and orientation. Conclusions: The findings of this study indicate that the HART can be a reliable tool for coding the accuracy of location, orientation, movement, and handshape parameters of Auslan phonology when used by professionals fluent in Auslan. The HART can be utilized with any sign language to gather word level sign language samples in a written form and document the phonological accuracy of signed productions.

Australian families of deaf and hard of hearing children: Are they using sign?

BackgroundDeaf and hard of hearing (DHH) children may experience communication delays, irrespective of early intervention and technology. Australian Sign Language (Auslan) is one approach in early intervention to address language delays. Current prevalence of Auslan use among Australian families with DHH children is unknown. AimsThe first aim was to determine the proportion of families enrolled in an Australian statewide hearing loss databank who use Auslan with their DHH child. The second aim was to explore the relationships between indicators of child hearing loss (bilateral or unilateral hearing loss, degree of hearing loss, and device use: hearing aids and cochlear implants), family factors (maternal education, attendance at early intervention, family history of deafness, and socio-economic disadvantage) and the family's reported use of Auslan. MethodsWe analysed the enrolment data from 997 families who participated in an Australian statewide hearing loss databank between 2012 and 2021. We described the proportion of families who used Auslan with their DHH child at home. The association between indicators of child hearing loss and family factors, and the parental reports of communication approach were examined using correlation analyses. ResultsEighty-seven of 997 parents (8.7%) reported using Auslan with their DHH child. Of these, 26 (2.6%) used Auslan as their primary language. The use of Auslan at home was associated with the following indicators of child hearing loss: bilateral hearing loss, profound compared to mild hearing loss, and cochlear implant and hearing aid use compared to no device use. The family factors associated with the use of Auslan were: referral or attendance at early intervention compared to those who did not attend, and a family history of deafness compared to those with none. No association was found between maternal education and socio-economic disadvantage and the use of Auslan. ConclusionThis Australian study found a low proportion (8.7%) of families with a DHH child who reported using Auslan. Seven child hearing loss and family factors were considered, and five were significantly associated with using Auslan at home. Children with a greater degree of hearing loss, attendance at early intervention and family history of deafness tended to use Auslan.

AI empowered Auslan learning for parents of deaf children and children of deaf adults

AbstractCommunication poses a challenge for the deaf and hearing loss community. This difficulty is even more pronounced in the families of Children of Deaf Adults (CODAs) and Parents of Deaf Children (PODCs). To help these families overcome this challenge, we design an AI-empowered interactive bi-directional Australian Sign Language (i.e., Auslan) dictionary application to facilitate communication within a household. Technically, our APP can not only look up sign gestures for the given English words but also translate isolated Auslan gestures into English. Through an inviting user interface and experience design, we can further improve engagement within the CODA and PODC families while enabling Auslan education at home. The positive user experience underscores the success of our APP not only in leveraging AI to revolutionise Auslan education but also in promoting cross-generational language acquisition and communication.

Event structure reflected in muscle activation differences in Austrian Sign Language (ÖGS) verbs

This paper aims to introduce kinematic motion capture analysis and electromyography(EMG) methodology in the context of experimental investigations involving signlanguages. While motion capture has been employed in previous sign language research,the application of EMG is relatively novel. We utilized both motion capture andEMG techniques to examine the disparities in muscle activation associated with theproduction of telic verb signs (with boundary marking, e.g. the verb arrive) andatelic verb signs (lacking boundary marking, e.g. the verb run) in Austrian SignLanguage (ÖGS). The data analysis revealed that the visual boundary marking inherentin the production of telic signs, which is kinematically characterized by heightenedacceleration, jerk, and deceleration at the conclusion of a sign, is generated by increased activation in upper arm muscles during the sign and hold interval for telics comparedto atelics. In contrast, the majority of atelics exhibited a repeated movement, whichcontributed to more pronounced muscle activation in the forearm compared to telics.The EMG/motion capture combined method applied to sign language production offersnovel insights into linguistics of sign language that were previously inaccessible.

Prediction underlying comprehension of human motion: an analysis of Deaf signer and non-signer EEG in response to visual stimuli.

Sensory inference and top-down predictive processing, reflected in human neural activity, play a critical role in higher-order cognitive processes, such as language comprehension. However, the neurobiological bases of predictive processing in higher-order cognitive processes are not well-understood. This study used electroencephalography (EEG) to track participants' cortical dynamics in response to Austrian Sign Language and reversed sign language videos, measuring neural coherence to optical flow in the visual signal. We then used machine learning to assess entropy-based relevance of specific frequencies and regions of interest to brain state classification accuracy. EEG features highly relevant for classification were distributed across language processing-related regions in Deaf signers (frontal cortex and left hemisphere), while in non-signers such features were concentrated in visual and spatial processing regions. The results highlight functional significance of predictive processing time windows for sign language comprehension and biological motion processing, and the role of long-term experience (learning) in minimizing prediction error.

Multiple Languages to Sign Language Using NLTK

Sign language involves visual gestures and signs that deaf and mute people adopt as their first conversation. People other than deaf or hard of hearing can also use sign language, like, people suffering from autism, apraxia of speech, cerebral palsy or down syndrome. It entails hand gestures, non-verbal communication or physical movement, and face emotions all at the same time. It may be used by communities who have difficulty to speak, those who can hear but cannot talk, and helps normal individuals to interact with hearing impaired people. There are several groups of hearing-impaired people throughout the globe, and each community's language is unique. American Sign Language (ASL) is utilized throughout United States; British Sign Language (BSL) is a form of communication in the United Kingdom; Australian Sign Language (AUSLAN) is used in Australia; and Indian Sign Language (ISL) is used in India. ISL signs are divided into three categories: one handed, two handed, and non-manual signs. One-handed and two-handed signs are sometimes known as manual signs. Changes in body position and facial emotions provide non-manual indicators. This translator converts English text to Sign language, allowing hearing-impaired persons in India to engage with others. This application takes multiple languages as input and gives signs as information.

Comparative and Superlative Adjectives in Iranian Sign Language

Comparison is an inseparable part of a language. It can be performed using various constructions in both oral and signing languages. English and Persian, for instance use affixes for comparative and superlative adjectives. Sign languages such as Australian Sign Language (Auslan), New Zealand Sign Language (NZSL), American Sign Language (ASL) and British Sign Language (BSL) employ affixes, use intensifiers and nonmanual features (by itself or along with a sign) to indicate a comparison. This research was aimed to investigate the constructions employed to make comparisons in Iranian Sign Language, Zaban Eshare Irani (ZEI). The findings indicate that, besides the aforementioned constructions used in other sign languages, excluding ‘affixes’, the main construction ZEI signers used was descriptive mode of discourse (e.g. Anker 2004), individually explaining the compared topics to clarify their preference. To a lesser extent, numbering, topicalization, and repetition were also used which mostly united together or alone in the same discourse. A similar construction was also observed for both comparative and superlative adjectives. This study opens a new window to comprehend the deaf people’s mind of thinking, and will benefit studies on language and linguistics, sign language interpreters and those that are interested.

Handling Turn Transitions in Australian Tactile Signed Conversations

ABSTRACT This article explores how deafblind Australian Sign Language (Auslan) users, who communicate through an alternative range of modalities including tactile (hands) and kinetic (body movement) inputs, manage turn transitions. Studies of deafblind communication have typically employed a signal-based approach. In contrast, this article applies broader Conversational Analysis (CA) frameworks, which have been developed based on interlocutors who primarily rely on auditory-vocal and visual resources but have been productively applied to a range of languages, participants, and settings. Through fine-grained analyses of a single case study, this article examines how tactile Auslan signers orient to the relevance of turn transitions at possible completion points. The research illuminates the mechanics of how tactile Auslan signers negotiate turns and advances our understanding of both the analytical potentials of CA and the ways particular deafblind Auslan signers coordinate sequences, actions, and multimodalities in their interactional choreography. Data are in tactile Auslan.

Corrective Feedback to Second Language Learners of American Sign Language

This study examined the corrective feedback Deaf teachers used to target handshape, movement, and place-of-articulation errors in introductory American Sign Language (ASL) classes for hearing students. Although feedback is underresearched in bimodal second language (M2-L2) pedagogy, there is some evidence that teacher practices may differ from those observed in spoken L2 classes, notably in the more frequent use of direct corrections. Willoughby et al.'s (2015) study of Auslan (Australian Sign Language) reports that the teachers' preference for this type of correction stemmed from beliefs about the challenges of learning signed language phonology. Spoken L2 research suggests that a reliance on this type of feedback may limit students' opportunities to learn from their errors, as the nontarget form is corrected for the student and is not often followed by student "repair" of the original error (Panova and Lyster 2002). As student response to teacher feedback was not examined in Willoughby et al.'s (2015) study, we do not know if M2-L2 students show similar behavior. The current study was designed to address this issue, examining both teacher feedback practices and student responses to feedback.

Building L2 social connections: the case of learners of Auslan (Australian Sign Language)

ABSTRACT Social interaction, and the attendant negotiation of meaning, is of prime importance for developing second language (L2) skills. Yet how learners go about building L2 social networks – and why some have more success than others in doing so – remains underexplored. This article explores this phenomenon via a 12-month longitudinal case study of three hearing adult learners of Auslan (Australian Sign Language) who were studying the language in a vocational education setting. Drawing on language diaries and stimulated recall interviews, we explore the learner’s contact with deaf signers and use of Auslan with hearing peers, as well as the factors shaping this involvement and how it changed as their language proficiency developed. While one of our learners threw herself into volunteering and emerged from the study with strong L2 social networks, the other two struggled to varying degrees to build networks and balance the demands of paid work and L2 study. Socio-economic factors played an important role in shaping our student’s engagement and investment in L2 learning. From this, we argue that tertiary L2 programs may be subtly reproducing privilege, and need to address this if we are serious about increasing minority representation in L2 programs.

Interpreting and knowledge mediation in the healthcare setting: What do we really mean by “accuracy”?

This paper explores the concept of “accuracy” in the context of interpreter-mediated healthcare interaction by reporting on a study of simulated doctor-patient consultations involving professional Australian Sign Language (Auslan)/English interpreters. Wadensjö’s (1998) taxonomy of renditions is used to analyse the ways interpreters convey health information. Our data reveals that interpreters frequently produce reduced and expanded renditions that are not detrimental to the message or the interaction. There has previously been little discussion of how qualified interpreters make these decisions, and we suggest that achieving accuracy in the healthcare setting may be a more dynamic and context-dependent process than previously suggested. While the use of role-plays can on the one hand can be considered a delimiting factor (due to their artificial nature), they also allow a systematic comparison of different interpreters, thus providing more robust evidence for healthcare interpreter training.

Exploring Phonological Aspects of Australian Indigenous Sign Languages

Spoken languages make up only one aspect of the communicative landscape of Indigenous Australia—sign languages are also an important part of their rich and diverse language ecologies. Australian Indigenous sign languages are predominantly used by hearing people as a replacement for speech in certain cultural contexts. Deaf or hard-of-hearing people are also known to make use of these sign languages. In some circumstances, sign may be used alongside speech, and in others it may replace speech altogether. Alternate sign languages such as those found in Australia occupy a particular place in the diversity of the world’s sign languages. However, the focus of research on sign language phonology has almost exclusively been on sign languages used in deaf communities. This paper takes steps towards deepening understandings of signed language phonology by examining the articulatory features of handshape and body locations in the signing practices of three communities in Central and Northern Australia. We demonstrate that, while Australian Indigenous sign languages have some typologically unusual features, they exhibit the same ‘fundamental’ structural characteristics as other sign languages.

Interpreters, rapport, and the role of familiarity

This paper explores one of the conditions that can foster interpreters’ ability to process meaning: their familiarity with the primary participants. Discussion focuses on how latent networks (Watts, 2003) inform the interpretation of relational work (Locher and Watts, 2005) and rapport management (Spencer-Oatey, 2000/2008). The relationship between familiarity and interpretation of relational activity is illustrated through the juxtaposition of two independent studies. Data in the first study were generated through semi-structured group discussions involving eight experienced British Sign Language/English interpreters to identify contextual influences on their choice of interpreting strategies around im/politeness. The findings from the first study are complemented by an interactional sociolinguistic analysis of relational practice within healthcare. In this second study, observational recordings of two naturally-occurring general practice consultations, interpreted between Australian Sign Language and English, were supplemented with reflective interviews with the participants. Familiarity emerged as a strong theme across both studies. Familiarity provides the background knowledge enabling interpreters to better understand both the content and the intent of participants’ language. The knowledge afforded by familiarity reduces interpreters’ cognitive load and may therefore facilitate their greater focus on the relational aspects of the interaction.

Distributional properties of an agreement marker in Austrian Sign Language (ÖGS)

AbstractThis study focuses on the distribution of agrm-bc, one of two agreement markers used in Austrian Sign Language (ÖGS; Krebs, Julia, Ronnie B. Wilbur & Dietmar Roehm. 2017. Two agreement markers in ÖGS. Sign Language and Linguistics 20(1). 27–54), with respect to different “verb types”. Using an online questionnaire, ÖGS signers rated ÖGS sentences involving different verb types that varied in whether they show agreement with their arguments (“agreeing” with two arguments, “plain” with none or only one) and if so, how (movement from subject to object, backwards from object to subject and/or facing towards object). Thus, the verbs differ in the degree and form of expressing agreement. In addition, these verbs either appeared with or without agrm-bc. Data analysis revealed that the combination of inflected agreeing verbs and the agreement marker (“double agreement”) is acceptable in ÖGS. If the verb itself does not indicate full agreement (i.e., as in plain verbs) agrm-bc can, but does not have to, be used to indicate the argument structure. Independently, whether the verb showed full agreement marking (movement and facing) or only facing did not influence the acceptability of the occurrence of agrm-bc. The relatively high ratings for the combination of agrm-bc with different verb types suggests that agrm-bc functions as a general agreement marker in ÖGS.

Lexical Frequency Analysis of Irish Sign Language

Word frequency has a significant impact on language acquisition and fluency. It is often a point of reference for the teaching and assessing of a language and indeed, as a control for psycholinguistic studies. This paper presents the results of the first objective frequency analysis of lexical tokens from the Signs of Ireland corpus. We investigate the frequency of fully lexical, partly lexical and non-lexical signs in Irish Sign Language as they are presented in the corpus. We confirm the accuracy of the lexical gloss frequency data with a supplementary corpus subset that is tagged for grammatical class and additional insights from previous lexical frequency studies conducted for American Sign Language, Australian Sign Language, British Sign Language and New Zealand Sign Language. This approach has informed us that signers who learn the 100 most frequent signs in Irish Sign Language, will know a third of the language’s vocabulary. This study has found that, in the main, frequency statistics from Irish Sign Language are in line with previous studies and that the text type and annotation strategy can significantly impact results. We found that, without a formalised lexicon, lexical glosses fell short of the requirements for a lexical frequency analysis. However, supported by grammatical class data, frequency data may be reported for symbolic units.

“Switching caps”

AbstractAbstract (Australian Sign Language)Most bilingualism and translanguaging studies focus on spoken language; less is known about how people use two or more ways of signing. Here, I take steps towards redressing this imbalance, presenting a case study of signed language in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea. The study’s methodology is participant observation and analysis of conversational recordings between deaf signers. The Port Moresby deaf community uses two ways of signing:sign languageandculture.sign languageis around 30 years old, and its lexicon is drawn largely from Australasian Signed English. In contrast,culture – which is as old as each individual user – is characterised by signs of local origin, abundant depiction, and considerable individual variation. Despitesign language’s young age, its users have innovated a metalinguistic sign (switch-caps) to describe switching between ways of communicating. To conclude, I discuss how the Port Moresby situation challenges both the bilingualism and translanguaging approaches.

Lackner, Andrea. 2017. Functions of head and body movements in Austrian Sign Language

This article reviews Functions of head and body movements in Austrian Sign Language 978-1-5015-1633-7978-1-5015-0777-9€ 99.95

Clause constituents, arguments and the question of grammatical relations in Auslan (Australian Sign Language)

AbstractThis study investigates clause constructions in Auslan. It looks at the alignment of constituent semantic role with constituent position and order in clauses, changes in the morphology of signs according to position and/or role, and the interpretation of omitted arguments. The aim is to determine if there are grammatical relations in Auslan. The most frequent constituent order parallels English, thus Auslan might be said to also instantiate a basic SVO word order. However, every possible constituent order pattern is also attested without there being other coding and behavioural properties associated with grammatical relations that could explain this flexibility. I conclude that constituent order in Auslan is the result of the interaction of pragmatic and semantic factors, visual representation, and language contact with English, rather than autochthonous grammatical relations. Auslan grammar draws on both so-called gestural and so-called linguistic resources at the clause level, not just at the word (sign) level.

Interaction between topic marking and subject preference strategy in sign language processing

ABSTRACTThe preference of the human parser for interpreting syntactically ambiguous sentence-initial arguments as the subject of a clause (i.e. subject preference) has been documented for spoken and sign languages. Recent research (He, 2016) suggests that the subject preference can be eliminated by manipulating information structure (topicalisation). To investigate the effects of interaction between syntax and information structure on language processing, we tested the role of topic marking in sentence processing in Austrian Sign Language (ÖGS). We examined whether non-manual topic marking on the sentence-initial argument eliminates the subject preference using event-related brain potentials. We replicated the finding of the subject preference in ÖGS by identifying an N400-family response to object-first sentences. Further, topic marking in ÖGS influenced the processing of the topic argument itself and later processing stages. This suggests that interpretation of topic marking imposes additional processing costs, relative to syntactic reanalysis.