[Event] Brothers from Another Mother? Examining the Relationship between Signed Language and Spoken Language Interpreting
Date: 03/12/2020
Abstract:
“Brothers from another mother” is urban slang used to describe people who feel as close as brothers, but who obviously have different mothers. Do signed language and spoken language interpreters share this type of tight relationship? Historically, signed language and spoken language interpreting have functioned largely independent of one another, but this separation has narrowed over time. In this presentation, I explore the similarities and differences between spoken and signed language interpreting by discussing our respective histories, educational backgrounds, credentialing, and research. I note unique aspects of signed language interpreting, including directionality preference, linguistic modality, and work settings. In conclusion, I propose that, despite our different lineages, signed and spoken language interpreters are more like close brothers, rather than distant relatives.
About the Speaker:
Brenda Nicodemus, PhD, recently retired from her position as Professor in the Department of Interpretation at Gallaudet University and Director of Gallaudet’s Center for the Advancement of Interpreting and Translation Research (CAITR).Her areas of research include translation asymmetry in bimodal bilinguals, healthcare interpreting, and signed language prosodic markers. She has authored, co-authored, and co-edited numerous articles and books, including Prosodic Markers and Utterance Boundaries in American Sign Language Interpreting (2009), Advances in Interpreting Research (2011), Investigations in Healthcare Interpreting (2014), Selected Papers from the International Symposium on Signed Language Interpretation and Translation Research (2016),and Situated Learning in Interpreter Education (forthcoming). Brenda has worked professionally as an American Sign Language-English interpreter since 1989.
(Sign Language Interpretation will be provided. )