International Sign as Translingual Practice

1. This project is funded by the European Research Council, Project ID 714615
Forced Migration Labour Migration Professional Mobility Tourist Mobility
Annelies Kusters
International Sign as
translingual practice

2. Your sign becomes my sign, and that is IS
(Juliette, Ile de Réunion/France)
International Sign (IS):
sign language based linguistic border-crossing phenomenon

3. This project is funded by the European Research Council, Project ID 714615
Forced Migration Labour Migration Professional Mobility Tourist Mobility
Professional mobility: IS / sign multilingualism in context of learning,
sharing knowledge, work/career (privileged travel)
Today’s examples:
Context Where When
Frontrunners 13 9 month deaf-only course in IS Denmark September 2017
May 2018
SIGN8 Conference in IS and LIBRAS, no
interpreters
Brazil October 2017
DOOR Bible translations across African sign
languages
Kenya March 2019

4. Frontrunners 13
• 9-month deaf-led educational course
• Remote location in Denmark
• Official languages: IS, English
• 13 deaf students, 4 teachers
• Two data collection sessions; Sept 2017, May 2018

5. Approach: linguistic
ethnography (LE)
A theoretical and methodological
approach of language and social
life as mutually shaped
Opening
linguistics up
Tying
ethnography
down

6. Calibrating
= IS as relational, processual, a verb
(Moriarty & Kusters, 2021)

7. This project is funded by the European Research Council, Project ID 714615
IS = umbrella term for diverse practices
• Conventionalised vs. non-
conventionalised (International
Sign vs International Sign
Language)
• Collaborative calibrating vs.
solitary production
• Presenting vs. interpreting
Different framings of different
types of IS = “contact language”
(eg. pidgin), “lingua franca”,
“translanguaging”
(Byun et al 2018, Rathmann 2018, Zeshan 2015,
Napier and Rosenstock 2015, Whynot 2015)
1. Deaf people having informal
conversations (aka “cross-signing”)
(= today’s focus)
2. Teaching/working with a small group of
deaf people from all over the world
(= today’s focus)
3. A person giving a presentation at an
international conference (eg. me, now!)
4. Deaf super-vlogger creating Instagram
TV videos
5. Interpreters working in IS, or between
IS and other languages (eg. this
conference!)

8. Translingual
practice/
Translanguaging
Mixing and blending of different
languages (spoken, signed, or
both)
Mixing and blending of different
semiotic modalities (e.g. signing,
speaking, writing, drawing,
showing)
(Canagarajah, 2013; Garcia and Li Wei, 2014)

9. Repertoire
• Linguistic repertoire
• Concept used in translanguaging theory
• Languages not bounded systems; using features of different
named languages
• These features are part of repertoire
• Easy to overlook or downplay the role of other resources in
this practice (such as gestures, objects, and images)
• Response: semiotic repertoire: the totality of
semiotic resources that people use when they
communicate
(Kusters et al. 2017)

10. eg. signing IMPORTANT in two ways (= reiterative code-switching)
eg. mouthing and signing IMPORTANT (= simultaneous chaining)
eg. signing IMPORTANT, fingerspelling it, signing it again (=sandwich)
eg. pointing at something / drawing something and offering sign
(Bagga-Gupta, 2004; Tapio, 2019)
Chaining

11. Discussion of semiotic resources,
grouped as follows:
• English
• Other
languages
• “IS alphabet”
• Other
alphabets
• More
established
• Less
established
• Enactments
• Depictions
• Objects
Showing
rather than
telling,
signing “more
visually”
Lexicon
Mouthings
Finger-
spelling
Note: this way of
grouping
resources is
based on
language
ideologies
(eg. could separate
drawing, not
separate lexicon
and mouthings,…)
Use of resources
impacts on use of
others eg. “more
visual signing
means less
mouthings”

12. • English
• Other
languages
• “IS alphabet”
• Other
alphabets
• More
established
• Less
established
• Enactments
• Depictions
• Objects
Showing
rather than
telling,
signing “more
visually”
Lexicon
Mouthings
Finger-
spelling

14. Showing rather than telling
• Meaning:
• Enactments (showing what people do)
• Creating “pictures”
• Referring to objects, showing pictures
• Facial expressions
• Strongly culturally dependent (eg. food, showing
emotions)
• IS said to be
• “more visual than national sign languages”, “more iconic”,
”more gestures”
• therefore suited for international communication
• But! IS draws on skills/tools in national sign languages
(continuum “more visual”- “less visual”)
• Strongly celebrated, “very deaf” aspect of IS, associated
with skilled signing

15. • English
• Other
languages
• “IS alphabet”
• Other
alphabets
• More
established
• Less
established
• Enactments
• Depictions
• Objects
Showing
rather than
telling,
signing “more
visually”
Lexicon
Mouthings
Finger-
spelling

17. “Estasblished” lexicon
• eg.: WHY, YEAR, GOVERNMENT, HAVE, MONTH,
IMPORTANT
• Many IS word lists / dictionaries with lexicon – but
actually depends on person/location/context/…
• Mostly European + ASL, white!
• “More visual” lexicon often seen as a purpose of IS,
but culturally based what is seen as more or less
visual/appropriate, eg WOMAN

19. • Context based borrowings, repertoire based on privileges
(fluent signer, European, white, able-bodied, travelling, …)
• Signs from own/learned NatSLs (planned or unconscious
code-switching)
• Questions for clarifications
• Exchanging, comparing signs is core to IS, esp. in dyads and
small groups
• People use signs they like (“consuming” signs) and some of
them stick (eg. AGREE/DISAGREE at Frontrunners 13)
Less established lexicon

20. ASL as lingua franca
Forms of ASL knowledge
widespread:
• ASL, or ASL-influenced
sign languages in many
countries
• ASL learned as additional
sign language by many
people (Gallaudet, social
media, …)
ASL in international
perspective often associated
with
•linguistic imperialism
•quick, easy, specific
communication
•non-understanding (eg.
too fast, fingerspelling)
(Kusters, 2021 forthcoming)

21. Josefine, Frontrunners student from Denmark:
“I know I am using a lot of ASL in my IS.
It is because I went to America for two weeks.
(…) IS has a different concept.
For one word there can be 10 signs.
It is hard to know which sign to use.
That is what I like about Danish Sign Language,
I know the word for each sign.
The same with ASL.”

22. Sign-to-word
• Mapping signs on words: belief that there are more ASL-
English equivalents than IS-English equivalents
• Wrong mappings “eg LIKE appreciate/LIKE (same as)”
• English based structures (eg: “I NO LIKE”)
• English knowledge privileged / higher status
• Solution: “show rather than tell”

23. Mark, teacher of “Frontrunners”
“Signing in ASL means
that it is valued more highly than other languages.
It can take over all languages.
We should not allow that to happen.
We need to cherish them all and that is why we need to think of
how to sign IS [International Sign] to be more equal.
It is okay to use some ASL signs,
as much as it is to use other sign languages' signs.”
(Kusters, 2020)
“Tipping point”

24. DOOR campus
in Nairobi, Kenya
• Bible translation to different
sign languages
• Courses for missionary workers
• Teams from mostly African
countries (eg. Kenya,
Mozambique, South-Sudan);
also East-Europe, Asia, Russia,
workers from USA, Costa Rica, ..
• Intensive exchange with DOOR
campus in India
• KSL as lingua franca, and people
translate Bible into national sign
languages, but…

25. • Resources (eg. particular sign
languages, signs, fingerspelling
alphabets, mouthings) are
evaluated:
• Availability
• Accessibility
• Emotions, likes, dislikes
• Language ideologies;
politics
• Thus, available resources (eg.
ASL) may be avoided
=> Calibrating is a moral process
 Calibrating not necessarily
means IS use (or is not called
“IS”!)
(Green 2014, Moriarty & Kusters 2021)

26. • English
• Other
languages
• “IS alphabet”
• Other
alphabets
• More
established
• Less
established
• Enactments
• Depictions
• Objects
Showing
rather than
telling,
signing “more
visually”
Lexicon
Mouthings
Finger-
spelling

27. Margot, Frontrunners student from The Netherlands:
“I like to see mouthing too.
Together with ASL signs I can learn words quickly
because they are connected.
When I see IS with closed mouth
I need to search for meaning."

28. Mouthings
(English)
• Simultaneous chaining
• Can help to understand IS signs
• Further ASL-to-English (privilege) link; more chance
that ASL & English-based signing is used
• Alternative English mouthings based on reading
English through the lens of other spoken languages
(eg. “nisə” instead of “naɪs”)
• Also the opposite: mouthing English without
reading/writing English

29. SIGN8, Brazil: conference
with mostly Brazilian and
South-American
participants, IS and Libras as
conference languages
Brazilian conference attendee:
“I’ve seen people who don’t know English,
yet use a lip-pattern that is English!
(…) I do know the sign ‘HAVE’.
And I know the lip-pattern as well,
but I don’t know how to write it! (…)
People are picking up the lip-patterns
because they’re seeing the same lip-
patterns
being used repeatedly. (…)
It’s natural.“

30. Chain: cheese (ASL+English) – Fromage (LSF+French) – FS - point – “it melts”
• Fromage clip

31. Brazilian conference attendee, SIGN8 Brazil:
“A number of Uruguayans and Chileans are here
[in Brazil].
Whenever I meet with those people,
my lip pattern tends to be Portuguese or Spanish.
When I’m talking to people from America
or from Belgium,
my lip pattern will be less Portuguese,
but still Portuguese and with some English too.”

32. Mouthings in other spoken
languages than English
• Understanding unknown signs based on shared
mouthings (eg. Arabic countries)
• Blended use of mouthings not always
conscious/targeted
• Stubborn national sign language mouthings (+slips)
• Blended mouthings can help but also confuse,
distract (but so do English mouthings)

33. • English
• Other
languages
• “IS alphabet”
• Other
alphabets
• More
established
• Less
established
• Enactments
• Depictions
• Objects
Showing
rather than
telling,
signing “more
visually”
Lexicon
Mouthings
Finger-
spelling

34. Fingerspelling
• Disambiguate, repair
• Introduce/negotiate sign
• Mostly sequential chaining (can
simultaneous with mouthings)
• Generally slower pace
• Needed: minimal familiarity with “IS
alphabet” AND shared written language
(one solution = writing & Google Translate)
• Strong support for limiting its use
(stimulating “more visual” signing)
• Limited use of other alphabets (eg. only
for name) (but: BSL alphabet widely known)

35. • English
• Other
languages
• “IS alphabet”
• Other
alphabets
• More
established
• Less
established
• Enactments
• Depictions
• Objects
Showing
rather than
telling,
signing “more
visually”
Lexicon
Mouthings
Finger-
spelling

36. Example 1
George (Kenya), in Kenya, working with South-Sudanese deaf people:
“When they did not understand the Kenyan sign HOME,
I took the Tanzanian sign for HOME (TSL).
They immediately thought I was referring to a roof.
I explained it It wasn’t that.
I tried writing it in English, I fingerspelled HOME.
They still didn’t get it.
(…)
Then I used pen and paper and I drew a home.
They immediately signed HOME (South Sudan SL).
That was the sign I was searching for, and I learned it.”

37. Example 2
Julie (USA), in Brazil:
“Every time I didn’t know a sign that I think to be IS
I would just use a Kenyan sign.
Barring that, depiction or fingerspelling.
Last resort was always ASL.”

38. Example 3
Adriana (Uruguay), in Brazil, with Brazilians:
“I speak Spanish and they speak Portuguese. (…)
When meeting someone whose language I don’t speak –
for example, a Brazilian –
and when I need to use mouthings,
I never was sure what was going on.
When we tried fingerspelling and it still proved to be difficult,
we would resort to gestures.”

39. Evaluations: summary
• Mouthing: generally accepted; not essential; can be
helpful or unhelpful
• Fingerspelling less accepted because of its
sequential nature, variability & reliance on written
language
• Lexicon: fluidity liberating for some; others want
more fixity
• “Showing rather than telling” / “visual signing”
seen as central tenet of IS, but not easy for
everyone to produce, strongly culturally based,
slower and more laborious
Concerns about
English, ASL (sign-to-
word, English clauses)

40. • “Visual signing”/ “gestures” often
mentioned as best and/or last
resource on which to rely
• Ideology: people who “need
gestures”:
• ”Asians” or ”global south”
• deaf people “with no language”
• “oral” deaf people at eg.
Deaflympics
• older IS signers “who don’t know
English”
• So “visual IS” connected with “not
language” or having “no language”
English-
based
resources
Established
lexicon
Visual signing

41. Conclusion
• Translanguaging as blended use of
resources, chaining : calibration
• But, use of semiotic repertoire:
evaluations of resources
• Resulting in a tension:
Ideal of IS as skilled visual, “very
deaf” language use that breaks
free from national
spoken/signed languages (incl.
English + ASL)
Deaf translanguaging
with freedom to use
whatever is
easiest/fastest

42. References
Bagga-Gupta, S. (2004). Visually oriented language use: Discursive and technological resources in Swedish deaf
pedagogical arenas. In M. Van Herreweghe & M. Vermeerbergen (Eds.), Sociolinguistics in European deaf
communities.
Byun, K. S., de Vos, C., Bradford, A., Zeshan, U., & Levinson, S. C. (2017). First Encounters: Repair Sequences in
Cross-Signing. Top Cogn Sci. doi:10.1111/tops.12303
Canagarajah, S. (2013). Translingual Practice: Global Englishes and Cosmopolitan Relations. Routledge.
Garcia, O., & Li, W. (2014). Translanguaging: Language, Bilingualism and Education. Palgrave Pivot.
Green, E. M. (2014). Building the tower of Babel: International Sign, linguistic commensuration, and moral
orientation. Language in Society, 43, 1-21.
Kusters, A., Spotti, M., Swanwick, R., & Tapio, E. (2017). Beyond languages, beyond modalities: transforming the
study of semiotic repertoires. International Journal of Multilingualism, 14(3), 219-232.
doi:10.1080/14790718.2017.1321651
Kusters, A. (2020). The tipping point: On the use of signs from American Sign Language in International Sign.
Language & Communication, 75, 51-68. doi:10.1016/j.langcom.2020.06.004
Kusters, A. (forthcoming 2021). International Sign and American Sign Language as different types of global deaf lingua
francas. Sign Language Studies
Moriarty, E., & Kusters, A. (2021). Deaf cosmopolitanism: calibrating as a moral process. International Journal of
Multilingualism, 18(2), p 285-302.
Rathmann, C. (2018). Communication strategies between sign language users from two countries: the case of
translanguaging. Czech Deaf Studies 20th Anniversary, Prague, 1 December 2018.
Rosenstock, R., & Napier, J. (Eds.). (2015). International Sign: Linguistic, Usage, and Status Issues. Gallaudet University
Press
Tapio, E. (2019). The patterned ways of interlinking linguistic and multimodal elements in visually oriented
communities. Deafness & Education International, 1-18.
Whynot, L. (2016). Understanding International Sign: A Sociolinguistic Study. Gallaudet University Press.
Zeshan, U. (2015). “Making meaning”: Communication between sign language users without a shared language.
Cognitive Linguistics, 26(2).