Overview of the Project

This project is created with an understanding that most of our life is spent, not listening to or delivering monologues, but in dialogue with other people (and in listening to the conversations of others.) In my experience as an interpreter in a Middle School setting, what was clear to me was that, from a student perspective, the most important thing going on in a classroom was not the teacher?s lecture, but the conversation happening between two students in the corner. That it was the dialogue between students which helped form the relationships which students valued. This project offers an opportunity to see how conversation happens between two Deaf people who know each other well and to reflect on how what we see can be used in our interpretations for spoken English conversations. Given that a conversation with people we don’t know can be a challenging one to understand, this project makes use of digital technology to make your efforts more fruitful. First of all, monologues are offered for each signer to get a sense of their signing styles. As well, each video is presented in two speeds–actual speed and 3/4 speed. This way, you can watch the text at normal speed to see what you can catch–and then watch it in slower speed to see if you are able to catch even more. Additionally, there are outlines for each of the texts which you can go to for further support in your analysis and interpretation.Special thanks to Ketsi Carlson and Joshua Hottle for serving as language models. You will meet them below, but their willingness to be filmed and creativity in coming up with topics to talk about help to make this project both entertaining and informative. I hope that their monologues and dialogues can lead to new understandings and new ideas about language and interpretation.

Doug Bowen-Bailey, 2003

Posted in: She Said ~ He Said