This contribution describes a sign called enumeration morpheme and its functions as a linguistic resource for interpreters and translators creating coherence in discourse. The enumeration morpheme is a numeral sign, formed with the non-dominant hand, while the dominant hand places referents to the respective fingers on the non-dominant hand.
The functions of an enumeration morpheme in general vary depending on the context while the form stays same: most common functions are to make lists visible, guide the discourse, and make it coherent. The enumeration morpheme is therefore comparable to using words like first, next, or finally in spoken discourses. The form itself can also be a co-speech gesture used by hearing non-signing persons. (Gabarró-López & Meurant, 2016; Hansen & Heßmann, 2015; Kimmelman, Sáfár, & Crasborn, 2016.)
The main research questions for this study are: How is the enumeration morpheme used as a linguistic resource and a tool in interpreting and translating? Are there other methods for creating coherence that the interpreters use instead, and if so, is the context a decisive factor in the use of different methods for coding the same semantic concept?
The material for this study consists of two categories: interpretations from spoken Swedish to FinSSL with some preparation time beforehand and translations from a written Swedish text to FinSSL. I examine the enumeration morpheme constructions in syllable-like units in their context and compare the findings in the different types of material.
My hypothesis is that not only the preparedness but also the genre affects the choice of cohesion marker using the enumeration morpheme or the other methods: I expect the prepared translations to show more variation in methods than the interpretations despite the genre.
Gabarró-López & Meurant (2016). Studying the position of Discourse Relational Devices in signed languages: adapting the Basic Discourse Units Model to the signed modality? Conference Handbook & Poster, Textlink, Budapest.
Hansen & Heßmann (2015). Researching linguistic features of text genres in a DGS corpus. The case of finger loci. Sign Language & Linguistics, 18(1), 1–40.
Kimmelman, Sáfár, & Crasborn (2016). Towards a Classification of Weak Hand Holds. Open Linguistics, 2(1), 211–234.
