What are the Deaf Interpreters’ experiences and perceptions of their role and positioning while working in the courts?
3 sub questions:
- How does the Deaf interpreter’s employment status influence their participation framework within the courtroom?
- What are the factors that influence the alignment of Deaf-nondeaf interpreting teamwork?
- What types of strategies/techniques does a Deaf interpreter use when delivering an intralingual interpretation?
This (auto)ethnographic study, which situates the Deaf interpreters within the courts, and involves interviews with and observations of Deaf and nondeaf interpreters, draws from intralingual translation theory, interpreting studies, courtroom interpreting studies, and Deaf interpreter studies to identify how Deaf interpreters perform their role function. Through the lens of Goffman’s participation framework and translanguaging theory, the findings reveal how the employment status of Deaf courtroom interpreters shaped their shared participation framework with the courts which in turn influenced the language use. This study developed an intralingual interpreting taxonomy built upon Zethsen’s intralingual translation micro strategies to observe and analyse Deaf interpreter’s intralingual renditions. Through the intralingual interpreting taxonomy and participation framework, we see how Deaf interpreters perceive themselves as the primary animator of the interpreting team and render discursive practices that align with Deaf individual’s knowledge (or lack thereof) and experience within the courtroom.
