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Until recently no linguistic research had been carried out on Australian Sign Language (Auslan) with regard to its use in healthcare settings, although anecdotal information suggests that the health lexicon of Auslan is strikingly under-developed. This paper describes a study that examined health terminology from the perspective of deaf people. Based on a thematic analysis of focus group data, the paper outlines strategies that deaf Australians report using when communicating about health concepts that do not have established signs in Auslan. Participants described a variety of communicative strategies--including the use of fingerspelling, depiction and explanations--that they employ in order to circumnavigate lexical gaps when talking about health. The study provides a crucial starting point for a discussion of the implications of lexical gaps in Auslan and highlights issues of particular relevance for interpreters who take responsibility for brokering health terms and mediating health communication.

This paper reviews a sign language planning project conducted in Australia with deaf Auslan users. The Medical Signbank project utilised a cooperative language planning process to engage with the Deaf community and sign language interpreters to develop an online interactive resource of health-related signs, in order to address a gap in the health lexicon of Auslan. The goal of this paper is to evaluate the outcome of the bottom-up language planning model that was used in this context, and to make recommendations for similar future sign language planning projects.

Lexical variation abounds in New Zealand Sign Language (NZSL) and is commonly associated with the introduction of the Australasian Signed English lexicon into Deaf education in 1979, before NZSL was acknowledged as a language. Evidence from dictionaries of NZSL collated between 1986 and 1997 reveal many coexisting variants for the numbers from one to twenty in NZSL. This article reports on an empirical investigation of how the use of variants for numerals is associated with social factors of age, region, and gender. Results confirm that age group is the strongest factor in variation and that region also plays a role. The analysis of illustrative cases of number variation reveals sociolinguistic processes of social differentiation and changing lexical usage in the NZSL community. Findings provide comparative data on aspects of number variation reported in the closely related British Sign Language. (Contains 10 tables and 2 notes.)

This paper explores one of the conditions that can foster interpreters' ability to process meaning: their familiarity with the primary participants. Discussion focuses on how latent networks (Watts, 2003) inform the interpretation of relational work (Locher and Watts, 2005) and rapport management (Spencer-Oatey, 2000/2008). The relationship between familiarity and interpretation of relational activity is illustrated through the juxtaposition of two independent studies. Data in the first study were generated through semi-structured group discussions involving eight experienced British Sign Language/English interpreters to identify contextual influences on their choice of interpreting strategies around im/politeness. The findings from the first study are complemented by an interactional sociolinguistic analysis of relational practice within healthcare. In this second study, observational recordings of two naturally-occurring general practice consultations, interpreted between Australian Sign Language and English, were supplemented with reflective interviews with the participants. Familiarity emerged as a strong theme across both studies. Familiarity provides the background knowledge enabling interpreters to better understand both the content and the intent of participants' language. The knowledge afforded by familiarity reduces interpreters' cognitive load and may therefore facilitate their greater focus on the relational aspects of the interaction. • Relational work is a key element of successful signed language interpretation. • Familiarity enhances interpreters' understanding of speakers' intentions. • Familiarity with clients reduces the cognitive load on the interpreter. • Greater familiarity enables interpreters to focus more on rapport management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reviews a sign language planning project conducted in Australia with deaf Auslan users. The Medical Signbank project utilised a cooperative language planning process to engage with the Deaf community and sign language interpreters to develop an online interactive resource of health-related signs, in order to address a gap in the health lexicon of Auslan. The goal of this paper is to evaluate the outcome of the bottom-up language planning model that was used in this context, and to make recommendations for similar future sign language planning projects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lexical variation abounds in New Zealand Sign Language (NZSL) and is commonly associated with the introduction of the Australasian Signed English lexicon into Deaf education in 1979, before NZSL was acknowledged as a language. Evidence from dictionaries of NZSL collated between 1986. 1997 reveal many coexisting variants for the numbers from one to twenty in NZSL. This article reports on an empirical investigation of how the use of variants for numerals is associated with social factors of age, region, and gender. Results confirm that age group is the strongest factor in variation and that region also plays a role. The analysis of illustrative cases of number variation reveals sociolinguistic processes of social differentiation and changing lexical usage in the NZSL community. Findings provide comparative data on aspects of number variation reported in the closely related British Sign Language. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]