International sign : linguistic, usage, and status issues / Rachel Rosenstock and Jemina Napier, editors.

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

International Sign (IS) is widely used among deaf people and interpreters at international events, but what exactly is it, what are its linguistic features, where does its lexicon come from, and how is it used at interpreted events? This groundbreaking collection is the first volume to provide answers to these questions.

Editors Rachel Rosenstock and Jemina Napier have assembled an international group of renowned linguists and interpreters to examine various aspects of International Sign. Their contributions are divided into three parts: International Sign as a Linguistic System; International Sign in Action--Interpreting, Translation, and Teaching; and International Sign Policy and Language Planning. The chapters cover a range of topics, including the morphosyntactic and discursive structures of interpreted IS, the interplay between conventional linguistic elements and nonconventional gestural elements in IS discourse, how deaf signers who use different signed languages establish communication, Deaf/hearing IS interpreting teams and how they sign depicting verbs, how best to teach foundation-level IS skills, strategies used by IS interpreters when interpreting from IS into English, and explorations of the best ways to prepare interpreters for international events.

The work of the editors and contributors in this volume makes International Sign the most comprehensive, research-based analysis of a young but growing field in linguistics and interpretation.

Reviews provided by Syndetics

CHOICE Review

International Sign (IS) as a relatively new phenomenon, used at specific moments and locations--for example, in translating at international events. Here, 14 contributors examine IS's history, structures, and uses, looking at whether or not IS is a language. Though recognizing that IS is not the equivalent of national signed languages, the volume presents exciting possibilities for its use and looks at what IS might reveal about the transnational nature of signed languages. The work dispels the notion of IS as either a global or a pidgin language, and instead argues for a new paradigm of the meaning of language. The nine chapters are thoughtful and supported by data-driven and peer-reviewed work. This book will be most useful for those in sign language interpreter training programs, but it is also a good resource for readers interested in general linguistics, neuroscience, cognitive development, and psychology. Summing Up: Recommended. Lower-division undergraduates through faculty and professionals. --Octavian Robinson, College of the Holy Cross