Communication and Interpretation in Italian Sign Language (LIS and LISt)

MARIA ROCCAFORTE
VIRGINIA VOLTERRA

A) Knowledge and understanding: the student must demonstrate that he has achieved adequate knowledge in the linguistic, glottodidactic and acquisitional description of spoken and signed languages.
B) Ability to apply knowledge and understanding: the student will be able to understand and apply in his/her profession the knowledge acquired in order to make in the interpreting activity choices based on a metalinguistic reflection and an in-depth knowledge of the strategies that regulate the transmission, teaching and learning of languages, whether vocal or signed.
C) Autonomy of judgment: having acquired linguistics knowledges and language teaching skills, the student will be able to make decisions and choose the most suitable communication strategies according to the different contexts and interlocutors in an autonomous and conscious way.
D) Communication skills: the student will be able to communicate the reason behind his/her linguistic, stylistic and register choices, and to adequately describe and argue the peculiar characteristics of the language, spoken or signed, that he is using.
E) Learning skills: the student will have the necessary tools to keep up-to-date on the most recent research in the field of linguistic and glottodidactic research.

Students will be able to understand the principles governing the origin and evolution of natural languages, whether spoken or signed. They will know how to recognize and then use more consciously the LIS and LISt units , its idiosyncratic features and how it works. They will know how to look at language from a cognitive and sociosemiotic perspective that takes into account the characteristics of the Deaf community that uses it and the communicative context.
At the end of the course, students will be able to understand the principles governing the origin and evolution of natural languages, whether spoken or signed. They will be able to recognise and thus use more consciously the LIS and LISt sign, its idiosyncratic characteristics and its functioning. They will know how to look at language from a cognitive and sociosemiotic perspective that takes into account the characteristics of the community that uses it and the communicative context in which it moves.
To pass the final examination, students will have to demonstrate:
- that they have attained adequate knowledge in the field of linguistic description of marked languages;
- that they are able to apply this knowledge to the interpreting profession by making conscious choices resulting from metalinguistic reflection and in-depth knowledge of the strategies governing the transmission, teaching and learning of sign languages.
- to be able to make decisions and autonomously and consciously choose the most suitable communicative strategies according to the different contexts and interlocutors.
- to communicate the reasons for certain linguistic, stylistic and register choices, and to adequately describe and argue the particular characteristics of the language, spoken or signed, that they are using.
- to be equipped with the necessary tools to delve into linguistic and teaching & learning aspects and to document and update themselves on the latest research in the field of linguistic and research.

Knowledge of Italian sign language at B1 level of the CEFR (Common European Framework of Reference)

- Describing and teaching natural languages
- History of linguistic research on LIS
- The units of Italian sign language
- Constructing utterances between indicating, descibing and depicting
- Directional or agreement verbs
- Multilinearity and simultaneity in sign languages
- The role of agentivity versus salience
- Functional and social variations: pragmatics.

Volterra et al. Descrivere la lingua dei segni italiana. una prospettiva sociosemiotica e cognitiva. Il Mulino, 2019

The course consists of two weekly lessons (2 hours each one).

A student who has attended at least 75% of the total number of lectures is considered to be attending.

The exam consists of an interview lasting approximately 20 to 30 minutes in which the teacher assesses the candidate's ability to know and be able to explain, with sufficient clarity and appropriate language property, the notions learnt during the course and in individual study (see learning objectives). The assessment takes into account the student's proficiency to use the specific vocabulary to the discipline and his or her ability to apply what he or she has studied to the use of LIS.

How has the approach of research and description of sign languages changed?

What are the dimensions of variation in LIS?

What is a lexical unit in Italian Sign language?