A U S L A NAnd Visual Communications

EDUC20076

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Student Name: Fady Ghabbour Student No.: 585 023 Group B Tutor: Kate Leigh

contents1.0. What is Auslan?

2.0. Basic tools of Communication

2.1. Lexicalised signs 2.2. Depicting signs 2.3. Pointing signs 2.4. Enactment

3.0. Enactment & Storytelling 3.1. Parameters of Auslan

4.0. Fingerspelling

5.0. Resource Rationale

6.0. References

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Australian Sign Language, used by:

Deaf people Deaf students

Sign language interpreters

Students of Auslan

Parents of deaf children

1.0. What is AUSLAN?

Auslan is a 3D language unlike spoken English.

Relies on heavily on space Spatial language.

Non-linear language show rather than tell.

Uses non-manual features if used out of context, meaning changes or can be wrong.

Deaf community

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2.0. Basic tools of Communication

Lexicalised signs

Vocabulary of the language, signs that are associated with specific vocab.

Since Auslan is a spatial language, meaning can be logically under-stood from the sign. However, not all signs are equivalent in a semantic sense.

Signs that are used to describe people, animals or objects by making refer-ence to identifiable elements of objects - size, shape, move-ment, etc.

Mouth gestures & mouthing.

Use of action to convey meaning. Heavily relies on non-manual fea-tures (NMF) and fa-cial expression.

The signer acts out feelings, reactions, emotional respons-es to the given con-text.

Allow signer to refer to themsevles, oth-er people or other objects in the sur-rounding space

Taking advantage of the context and surroundings to make reference to familiar entities dur-ing communica-tion.

Pointing signs

Auslan

Depicting signs

Mouth

Gesture

Fingerspelling

Enactment

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2.1. Lexicalised Signs

2.2. Depicting Signs

Although Auslan is a visual 3D language, some signs, just like words, may be arbi-trary, with no relationship to meaning. Some signs also may change in meaning overtime - historical influence on sign semantics.

Auslan Signbank Dictionary (Auslan Signbank, n.d.):http://www.auslan.org.au/dictionary/

Lexicalised signs are quite important in Auslan, however they are not everything. Effective communication and storytelling can be made through the use of depict-ing signs. Auslan is a visual language, therefore it is important to visually describe how things look without relying on auslan vocab or finger spelling.

SASS SASS ENTITYHANDLING

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Describing people and/or animals in visual communication is important. Entity de-picting signs use the fingers and may also describe activities, such as walking, go-ing up/down stairs, running, jumping, sitting, laying etc.

Handling classifiers are signs that depict the hand as it interacts with various ob-jects, such as opening a door, winding a window or opening a box.

Size And Shape Specifier - the use of hands movements and gestures to describe the shape and size of objects. In the example provided of the “Spooky House” story, the use of SASS is seen in describing the shape as well as size of the door and the size of the spider.

Basic conversation skills in Auslan (Tien Le, 2013):

SASS

HANDLING

ENTITY

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2.3. Pointing Signs

2.4. Enactment

The use of the index finger, or the hand, to point to surrounding objects, people, animals. Also important in visual storytelling, as the signer is normally looking to cre-ate a fictional context and scenario, therefore pointing to the hypothetical loca-tion of things in storytelling helps create a scene in the mind.

Perhaps one of the most important elements in visual communication and story-telling. Enactment is when the signer uses non-manual features and expressions for emotional demonstration in certain situations, how they feel about certain things, what mood they are in, and also heavily used in storytelling to embody the role of the characters portrayed.

Important to use NMF in their ap-propriate con-text.

Add meaning to different signs.

Inappropr ia te use may cause confusion.

NMF change to suit context.

Visit auslanstories storybook library for various techniques in visual storytelling and examples of enactment through NMF/facial expressions and body language (The Storybook Library, n.d.):

http://auslanstories.weebly.com/the-storybook-library.html

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3.0. Enactment & Storytelling

H

and

shape

rientation

ocation

ovement

x p r e s s i o n

Parameters of Auslan signs

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3.1. Paramaters of Auslan

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O

L

M

signdrug

sister

hello

interview

paper

dinner

stop

communication

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NMF

The use of NMF combined with sign parameters and conventions

can modify the meaning of the sign of the same sign.

like dislike

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4.0. Fingerspelling

Fingerspelling is very important in Auslan in order to spell specific English words. For me as a beginner in Auslan, it is inredibly useful in spelling out words that I do not know signs for, although that makes Auslan more of a linear language.

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Fingerspelling step-by-step (DeafSportRecQld, 2008):http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xwqkmvWi1BQ

Practice fingerspelling on signbank website (Auslan Signbank, n.d.): http://www.auslan.org.au/spell/practice.html

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5.0. Resource Rationale

The documentation process that I used to organise the learning mate-rial from this intensive course relies on providing visual clues, combined with light text and a logical sequence of information. Through diagramatic representation of the information I was able to summarise the core ele-ments that were covered in Auslan.

Being a visual learner, learning through seeing and doing is best for me and for retaining information. Therefore the sequence and layout of date in this journal was quite im-portant.

I followed no particular order in the making of this resource. Instead, I brainstormed what I learnt from the workshops throughout the week. The logic was to revise the information and begin documenting in the logi-cal order that I can recall it in, making sure I cover relevant areas under in-cluded sections. This meant that I am able to visually make links between different concepts and better con-solidate the information in a more organised way in my mind. The in-clusion of images and videos is quite important as it visually demonstrates the concepts and they provide visual clues that trigger the information.

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6.0. References

Auslan Signbank. (n.d.).Retrieved July 17, 2014, from http://www.auslan.org.au/dictionary/

Auslan Signbank (n.d.) Spell Practice. Retrieved July 17, 2014, from http://www.auslan.org.au/spell/practice.html

The Storybook Library (n.d). Retrieved July 17, 2014, from http://auslanstories.weebly. com/the-sto-rybook-library.html

Le, T. [Tien Le]. (2013, September 13). Sign Language Lessons Australia- How to SIGN GREETINGS in Auslan (with Subtitles). Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com /watch?v=-G3cINCbREk

[DeafSportsRecQld]. (2008, November 26). Auslan in Sport- Fingerspelling. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xwqkmvWi1BQ