Evidence for Explicitation: Working from ASL into English

A study was done to examine the explicitation and compression strategies used by interpreters working from American Sign Language (ASL) into spoken English. To date, most research has focused only on their work from English into ASL. A review of the literature identified several expansion and compression strategies that interpreters and translators utilize, and these served as a model of coding the data and for triangulation. The methodology for this study was qualitative and descriptive. Twenty-two interpreters volunteered to simultaneously interpret four ASL recorded texts into spoken English, for a total of 88 target texts. The researchers identified 9 expansions and 4 compression strategies. For example, speaker stance in ASL about the discourse was often omitted as a compression strategy in English. Three shifts in reference were also identified. The findings indicate that the interpreters in this study worked beyond the literal level, to make adaptations in their English target texts by clarifying or explicating some concepts, compressing others, and shifting reference.