When Accessibility Becomes Performance: Sign Language Interpreting in Music and Live Concerts as Performative Rewriting

Project Information

WABP

Grant agreement ID: 101024733

DOI

10.3030/101024733

Project closed

EC signature date 9 April 2021

Start date 1 November 2021

End date 31 October 2023

Funded under

• EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions

Total cost

€ 224 933,76

EU contribution

€ 224 933,76

Coordinated by

CARDIFF UNIVERSITY
United Kingdom

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - WABP (When Accessibility Becomes Performance: Sign Language Interpreting in Music and Live Concerts as Performative Rewriting)

Reporting period: 2021-11-01 to 2023-10-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

The aim of the WABP project was to analyse the practice of sign language interpreter-performers who translate music and live concerts into sign language to facilitate access to music for deaf signers. The project set out to investigate ways in which interpreter-performer transpose music, including nonverbal elements of a musical text, into a visual form of performing art. What elements do they include in their signed interpretation, and how? The main aim was to identify the strategies used by sign language interpreter-performers to embody lyrics and nonverbal elements of the text.

The research outputs of the WABP project are relevant both for scholars and practitioners alike. The WABP project has provided Translation Studies scholars with a theoretical framework to analyse and understand the practice of interpreting songs into sign language. Through the WABP project the notion that performativity is an element and a carrier of accessibility has been theorised. By combining theories in Translation Studies, Performance Philosophy, and Accessibility Studies the practice of interpreting songs into sign language has been recognised as a performative event. The same theories were then applied to the work of the translator more broadly, and that has enabled the theorisation of the act of translation itself as a performative event.

The research output of WABP is also relevant for practitioners as it will enable them to see what strategies are used in different countries and different sign languages and that could inform their own practice.

The social-relevance objective of the WABP project is to give visibility to and highlight the relevance of an interpreting practice that could potentially increase participation in the arts for deaf signers.

In accordance with the rationale behind the the project, the logo for WABP was designed by a disabled and deaf signer, musician and artist who writes and translates music in Auslan (Australian Sign Language), to provide the visual perspective of a person who lives music through their eyes.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

The project was articulated in 3 work packages. WP1 was related to research; WP2 was related to communication and dissemination activities, and WP3 was related to training. WP1 was further divided into 2 separate phases. During the first phase of the research the relevant literature was reviewed, and data in relation to signed music was collected. The data collected for this phase are of two types:
• Videos of sign-language-interpreted songs;
• Interviews with sign language interpreter-performers.

In this phase of the project strategies utilised by sign language interpreter-performers to translate lyrics and nonverbal elements of a song into sign language were identified. In the second phase of the project a questionnaire was drafted to assess the efficacy (or lack thereof?) of the strategies identified in phase 1. The questionnaire was drafted in collaboration with a Professor of Psychology, Prof. John Culling. The questionnaire was then translated into 4 different languages and sign languages (English / Australian Sign Language; English / British Sign Language; Dutch / Dutch Sign Language; Italian / Italian Sign Language). The questionnaire is still open and available in Qualtrics to allow collection of more quantitative data beyond the completion of the project.

During the project 2 articles and 1 book chapter were drafted. The articles contain the main theoretical findings, while the book chapter reports on the translation strategies utilised by interpreter-performers to translate music into a visual form of performance art. In addition to the research output already submitted for publication, a contract with Routledge for the publication of a monograph has been signed. The monograph will include the theoretical framework, the practical findings, and also the data collected on the needs and preferences of different deaf communities in relation to signed songs (data resulting from the questionnaire).

In addition to the written output, the project results were presented in international conferences and guest lectures. Guest lectures were held in the UK, Poland, and Australia (online) and the project was presented at international conferences in the UK and Italy. Communication activities for non-specialists were also carried out, such as participation in the Science is Wonderful! fair in Brussels (March 2023) and an event at the Deaf Hub Wales in Cardiff (April 2023). The project results will be further disseminated in the future, beyond the project completion, in academic lectures and conferences, and the funding received will be duly acknowledged.

WP3 was divided in 3 different phases: initial training (months 1–3), mid-term training (months 4–12), and final training (months 13–22), while training in BSL (British Sign Language) spanned across the duration of the whole project. The training activities were planned in a way to enable the fellow to successfully complete the fellowship and to be competitive in the academic market.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

The WABP project has provided a theoretical framework to analyse the practice of sign-language-interpreted songs within Translation Studies. The research carried out during the fellowship has allowed the theorisation of performativity as an element and carrier of accessibility, and the practice of interpreting music into sign language as a performative event. The findings were then applied to the work of the translator more broadly, and consequently the very act of translation can now be understood as a performative event in itself. This could potentially have an impact on the Translation Studies scholarship more broadly, beyond the WABP project.

The research output stemming from the observation of the work of interpreter-performers could be influential for both scholars and practitioners, as it sheds light on the different translation strategies employed by sign language interpreters working with different sign languages.

Ultimately, the data collected through the questionnaire will shed light on the preferences of different communities of deaf signers in relation to music interpreting and concert attendance.

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