Andrea K. Smith | Sign Language Interpreter

by Andrea Smith, CI, CT
November 2004

Introduction
The courtroom vernacular of English (legalese) differs from secular English in many of the same ways that foreign languages differ. Legalese has important variations in lexicon, syntax, and discourse. These variations require the American Sign Language interpreters in the courtroom to understand the unique nature of legalese. Understanding the context in which the language lives and the requirement for precision that ultimately directs the development of the language guide the interpreter to an accurate, fully-developed interpretation.

Understanding the Lexicon and Syntax
Legalese is best described as a sub-language or "domain" of English; they share a common vocabulary and syntax. Unfortunately for the interpreter, this common vocabulary and syntax cause the majority of errors and miscues during translation. These errors are caused by the interpreter's lack of experience in the legal domain. Bringing a legal dictionary to the courtroom, while helpful, is not enough to prevent interpreting mistakes for the simple reason that word meanings change drastically from one domain to the next. Both of the following two noun phrases, for example, use wash as a noun that means a liquid used to wash something:

• A hydrochloric acid wash
• A polypeptide wash

The surface syntax does not reveal the underlying conceptual relations. Knowledge of the domain - biochemistry - is required to understand that hydrochloric acid is a component of the liquid and polypeptides are washed by the liquid. The same can be said for the legal interpreter: She may make errors in translation based not on her knowledge of the language use, but on her ignorance of the language's domain.

The interpreter must also take care to select the appropriate word sense. Technical words, like parole, are conceptually limited in variation; but a common word, service, exists in multiple domains. The interpreter has to distinguish between service in a restaurant, a vehicle service, a church service, and service of legal documents. Word sense can be difficult to determine because different senses of the word may occur in the same syntactic patterns.

1. Jane supported her roof with a beam.
2. Jane supported her husband with alimony.
3. Jane supported the judge's decision.
4. Jane supported the attorney by filing his motion for him.

These all contain the same underlying concept of Jane bolstering a thing, but only one (C) would correctly use the sign commonly glossed as support. The sign help would be used in (D), paid would be used for (B) and (A) requires the construct set-up wood pole for-for prevent collapse to be completely accurate. Different uses of a word may be expressed with the same lexical and syntactic patterns in one language, but the translation to another language may require different words in different patterns.

Words often do not have counterparts in other languages simply because the concept is not a part of the culture using the language. For example, betray has no conceptual ASL equivalent. Even related concepts like spy, traitor, and turncoat are without a translation because they are all variations on a theme that simply does not exist in ASL. Explanations can be made, but maintaining the integrity of the speaker's intent is difficult when the interpretation may not produce the desired resonance. The likelihood of there being no equivalent concept in the target language increases proportionally to the complexity of the domain.