Page 78 - Reading Between the Sign Intercultural Communication for Sign Language Interpreters

Selected Topics in Intercultural Communication 63

tially lost on them because it lay buried in a mass of information”
(79). The indirectness characterized by “the absence of a preview
statement and the mere item-by-item listing of justifications” (80)
may lead English speakers to view the Chinese discourse as “im-
precise, unwieldy, and downright inept” (81). Young asserts that
“a basic unawareness of alternative linguistic structures and dis-
course conventions can shade into doubts concerning the reason-
ing abilities of the Chinese mind” (79).
Interestingly, when the Chinese speakers were questioned
about their discourse strategy, they expressed a strong distaste
for the American style of beginning with a thesis statement. One
person said he would stop listening after that first sentence, since
it gives away the whole point. Others characterized such a direct
approach as “pushy,” “inconsiderate,” and “rude.” In later chap-
ters we will examine what happens when Deaf ASL users, like the
Chinese speakers in this study, begin their discourse with an ex-
planation of the background needed to view the present situation
and not with the introductory statement that the hearing English
speaker expects.
Aside from typically starting with an introductory statement,
English presentational style usually proceeds from the general to
the specific. American Sign Language, on the other hand, pro-
ceeds from the specific to the general. As an illustration of this
point, I recently attended a lecture that Dr. Samuel J. Supalla gave
on the subject of name signs in ASL. It happens that I wrote my
master’s thesis on name signs and have lectured on it myself, so
I am familiar with the subject. As Dr. Supalla (who is Deaf) lec-
tured, my attention became drawn to the way he organized his
presentation. It seemed to be a complete reversal of the approach
I would take. I would probably start my lecture as follows: “Today
we are going to talk about name signs in ASL. There are two ma-
jor categories of name signs, descriptive and arbitrary. Here are
some examples…. Are there any comments or questions?” Sam,
however, started like this: “My name is Sam Supalla. Does anyone
in the audience know my name sign? It looks like this. Let me tell
you the story of my name sign…. Do people in the audience want
to share the story of their name signs…? By the way, we have
been talking about two kinds of name signs, descriptive and arbi-
trary.”
My approach proceeds from the general to the specific, while
Sam’s went from the specific to the general. In addition, in my

03 MINDESS PMKR 63 10/18/04, 11:23 AM