Journal of Linguistic Anthropology Number 18 Issue 2

Metasemiotic Regimentation in the Standardization of Nepali Sign Language
Erika Hoffmann-Dilloway

Transcript 2

The transcript is in three sections. The first contains an English translation of the teacher’s utterances. The second includes a gloss of the manual channel (in capitals), the spoken Nepali channel (in italics). The third transcript conveys the formal properties of the manual channel using Sutton Signwriting (SSW).  Each transcript is numbered for comparison. The SSW script is written from the receptive viewpoint and in vertical lanes that better show the use of signing space.

English translation (In translating the teacher’s utterances, when the spoken and signed channels differ I have translated the spoken. I have done so because the teacher has better control of this channel and therefore it may better reflect the information she intends to communicate):

1. Teacher: (pointing to a picture of a cow) Do you all have this in your house?
2. Student: Yes.
3. Teacher: You have this in the house? No.
4. Teacher: City houses don’t have a place for cows.
5. Student: Village.
6. Teacher: The village, yes. In the village each person’s house has a cow.
7. Teacher: What does the cow give to us?
8. Student: Grass.
9. Teacher: Grass from the cow?
10. Student: Milk.
11.Teacher: Bravo!

English gloss transcription: An English gloss of the signed channel appears in capitals, while the spoken Nepali channel is in italics. A blank space within an utterance indicates that the channel was not used.

Teacher’s spoken channel	Teacher’s signed channel	Students’ channel (all signed)
1. Yo timiharu ko ghar maa chaa?	(Indicating a picture of a cow) 1. THIS YOU-PLURAL PLURAL POSESSIVE HOUSE IN IS THIS?
		2. YES
3. Chha, ghar maa? Chhaina.	3. YOU-ALL HOUSE THIS ISN’T.
4. Sahar ko ghar maa gai basne tau chhaina.	4. CITY HOUSE IN MILK COW LIVE PLACE ISN’T.
		5. VILLAGE
6. Gau ho. Gau, gau aphno aphno ghar maa gai chha.	6. VILLAGE GO, OWN OWN HOUSE COW IS.
7. Yo gai le haami, haami laai ke dinchha?	7. THIS WE- WE TO WHAT GIVE THIS?
		8. GRASS
9. Gai le ghas ho?
		10. MILK
11. Shabaash!	11. THANK-YOU YES.

Click here to view the Sutton Signwriting transcript (teacher’s utterances only).

A brief key to reading Sutton SignWriting transcripts appears in an
appendix to the article. For a
complete guide to reading and writing Sutton SignWriting, please visit: http://
www.signwriting.org/lessons/lessonsw/lessonsweb.html