Project: Joinery Sign Language Dictionary
On behalf of the German Society for the support of people with hardness
of hearing and members of the Deaf community (Niemöllerallee 18, 81739
München: Peter Donath)
Executed by the Center for
German Sign Language and Communication of the Deaf (Binderstr. 34, 20146 Hamburg, Germany) in cooperation with the "Berufsbildungswerk (BBW) Paulinenpflege in Winnenden"(Institute of Vocational Training); (Forststr. 4-18, 71364 Winnenden: person in charge: Mrs. Beate Löffler).
Supported by the Bundesministerium für Arbeit und Sozialordnung (Federal
Ministry of labor and social affairs)
Head of project: Prof. Dr. Siegmund Prillwitz
Person in charge of execution: Reiner
Konrad
Duration: 1.1.1996 - 30.6.1997
Describtion of project
The concept of a Joinery Sign Language Dictionary aims for an improvement
of the current situation in apprenticeship in Germany. The target groups
are young members of the Deaf Community which are interested in a practical
training in the field of woodworking, their instructors, joiners, who work
with deaf people and also sign language interpreters. This dictionary will
be available as book and on CD-ROM and video. The provided material can
be used for teaching in class/practical training as well as for learning
at home. The CD-ROM version can be used in connection with a learning program,
provided by the Institute of Vocational Training.
The Joinery Sign Language Dictionary contains a contents- part with
approximately 800 special terms, definitions and pictures which has been
prepared by the Institute of Vocational Training "Paulinenpflege in
Winnenden" and a language- part providing the translation of special,
woodworking-related terms into German Sign Language. The project is executed
by the Center of German Sign Language and Communication for the Deaf due
to our longtime experience with the production of sign language dictionaries,
such as the Computer
Sign Language Dictionary (book form, 1993; CD-ROM, 1994), Linguistic
Sign Language Dictionary (soon), Medicine Sign Language Dictionary and Psychology
Sign Language Dictionary (online 1995; book and CD-ROM 1996)).
The empirical investigation has been already brought to an end. To achieve
this, sixteen deaf joiners from all over Germany were invited to come to
the Center of German Sign Language in Hamburg where several deaf members
of the staff interviewed each of them. During these 1-2 hour- interviews,
the deaf experts were shown at first only images of 540 of the 800 terms.
Later the corresponding term was faded in.
Within the scope of the evaluation which will continue until the end of
1996, the video recordings have to be evaluated, all signs and relevant
parts transcribed from the interviews. These interviews are the basis concerning
the final choice of the signs. Hereby the number of 20.000 expected signs
will be compared to each other and coordinated to different formgroups after
a first analysis.
It is less our intention to choose one base form from the variety of different
signs than to document occurring differences such as dialects. The production
is scheduled for early 1997.
For further information, please contact:
Reiner Konrad
(Center for German Sign Language and Communication of the Deaf, Binderstr.
34, D-20146 Hamburg, Tel. ++49/40/4123-6734 (-6737).