1. Created by Daniel Greene in 2013
A Study in Vague Language -
Advanced
Daniel Greene, MA, NIC Master

2. Created by Daniel Greene in 2013
Workshop Description
Participants will search written, spoken, and signed texts for vague language (VL);
participants will devise and perform translations for vague texts; participants will
practice interpreting vague texts both consecutively and simultaneously; participants
will analyze vague language in consumer interactions and make ethical decisions using
critical thinking, including the NAD-RID Code of Professional Conduct and Demand-
Control Schema.

3. Created by Daniel Greene in 2013
Learning Objectives
1.List tenets and exemplary
behaviors from the NAD-RID CPC
that pertain to interpreting vague
language (VL).
2.Name five ways an interpreter
might interpret VL.
3.Develop ethical and linguistic
strategies for handling VL.
4.Create an action plan for further
study of VL and practice of
interpreting VL.

4. Created by Daniel Greene in 2013
1 fifteen–
minute break
Agenda
3 CEUs3 hours
=

5. Created by Daniel Greene in 2013
Who am I?
Recently got my Master of Arts in
Interpreting Studies, with an
emphasis in Teaching Interpreting,
from Western Oregon University,
where I wrote my thesis “Keeping
it vague: A study of vague
language in an American Sign
Language corpus and implications
for interpreting between English
and American Sign language.”

6. Created by Daniel Greene in 2013
Who are you?
In what settings do you work:
K-12, postsecondary,
community, conference, legal,
medical, mental health,
performing arts, religious, video
Have you taken any of my VL
workshops or read about VL?
Do you encounter VL in your
work? What do you do with it?

7. Created by Daniel Greene in 2013
Questions?
Stop me, or
Wait-n-see, or
Pass me a note, or
Email me@danielgreene.com
?

8. Created by Daniel Greene in 2013
Interpreting
without
Interrupting
Strategies for interpreting
vague language without
asking for clarification

9. Created by Daniel Greene in 2013
Drawbacks to Interrupting
Breaks flow of conversation, throws off train of thought
Shifts focus from consumers to interpreter
Assumes responsibility for communication
Deprives consumers of natural consequences, self-correction, and rapport
Defeats the purpose of VL

10. Created by Daniel Greene in 2013
Interpreting VL ENG-ASL
Vague body language, facial expression, and mouth morphemes (adverbial
and adjectival modifiers)
Vague signs such as ETC., WELL, LIKE, VARIOUS-THINGS, TIME-
PASSING
Creative expressions that convey a message that is equivalently vague in
ASL as the English message.
Passive voice or non-agent construction (e.g., “I was called” or TAP(me)–
ON–SHOULDER)

11. Created by Daniel Greene in 2013
Interpreting VL ENG-ASL (continued)
Transliteration
Fingerspelling— (if you can’t make sense of what you’re hearing but you got
the sounds of it).
Approximation— “Sounds like…” (good with f/s) “Something to the effect
of…” “Something about…”
Check w/consumer: Hearing: “…and you know what that means…” You:
“KNOW MEANS YOU?”
Make the implicit explicit if you have to.

12. Created by Daniel Greene in 2013
Interpreting VL ASL-ENG
All the vague words we learned in MadLibs
Vague personal pronouns— one, they, someone, e.g., “When one is hungry,
one will do anything to eat.” “They pushed it.” “Someone wanted
something.”
Gerunds (verbs ending with –ing); e.g., “The flashing of the lights was
distracting,” (who was flashing the lights?) or, “When the packing was done,
it was time to go” (who was packing or going?). “There was a lot of fighting
going on” (who was fighting?).

13. Created by Daniel Greene in 2013
Game: Interpret VL w/o interrupting
Pair up and choose who interprets first.
Attend to the source text and interpret VL in four different ways:
1.Ignore/omit vague language.
2.Make vague language less vague.
3.Make non-vague language vague.
4.Make vague language equivalently vague.

14. Created by Daniel Greene in 2013
VL examples to interpret
1. Open the container 2. Remove the seal 3. Procure the substance
“I think you should see the widgets arrive in a timely fashion.”
“All this Mexican food is going make for an interesting afternoon.”
Well, I think I’d kinda like if we tried to start sometime around two-ish.

15. Created by Daniel Greene in 2013
Vague Language Samples to Interpret

16. Created by Daniel Greene in 2013
In Search of the Unspoken (2011)
Vague Language in Formal ASL

17. Created by Daniel Greene in 2013
Clerc Center Announcement
Janet Weinstock

18. Created by Daniel Greene in 2013
“Party Political Speech” —Peter Sellers

19. Created by Daniel Greene in 2013
“Party Political
Speech”
Peter Sellers, 1958

20. Created by Daniel Greene in 2013
... My friends, in the light of present-day developments let me say right away that I do not
regard existing conditions likely. On the contrary, I have always regarded them as subjects of
the gravest responsibility and shall ever continue to do so. Indeed, I will go further and state
quite categorically that I am more than sensible of the (exact) definition of the precise issues
which are at this very moment concerning us all. We must build, but we must build surely.—
Hear, hear!—Let me say just this: If any part of what I am saying is challenged, then I am
more than ready to meet such a challenge. For I have no doubt whatsoever that whatever I
may have said in the past, or what I am saying now, is the exact, literal and absolute truth as
to the state of the case.—Hear, hear!—I put it to you that this is not the time for vague
promises of better things to come. For, if I were to convey to you a spirit of false optimism,
then I should be neither fair to you nor true to myself. But does this mean, I hear you cry, that
we can no longer look forward to the future that is to come? Certainly not! Voice from the
audience: What about the workers? “What about the workers?”; indeed sir! Grasp, I beseech
you, with both hands [Aside: I’m so sorry, I beg your pardon, madam.] the opportunities that
are offered. Let us assume a bold front and go forward together. Let us carry the fight [noise
of a blow being struck] against ignorance to the four corners of the earth because it is a fight
which concerns us all. Now, finally my friends, in conclusion, let me say just this: [SILENCE]

21. Created by Daniel Greene in 2013
“The Boys”
Keane, from the album
Strangeland, 2012.

22. Created by Daniel Greene in 2013
The boys are grinning from the photograph
It's Friday night and they're trying so hard
The sun is dropping and they want to go
Driving into town to see some girls they know
The boys, blazing on a summer night
Girls they want to watch them ride
Is that the way it was before?
Cause I don't remember
Boys, friends at every bar in town
Running all the good days down
Is that the way it was before?
Cause I don't remember
We felt like fighters when we caught the plane
Until that day we'd never heard its name
We did some things we didn't understand
And now we feel like strangers in our own
land
The boys, blazing on a summer night
Girls they want to watch them fight
Is that the way it was before?
Cause I can't remember
Boys, friends at every bar in town
Running all the good days down
Is that the way it was before?
Cause I can't remember
This photograph, I hold it when I sleep
Cause people soon stop asking
When I cannot explain what I have seen
And at the bars in town
All the boys in town
Are running all the good days down
Running all the good days down
Running all the good days down
All the good days down

23. Created by Daniel Greene in 2013
“Immigrants” NCSLGR Corpus
Steven McCullough

24. Created by Daniel Greene in 2013
“Accident” NCSLGR Corpus
Michael Schlang

25. Created by Daniel Greene in 2013
Contact me @ DanielGreene.com
me@danielgreene.com