TACTILE ITALIAN SIGN LANGUAGE

The course is part of the second year of Languages, civilization and science of language. The characterize elements and the goals to be achieved are: to have a basic communication with deafblind people and to learn how to manage the different situations, choosing the most suitable methods and solutions.

1. Knowledge and understanding
The student knows the characteristics of the deafblind population and the main communication strategies employed. The student knows and understands the techniques of guidance and leading as well as how to interact with a deafblind person. The student knows and understands some grammatical features of Tactile Italian Sign Language.
2. Applying knowledge and understanding
The student is able to detect and describe the main differences between Italian Sign Language and Tactile Italian Sign Language. The student is able to find communicative strategies suitable to the interlocutor and situation. The student knows how to interact with deafblind people during basic communicative situations.
The student is able to describe and use the appropriate guidance and leading techniques with deafblind people. The student is able to reflect upon the directions taken by current research on Tactile Italian Sign Language and on published results.
3. Making judgements
The student is able to express grammatical judgements on signs and basic grammatical structures of Tactile Italian Sign Language. The student is able to recognize the appropriateness of an interaction with deafblind people and to judge its negative aspects. The student is able to detect similarities and differences between Italian Sign Language and Tactile Italian Sign Language.
4. Communication
The student is able to describe the main features of Tactile Italian Sign Language, as well as the differences with Italian Sign Language by discussing concrete examples. The student is able to adopt the right approach and the most appropriate linguistic strategies according to the communicative situation with deafblind people. The student is able to interact in Tactile Italian Sign Language during basic communicative situations.
5. Learning skills
The student is able to consult the literature and to take notes. The student is able to reflect upon the results obtained by the linguistic research on Tactile Sign Language and to draw cross-linguistic comparisons.

Students are advised to attend the course of Tactile Italian Sign Language after having attended the course of Italian Sign Language 1.

- Features of the deafblind population
- Communication strategies with deafblind people
- Interaction with deafblind people
- Guidance and leading techniques
- Feedback
- Some knowledge on tactile perception
- Non-verbal communication
- Formational parameters: LIS vs LISt
- Discussion upon the non-manual markers and their equivalent in LISt
- Interrogative clauses
- Conditional clauses
- The spatial dimension
- The adjectival category in LISt
- The adverbial category in LISt
- Techniques to disambiguate signs

- Mazzeo M., Tatto e linguaggio. Il corpo delle parole. Roma, Editori Riuniti, 2003 (chapters 1, 2, 3).
- Checchetto A., “Interpretare in LIS a favore di persone sordocieche: cosa accade ad una lingua visiva quando la percezione è tattile”, in Vallini C., De Meo A., Caruso V. (a cura di), Traduttori e traduzioni. Napoli: Liguori, 2011. e-book version: http://www.liguori.it/schedanew.asp?isbn=4275
- Further readings will be available online.

Students will be evaluated through an oral examination aiming at: (i) verifying the comprehension of the contents presented during the course; (ii) the students’ ability to analyze video clips in Tactile Italian Sign Language; (iii) interact in Tactile Italian Sign Language during basic communicative situations.
Students will be further evaluated for their ability to acquire and reflect upon the indicated bibliography.

Lectures and linguistic practices. Video recorded materials and be presented and discussed.

Italian

oral