Interpreters sometimes wish for an additional hand or the ability to summon a twin to complete a concept. Unfortunately, we currently do not have the technology or the magic to accomplish this. We therefore must rely on peer-reviewed linguistics.

The above wish can also be applied to showing two distinct concepts in tandem. “I walked into the room and everyone was starring at me!” can be produced as two separate concepts in isolation with role shifting and narration, but they can also be produced in a simultaneous display with the use of partitioning. ASL linguists have identified partitioning as designating a section of your space to represent another entity. This technique, native to ASL grammar, can help signers to better produce what is so clear in their mental landscape.

ASL linguist and chair of Gallaudet’s linguistics department, Paul Dudis, says in a 2004 paper, “Partitioning zones… their existence allows for the creative potential of signers during creation of real space blends.” We see how surrogating and then blending with other depiction techniques can crystalize the message. This workshop covers partitioning in various ways: manual articulators as partitionable zones, scales of blends, how onomatopoeias coincide with blends, and how non-manual signals can be partitioned.

ASL Abstract: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ORqIPo59Xlc&feature=emb_title