Perspective in Norwegian Sign Language scene depictions

Perspective in Norwegian Sign Language scene depictions This study investigates how and when signers engage different visual perspectives during depictions of spatial scenes. In such scene depictions, route, survey, gaze, and mixed perspectives have been observed and involve signers establishing different types of vantage points with which interlocutors can perceive and interpret spatial scenes (Emmorey & Falgier, 1999; Emmorey, Tversky, & Taylor, 2000). While vital to the coherence of these language events, descriptions of perspective remain quite limited and focus primarily on a dichotomy between route and survey perspectives, which align with the character and observer perspectives often described for narrative settings (see Perniss, 2007; Cormier et al., 2012; Stec, 2012; Quinto-Pozos & Parill, 2015). This study attempts to problematize this dichotomy and provide a more varied and nuanced analysis of perspective in signed language scene depictions. To do this, 12 deaf native Norwegian Sign Language signers were video-recorded as they participated in informal conversations with a native signing researcher, and in some cases another native deaf signing participant. The researcher, while tasked with maintaining a naturalistic and spontaneous interaction, also worked to guide participants into discussions involving spatial scenes with the goal of eliciting spontaneous and natural depictions. Such discussions were then identified and annotated for a number of features, including the purpose of the segment (directions vs. different types of descriptions), the signs produced, eye gaze direction, the location of the vantage point, and whether the vantage point moved or was stationary. It was also noted whether the signer was perceived as the narrator or as a ‘character’ within the scene. Analysis of these annotations revealed that survey and route perspectives, as they are currently characterized in the literature, do not adequately account for scene depictions observed in Norwegian Sign Language. Findings show that the perspective chosen varies according to the signer’s purpose for the scene, the type of scene, and its scale. In addition, it was found that vantage points are important for all scene depictions and that birds-eye vantage points in survey depictions are rarely observed. Findings also challenge claims that moving vantage points are characteristic of a route perspective. In the data analyzed here, signers were quite capable of moving a vantage point through a scene while remaining an ‘outside’ narrator. These findings contrast with other accounts of scene depictions elicited in more controlled, experimental settings and show the importance of considering naturalistic, conversational data in these types of investigations. We argue that if we are to understand the nuanced complexity of spatial language in signed language, then we need more focus on deaf signers using this type of language for a range of purposes embedded within naturalistic settings.