Da dove viene campagnolo? La traduzione di una guida turistica di Venezia dall'italiano alla lingua dei segni (LIS). Nuove prospettive di ricerca

Translating into Italian Sign Language (LIS) involves the transposition of a written text to sign language (SL) by means of recording the sign language. Sign language is a non-alphabetic language because it lacks a shared written form, although efforts in creating one are in progress. The recording enables us to control the production in SL, any errors can be detected, corrected and re-filmed. Some aspects of translation are discussed, such as planning and sign language production control. This paper is a study of the theoretical approach of translation applied to LIS. A tourist guide of Venice is translated from Italian to LIS, and this experience is a starting point to examine different problems: the transposition of the written text into a recorded video text from a technical point of view; the analysis of specific structures of written language that require translating into a language whose structures are closer to spoken language; the choice of the most appropriate lexical elements (e.g. choice of regional words far places, art terms). Section 4 examines the lexical level in greater detail and provides some specific examples of LIS. This study aims to open a new field of LIS research and to promote translation of informative and cultural material. Moreover, these considerations concerning mainly lexical elements could offer important insights far studies of the linguistics of LIS. This also could make possible to create a literature in LIS, natural language of deaf people, thus enabling them to access it in a complete and autonomous mode.