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 for
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 for studies of the linguistics of LIS.
This also could make possibile to create a literature in LIS, natural language of deaf
people, thus enabling them to access it in a complete and autonomous mode.
