Course Description & Objectives

This session introduces an intralingual interpreting framework developed as part of Christopher Tester’s 2021 doctoral research, offering one of the first systematic analyses of Deaf interpreters’ strategies in complex courtroom interactions. Building on Jakobson’s (1959) foundational concept of intralingual translation and Zethsen’s (2009) elaboration of intralingual dimensions, the framework situates Deaf interpreters’ work within broader translation and interpreting studies and legal interpreting (e.g., Hale, 2004; Berk-Seligson, 2002). It demonstrates how Deaf interpreters make nuanced linguistic and ethical decisions that go far beyond simple “rewording,” examining strategies such as strategic omissions to preserve core meaning, paraphrasing for clarity and cultural relevance, signposting to orient audiences within discourse, adjusting register to align with situational formality, and spatial positioning to convey relationships and emphasis. Grounded in theory and courtroom practice, the session reveals the sophisticated cognitive and linguistic work intrinsic to intralingual interpreting and reframes Deaf interpreting as a distinct professional practice.

Upon completion of this session, participants will be able to:

• Explain the theoretical foundations of intralingual interpreting, drawing on Jakobson (1959) and Zethsen (2009), and how they apply to Deaf interpreting.
• Describe the five key components of Tester’s (2021) intralingual interpreting framework—strategic omission intralingualing, signposting, adjusting register, and spatial positioning—and their practical application in courtroom contexts.
• Recognize how this framework reframes Deaf interpreting as a distinct professional practice, integrating research on translanguaging, language development, and cognitive processing.
• Analyze case examples that illustrate the cognitive and linguistic complexities of Deaf interpreters’ intralingual work in legal settings.