Sign Language Brokering in Deaf-Hearing Families

This book details a study of sign language brokering that is carried out by deaf and hearing people who grow up using sign language at home with deaf parents, known as heritage signers. Child language brokering (CLB) is a form of interpreting carried out informally by children, typically for migrant families. The study of sign language brokering has been largely absent from the emerging body of CLB literature. The book gives an overview of the international, multi-stage, mixed-method study employing an online survey, semi-structured interviews and visual methods, to explore the lived experiences of deaf parents and heritage signers. It will be of interest to practitioners and academics working with signing deaf communities and those who wish to pursue professional practice with deaf communities, as well as academics and students in the fields of Applied Linguistics, Intercultural Communication, Interpreting Studies and the Social Science of Childhood.
JeminaNapier is Chair of Intercultural Communication at Heriot-Watt University, UK, and is currently the Director of the Centre for Translation & Interpreting Studies in Scotland and Director of Research in the School of Social Sciences. Jemina is a heritage signer from a multigenerational deaf family and has practised as a sign language interpreter since 1989.