ABSTRACT
This chapter investigates the use of 'role shift' by interpreters working between spoken English and Australian sign language. Role shift is a high-order linguistic skill which students typically find difficult to master. As 'role shift' is a widely used term among interpreters in Australia, it is used in the chapter as the superordinate term, and includes instances of enacted speech and action. To distinguish between character speech and character behaviour, constructed dialogue (CD) and constructed action (CA) are maintained as sub-categories. Quintos-Pozos identifies the production of role shift and polycomponential signs as frequently co-occurring and equally difficult for students to acquire in their second language. Possible source text (ST) motivations for its use are explored here by examining the role shift occurrences in the Auslan target texts (TTs), and mapping them back against the English ST triggers.
