Delivery in American Sign Language interpreting: A case study of The Circle USA

Signed language interpreting can be carried out in a sign-to-sign, spoken-to-sign, or sign-to-spoken language direction. In the case of Season 5 of Netflix’s The Circle,the hearing interpreter Paris McTizic carries out a sign-to-spoken language interpretation. It is through Paris’ voice...

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Main Author: Zeynep Melissa Seyfioglu
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Western Sydney University 2025-07-01
Series:Translation and Interpreting : the International Journal of Translation and Interpreting Research
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Online Access:https://www.trans-int.org/index.php/transint/article/view/2059/525
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author Zeynep Melissa Seyfioglu
author_facet Zeynep Melissa Seyfioglu
author_sort Zeynep Melissa Seyfioglu
collection DOAJ
description Signed language interpreting can be carried out in a sign-to-sign, spoken-to-sign, or sign-to-spoken language direction. In the case of Season 5 of Netflix’s The Circle,the hearing interpreter Paris McTizic carries out a sign-to-spoken language interpretation. It is through Paris’ voicethat Raven Sutton, a d/Deaf contestant communicates via the voice-activated “Circle Chat” screen and becomes accessible to non-signing hearing viewers. Paris interprets for the “Circle Chat” screen, non-signing hearing viewers and contestants, making this season of The Circlea unique example of different receivers of interpretation. The Paris-Raven interaction on The Circleis a uniqueexample asthe interpreter is primarily part of the programme next to the contestant and not behind the scenes. This paper analyses the interpreter’s output focusing on prosody. I explored Paris’ output as well as interviews held with Paris and Raven. The first episode was analysed using the Praat programme to visualise the interpreter’s output through pitch analysis and discuss the emotions, attitude, and prosody relation. The delivery of the interpreter was also scrutinised using Riccardi’s (2002) descriptive sheet of interpreted text. The findings revealed that,by reframing the emotion and attitude of Raven’s narrative, the interpreter becomesa “narrator”of Raven, a “self-narrator” of himself by reflecting his own emotions and opinions in some situations, and offers a “counter-narrative”to the general narrativeofinterpreting studies. The interpreter’suse of voice promotes “access intimacy”between Raven and himself, which plays a significant role in their communication on screen.
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spelling doaj-art-9ed3ebee227340698b6082a99eb82f652025-08-20T04:02:50ZengWestern Sydney UniversityTranslation and Interpreting : the International Journal of Translation and Interpreting Research1836-93242025-07-0117212013710.12807/ti.117202.2025.a07Delivery in American Sign Language interpreting: A case study of The Circle USAZeynep Melissa Seyfioglu0Muğla Sıtkı Koçman UniversitySigned language interpreting can be carried out in a sign-to-sign, spoken-to-sign, or sign-to-spoken language direction. In the case of Season 5 of Netflix’s The Circle,the hearing interpreter Paris McTizic carries out a sign-to-spoken language interpretation. It is through Paris’ voicethat Raven Sutton, a d/Deaf contestant communicates via the voice-activated “Circle Chat” screen and becomes accessible to non-signing hearing viewers. Paris interprets for the “Circle Chat” screen, non-signing hearing viewers and contestants, making this season of The Circlea unique example of different receivers of interpretation. The Paris-Raven interaction on The Circleis a uniqueexample asthe interpreter is primarily part of the programme next to the contestant and not behind the scenes. This paper analyses the interpreter’s output focusing on prosody. I explored Paris’ output as well as interviews held with Paris and Raven. The first episode was analysed using the Praat programme to visualise the interpreter’s output through pitch analysis and discuss the emotions, attitude, and prosody relation. The delivery of the interpreter was also scrutinised using Riccardi’s (2002) descriptive sheet of interpreted text. The findings revealed that,by reframing the emotion and attitude of Raven’s narrative, the interpreter becomesa “narrator”of Raven, a “self-narrator” of himself by reflecting his own emotions and opinions in some situations, and offers a “counter-narrative”to the general narrativeofinterpreting studies. The interpreter’suse of voice promotes “access intimacy”between Raven and himself, which plays a significant role in their communication on screen.https://www.trans-int.org/index.php/transint/article/view/2059/525sign language interpretingmedia accessibilityprosody
spellingShingle Zeynep Melissa Seyfioglu
Delivery in American Sign Language interpreting: A case study of The Circle USA
Translation and Interpreting : the International Journal of Translation and Interpreting Research
sign language interpreting
media accessibility
prosody
title Delivery in American Sign Language interpreting: A case study of The Circle USA
title_full Delivery in American Sign Language interpreting: A case study of The Circle USA
title_fullStr Delivery in American Sign Language interpreting: A case study of The Circle USA
title_full_unstemmed Delivery in American Sign Language interpreting: A case study of The Circle USA
title_short Delivery in American Sign Language interpreting: A case study of The Circle USA
title_sort delivery in american sign language interpreting a case study of the circle usa
topic sign language interpreting
media accessibility
prosody
url https://www.trans-int.org/index.php/transint/article/view/2059/525
work_keys_str_mv AT zeynepmelissaseyfioglu deliveryinamericansignlanguageinterpretingacasestudyofthecircleusa