Abstracts

Jarkko Keränen

Title:  Multisensory iconicity in Finnish sign language: going beyond visuocentrism  

This keynote presentation is motivated by my doctoral dissertation on iconicity – understood as the resemblance-based relationship between a sign and its object – in Finnish Sign Language from a multisensory perspective, encompassing all senses (vision, smell, touch, taste, and hearing) as well as emotions (e.g., happiness and anger). While focusing on iconicity, indexicality – the contiguity-based relationship – is essential to consider as part of iconicity.

Visuocentrism – a bias that privileges vision over other senses – has been predominant in sign language linguistics, influencing assumptions, explanations, and methodologies, particularly in studies of iconicity. Consequently, our understanding of iconicity in signed language remains limited, largely due to visuocentrism. To address this gap, my PhD dissertation examined how multisensory iconicity manifests in Finnish Sign Language, contributing to the multisensory turn in sign language linguistics.

My dissertation is article-based, consisting of three sub-studies and their corresponding peer-reviewed articles, with multiple methods employed in each. Informed by the conceptual-methodological framework of Cognitive Semiotics – the transdisciplinary study of meaning – it assumes that iconicity is grounded in human experience, highlighting the need to consider both iconicity and our bodily experience, which is fundamentally multisensory.

The dissertation concludes that, since both a sign and the object it refers to are multisensory – encompassing several sensory aspects on both sides – there are theoretically multiple possible relationships between the aspects of the two. However, the findings reveal certain frequencies and patterns in accordance with both semiotic and sensory aspects. Additionally, the findings have implications for both science and society.

Sam Lutalo-Kiingi

Title: Opportunities, Challenges, and Sustainability in Ugandan Sign Language Interpreter
Education: Curriculum Innovation and Deaf-Centered Academic Training

This presentation examines the teaching of depiction in Ugandan Sign Language (UgSL) within interpreter education at Diploma, Bachelor’s, and Master’s levels in Uganda, arguing that effective interpreter preparation must move beyond vocabulary acquisition toward the development of advanced linguistic competence and visual–spatial fluency. Depiction is approached as a complex linguistic resource encompassing phonological parameters, morphosyntactic structures, classifier constructions, constructed action, spatial mapping, and nonmanual features. It is positioned not merely as a grammatical feature but as a professional competency essential for accurate transfer of perspective, spatial relations, and culturally embedded meaning across modalities. The study analyses how depiction is pedagogically scaffolder across academic levels—from foundational communicative competence and controlled practice at Diploma level, to discourse analysis and contextualised interpreting simulations at Bachelor’s level, and finally to advanced pragmatic analysis, research-informed practice, and critical reflection at Master’s level. Drawing on a document study of the development and organisation of UgSL interpreting in Uganda, and a comparative review of the British Sign Language interpreting curriculum at Heriot-Watt University, the paper identifies key areas for curriculum and content development within UgSL programmes. Integrating theoretical grounding, modelling by Deaf language experts, peer interaction, video-based feedback, and performance assessment, the presentation highlights the need for vertically aligned curriculum design. It further interrogates how UgSL training programmes can be tailored to the needs of Deaf service users within a multilingual, non-Western context, concluding that strengthening depiction pedagogy is central to enhancing interpreter competence, academic progression, and quality assurance in Uganda’s interpreter education landscape.