scholarly journals A Process to Develop Sign Language Corpus using Crowdsourcing

2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (5) ◽  
pp. 2098-2103
Keyword(s):  
Data Collection ◽  
Sign Language ◽  
General Term ◽  
Small Data ◽  
Deaf Community ◽  
Proof Of Concept ◽  
Sign Languages ◽  
The World ◽  
Concept Application ◽  
Language Corpus

Humans use language in order to communicate between one another. There exist a number of languages which are either spoken or written. Among these languages, there exists a special type of language called Sign Language (SL). Sign language is a general term which includes any kind of gestural language that makes use of signs and gestures to convey message. Although the deaf community feels comfortable while using Sign Language as their mode of communication, but they face a lot of problems as well. Therefore, in order to help and assist the deaf community a repository of different sign languages are essential for each sign language. This work presents a process to develop a repository by collecting and validating sign language gestures of any language by involving the deaf community and language experts. A small data collection based on a proof-of-concept application has also been presented in this work. Lastly, it highlights the benefits of such corpus by discussing possible applications that can be built to serve the deaf community of the world at large.

scholarly journals Deaf Ni-Vanuatu and their signs: A sociolinguistic study

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Jacqueline Iseli
Keyword(s):  
Data Collection ◽  
Sign Language ◽  
Deaf People ◽  
Deaf Community ◽  
Sign Languages ◽  
Individual Variations ◽  
Field Methodology ◽  
Degree Of Similarity ◽  
Similarity Of Signs

<p>This thesis provides the first documentation and description of the signs created and used by deaf individuals in Vanuatu. The specific aims of this research were as follows: to establish the sociolinguistic context experienced by deaf people in Vanuatu; to identify the repertoire and characteristics of signs used by the deaf participants; to compare features of participants’ individual signs with the characteristics of home signs and emerging sign languages; and to consider the degree of similarity and potential similarity of signs between participants and how this reflects individuals’ opportunities for contact with other deaf people and signing interlocutors. The limitations of this study are that field methodology for data collection was developed in situ as conditions allowed. The sociolinguistic context for deaf Ni-Vanuatu confirms that language isolation leads to marginalisation from community and society. The study established that these home sign lexicons were limited in quantity and conceptual range, and that shared background knowledge was essential for comprehension. Overall, 22 handshapes were documented, and the predominant handshapes unmarked. Most participants preferred handling strategy for depicting signs. Some evidence of noun-verb distinction was noted in the repertoire of some participants. However, across this range of formational characteristics, results showed significant individual variations. Furthermore, multiple barriers have precluded development of a shared sign language and any form of deaf community.</p>

Dictionaries of Libras from the Nineteenth to the Twenty-First Century

2019 ◽  
pp. 298-318
Author(s):  
Jorge Bidarra ◽  
Tania Aparecida Martins
Keyword(s):  
Natural Language ◽  
Sign Language ◽  
First Century ◽  
Deaf People ◽  
Deaf Community ◽  
Sign Languages ◽  
Depth Analysis ◽  
The World ◽  
Twenty First Century ◽  
Historical Trajectory

Sign languages, structurally different from oral languages, are based on gestures and involve their own grammars and repertoires of lexical units (signals or signs), and they play an important role in establishing communication among deaf people around the world. This chapter primarily focuses on the development of dictionaries for Libras (an acronym for Língua Brasileira de Sinais, or ‘Brazilian Language of Signs’), the natural language of the Brazilian deaf community. It traces the influence of the first dictionary of the deaf in Brazil, Iconographia dos Signaes dos Surdos-Mudos (‘Iconography of Signs of Deaf-Mutes’), which was published in 1875 by the National Institute of Education of the Deaf (INES) and authored by Flausino José da Gama, a student at the Institute. In their demonstration of the influence and inspiration this dictionary gave to lexicographers who followed da Gama, Bidarra and Martins outline the historical trajectory of sign languages up to the present, considering different and parallel paths for sign languages in different countries, forms of stigmatization of sign language, and barriers to its use. Incorporating this historical and transnational analysis, Bidarra and Martins present both a broad discussion of the various models of sign language dictionaries that have been used around the world and an in-depth analysis of the development of Libras dictionaries in Brazil to the modern day.

scholarly journals Deaf Ni-Vanuatu and their signs: A sociolinguistic study

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Jacqueline Iseli
Keyword(s):  
Data Collection ◽  
Sign Language ◽  
Deaf People ◽  
Deaf Community ◽  
Sign Languages ◽  
Individual Variations ◽  
Field Methodology ◽  
Degree Of Similarity ◽  
Similarity Of Signs

<p>This thesis provides the first documentation and description of the signs created and used by deaf individuals in Vanuatu. The specific aims of this research were as follows: to establish the sociolinguistic context experienced by deaf people in Vanuatu; to identify the repertoire and characteristics of signs used by the deaf participants; to compare features of participants’ individual signs with the characteristics of home signs and emerging sign languages; and to consider the degree of similarity and potential similarity of signs between participants and how this reflects individuals’ opportunities for contact with other deaf people and signing interlocutors. The limitations of this study are that field methodology for data collection was developed in situ as conditions allowed. The sociolinguistic context for deaf Ni-Vanuatu confirms that language isolation leads to marginalisation from community and society. The study established that these home sign lexicons were limited in quantity and conceptual range, and that shared background knowledge was essential for comprehension. Overall, 22 handshapes were documented, and the predominant handshapes unmarked. Most participants preferred handling strategy for depicting signs. Some evidence of noun-verb distinction was noted in the repertoire of some participants. However, across this range of formational characteristics, results showed significant individual variations. Furthermore, multiple barriers have precluded development of a shared sign language and any form of deaf community.</p>

Methods for Studying Sign Languages

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ceil Lucas
Keyword(s):  
Data Collection ◽  
Sign Language ◽  
Data Reduction ◽  
Spoken Language ◽  
Deaf Community ◽  
Methodological Issues ◽  
Sign Languages ◽  
Black Deaf

This chapter begins by sharing an anecdote involving recruiting members of the Houston black Deaf community for a project on Black ASL to participate in the filming. The anecdote serves as an example of the kinds of methodological issues that can arise when collecting sociolinguistic data in Deaf communities. Many of these issues are of course not unique to Deaf communities—researchers who work in spoken-language communities encounter many of the same issues. The chapter discusses methods for the sociolinguistic studies in sign language communities. It includes four main topics: data collection, defining variables and constraints, data reduction, and dissemination of the findings.

Multimedia Dictionary and Synthesis of Sign Language

2011 ◽  
pp. 268-281 ◽  
Author(s):  
Franc Solina ◽  
Slavko Krapez ◽  
Ales Jaklic ◽  
Vito Komac
Keyword(s):  
American Sign Language ◽  
Sign Language ◽  
The United States ◽  
Written Language ◽  
Deaf Children ◽  
Deaf People ◽  
Sign Languages ◽  
Proper Nouns ◽  
Basic Meaning ◽  
The World

Deaf people, as a marginal community, may have severe problems in communicating with hearing people. Usually, they have a lot of problems even with such—for hearing people—simple tasks as understanding the written language. However, deaf people are very skilled in using a sign language, which is their native language. A sign language is a set of signs or hand gestures. A gesture in a sign language equals a word in a written language. Similarly, a sentence in a written language equals a sequence of gestures in a sign language. In the distant past deaf people were discriminated and believed to be incapable of learning and thinking independently. Only after the year 1500 were the first attempts made to educate deaf children. An important breakthrough was the realization that hearing is not a prerequisite for understanding ideas. One of the most important early educators of the deaf and the first promoter of sign language was Charles Michel De L’Epée (1712-1789) in France. He founded the fist public school for deaf people. His teachings about sign language quickly spread all over the world. Like spoken languages, different sign languages and dialects evolved around the world. According to the National Association of the Deaf, the American Sign Language (ASL) is the third most frequently used language in the United States, after English and Spanish. ASL has more than 4,400 distinct signs. The Slovenian sign language (SSL), which is used in Slovenia and also serves as a case study sign language in this chapter, contains approximately 4,000 different gestures for common words. Signs require one or both hands for signing. Facial expressions which accompany signing are also important since they can modify the basic meaning of a hand gesture. To communicate proper nouns and obscure words, sign languages employ finger spelling. Since the majority of signing is with full words, signed conversation can proceed with the same pace as spoken conversation.

The Study of Language and Society

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Bayley ◽  
Richard Cameron ◽  
Ceil Lucas
Keyword(s):  
Sign Language ◽  
Linguistic Anthropology ◽  
Sign Languages ◽  
Variationist Sociolinguistics ◽  
The World

This chapter introduces this volume on sociolinguistics, noting how this study differs from existing work. It considers sociolinguistics as an interdisciplinary exercise, emphasizing new methodological developments, particularly the convergence of linguistic anthropology and variationist sociolinguistics. The volume cites sociolinguistic developments in areas of the world that have been relatively neglected in the major journals. While many authors include examples from English, contributors have worked in a range of languages and address sociolinguistic issues in bi- and multilingual contexts. Finally, the volume includes substantial material on the rapidly growing study of sign language sociolinguistics. The focus on bi- and multilingual contexts, and emphasis on developments in numerous areas around the world, give an appropriate place to sign languages.

Differentiating ‘dialect’ and ‘language’ in sign languages

2015 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 190-219 ◽  
Author(s):  
Felix Sze ◽  
Silva Isma ◽  
Adhika Irlang Suwiryo ◽  
Laura Lesmana Wijaya ◽  
Adhi Kusumo Bharato ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Sign Language ◽  
Word Order ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Top Down ◽  
Sign Languages ◽  
Language Varieties ◽  
The Past ◽  
Linguistic Evidence ◽  
The World ◽  
Language Promotion

The distinction between languages and dialects has remained a controversial issue in literature. When such a distinction is made, it often has far-reaching implications in top-down language promotion and preservation policies that tend to favor only those varieties that are labelled as ‘languages’. This issue is of critical importance for the survival of most sign language varieties in the world from a socio-political point of view. Against this background, this paper discusses how the notions of ‘dialect’ and ‘language’ have been applied in classifying sign languages in the past few decades. In particular, the paper reports on two recent studies which provide linguistic evidence that the signing varieties used by Deaf signers in Jakarta and Yogyakarta in Indonesia should be regarded as distinct sign languages rather than mutually intelligible dialects of Indonesian Sign Language. The evidence comes from significant differences in the lexicon, preferred word order for encoding transitive events, and use of mouth actions. Our result suggests that signing varieties within a country can be significantly different from each other, thus calling for more concerted efforts in documenting and recognizing these differences if the linguistic needs of the signing communities are to be met.

The effect of sociolinguistic factors on variation in the Kata Kolok lexicon

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 53-88
Author(s):  
Katie Mudd ◽  
Hannah Lutzenberger ◽  
Connie de Vos ◽  
Paula Fikkert ◽  
Onno Crasborn ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Family Member ◽  
Sign Language ◽  
Preliminary Evidence ◽  
Deaf Community ◽  
Sign Languages ◽  
Lexical Variation ◽  
Supplementary Material ◽  
Picture Description ◽  
Description Task

Abstract Abstract (International Sign) Sign languages can be categorized as shared sign languages or deaf community sign languages, depending on the context in which they emerge. It has been suggested that shared sign languages exhibit more variation in the expression of everyday concepts than deaf community sign languages (Meir, Israel, Sandler, Padden, & Aronoff, 2012). For deaf community sign languages, it has been shown that various sociolinguistic factors condition this variation. This study presents one of the first in-depth investigations of how sociolinguistic factors (deaf status, age, clan, gender and having a deaf family member) affect lexical variation in a shared sign language, using a picture description task in Kata Kolok. To study lexical variation in Kata Kolok, two methodologies are devised: the identification of signs by underlying iconic motivation and mapping, and a way to compare individual repertoires of signs by calculating the lexical distances between participants. Alongside presenting novel methodologies to study this type of sign language, we present preliminary evidence of sociolinguistic factors that may influence variation in the Kata Kolok lexicon.

scholarly journals Pautas orientativas para la asistencia a la diversidad y la inclusión de personas sordas

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (5) ◽  
pp. 6441-6452
Author(s):  
Roberto García Sánchez ◽  
Justo Pedro Hernández González
Keyword(s):  
Continuing Education ◽  
Sign Language ◽  
Cochlear Implants ◽  
Hearing Aids ◽  
Deaf People ◽  
Deaf Students ◽  
Sign Languages ◽  
Sign Language Interpreters ◽  
The World ◽  
The University

Comunidad  Sorda es aquella que participa de unos valores culturales y lingüísticos construidos en torno a la lengua de signos y a una concepción visual del mundo. Entre las personas sordas usuarias de la lengua de signos algunas aprendieron a signar en su infancia y otras siendo ya adultas; hay quienes son usuarias de audífonos o implantes cocleares y, entre ellas, hay quienes usan la lengua de signos y quienes no. También debemos mencionar a aquellas personas sordas que, a causa de un sistema educativo no inclusivo, tienen problemas de expresión y comprensión de textos escritos. Al igual que en el resto de la población, entre las personas sordas encontraremos niños, jóvenes, mayores, personas sordas con otra(s) discapacidad(es)... Todas y cada una de ellas con sus necesidades y demandas concretas. Es importante saber que, aun tratándose de un colectivo heterogéneo, todas las personas sordas, cualquiera que sea su tipo o grado de sordera, situación individual e independientemente de que sean o no usuarias de las lenguas de signos, comparten la necesidad de acceder a la comunicación e información del entorno sin barreras de ningún tipo. Por ese motivo es necesario desarrollar un servicio de orientación, asesoramiento y acción tutorial específico para el alumnado sordo que tenga en cuenta sus necesidades y dificultades y que evite cualquier tipo de discriminación o falta de accesibilidad al contenido universitario del tipo que sea. Por lo tanto, es necesario proporcionar este servicio con los recursos audiovisuales necesarios, intérpretes de lengua de signos española y formación continua a la comunidad universitaria. Es fundamental coordinarse con las asociaciones de personas sordas para cumplir los requisitos básicos que garanticen su inclusión, puesto que éstas son las que conocen mejor sus necesidades por la lucha de sus derechos, y orientar a la universidad para la consecución de dicha finalidad.   A Deaf Community is one that participates in cultural and linguistic values built around sign language and a visual conception of the world. Among the deaf people who used sign language, some learned to sign in their childhood and others when they were adults; there are those who use hearing aids or cochlear implants and, among them, there are those who use sign language and those who do not. We will also find deaf people who, because of a non-inclusive educational system, have problems of expression and comprehension of written texts. As in the rest of the population, among the deaf people we will find children, young people, elderly, deaf people with other disability(ies). . . Each and every one of them with their specific needs and demands. It is important to know that, even if it is a heterogeneous collective, all deaf people, whatever their type or degree of deafness, individual situation and regardless of whether or not they are users of sign languages, share the need to access the communication and information of the environment without barriers of any kind. For this reason it is necessary to develop a service of guidance, advice and specific tutorial action for deaf students that takes into account their needs and difficulties and avoids any type of discrimination or lack of accessibility to university content of any kind. Therefore, it is necessary to provide this service with the necessary audiovisual resources, Spanish sign language interpreters and continuing education to the university community. It is essential to coordinate with associations of deaf people to meet the basic requirements to ensure their inclusion, since they are the ones who best know their needs by fighting for their rights, and guide the university to achieve that goal.

scholarly journals Indicating verbs in British Sign Language favour motivated use of space

2015 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Kearsy Cormier ◽  
Jordan Fenlon ◽  
Adam Schembri
Keyword(s):  
Sign Language ◽  
Language Teaching ◽  
Sign Languages ◽  
Use Of Space ◽  
British Sign Language ◽  
Arbitrary Space ◽  
British Sign ◽  
Language Corpus

AbstractSign languages have traditionally been described as having a distinction between (1) arbitrary (referential or syntactic) space, considered to be a purely grammatical use of space in which locations arbitrarily represent concrete or abstract subject and/or object arguments using pronouns or indicating verbs, for example, and (2) motivated (topographic or surrogate) space, involving mapping of locations of concrete referents onto the signing space via classifier constructions. Some linguists have suggested that it may be misleading to see the two uses of space as being completely distinct from one another. In this study, we use conversational data from the British Sign Language Corpus (www.bslcorpusproject.org) to look at the use of space with modified indicating verbs – specifically the directions in which these verbs are used as well as the co-occurrence of eyegaze shifts and constructed action. Our findings suggest that indicating verbs are frequently produced in conditions that use space in a motivated way and are rarely modified using arbitrary space. This contrasts with previous claims that indicating verbs in BSL prototypically use arbitrary space. We discuss the implications of this for theories about grammaticalisation and the role of gesture in sign languages and for sign language teaching.

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