Annotating sign language using a dedicated glyph system (the project Typannot)

Annotation de la langue des signes par un système de glyphes dédiés (projet Typannot)

Annotazione della lingua dei segni tramite un sistema di glifi dedicati (progetto Typannot)

Dominique Boutet (1, 2) , Patrick Doan (3) , Ilaria Renna (1) , Claire Danet (3) , Claudia S. Bianchini (4, 5) , Morgane Rébulard (3) , Thimothée Goguely (3)

1 SFL - Structures Formelles du Langage
2 LIAS - IMM - Centre de Linguistique Anthropologique et Sociolinguistique - Institut Marcel Mauss
3 ESAD - Ecole Supérieure d'Art et de Design d'Amiens
4 Poitiers UFR LL - Université de Poitiers - UFR Lettres et langues
5 FoReLL [Poitiers] - Formes et représentations en linguistique et littérature [EA 3816]

Few systems are able to annotate sign language (SL): Stokoe Notation System, HamNoSys, SignWriting, BTS. Either they are based on symbols representing SL specific parameters - difficult to write, or they are based on linear alpha-numerical arbitrary encodings. The question of annotation is widely debated and remains an essential requirement for linguistic analysis whether in the form of ID-gloss or shape description. Typannot aims at giving better typographic tools by creating a dedicated glyph system that allows users to annotate the SL parameters in an iconic way thanks to the expertise of linguists, type designers and a roboticist.We will present the concepts and the rules behind our glyphic system and show how we are able to design 237 handshapes glyphs allowing their annotation in 10 SL (based on Eccarius & Brentari 2008). The components and the rules are limited, organized in order to maximize the system economy and learning curve, both in writing and reading (Noordzij 2006).This glyphic system can annotate the other manual parameters allowing combination of handshapes, movements and location. The orientation can be deduced from information inscribed in each glyphic unit. The design of this typeface is based at least on a graphematic description of a panel of 240 signs (Bickford 2005) for 4 SL. Those three graphematic levels once unified in a common writing space should open new perspectives in researching a writing system aimed at the deaf community. This typographic system will reach a phonological level of representation in order to qualify as a viable transcription of SL.A low-cost motion capture system (Weichert et al. 2013) will be used to enrich the glyphs adding more information than just configuration, as speed, acceleration and orientation. We are also considering the latest font format (OpenType) to allow dynamic font features like contextual glyph replacement.Bibliography[1] Eccarius, Petra, & Diane Brentari. «Handshape coding made easier: a theoretically based notation for phonological transcription». Sign Language & Linguistics 11, no 1 (2008): 69-101.[2] Bickford, J. Albert. The signed languages of Eastern Europe. Citeseer, 2005. http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.103.5039&rep=rep1&type=pdf.[3] Weichert, Frank, Daniel Bachmann, Bartholomäus Rudak, & Denis Fisseler. «Analysis of the Accuracy and Robustness of the Leap Motion Controller». Sensors 13, no 5 (14 May 2013): 6380-93. doi:10.3390/s130506380.

Domaines: Linguistique

Dominique Boutet, Patrick Doan, Ilaria Renna, Claire Danet, Claudia S. Bianchini, et al.. Annotating sign language using a dedicated glyph system (the project Typannot). 2nd Intl Conf. on Sign Language Acquisition (ICSLA2015), University of Amsterdam - Radboud University, Jul 2015, Amsterdam, Netherlands. pp.15, ⟨10.13140/RG.2.1.2801.1366⟩. ⟨hal-02342992⟩