@inproceedings{bono:24013:sign-lang:lrec, author = {Bono, Mayumi and Okada, Tomohiro and Skobov, Victor and Adam, Robert}, title = {Data Integration, Annotation, and Transcription Methods for Sign Language Dialogue with Latency in Videoconferencing}, pages = {26--35}, editor = {Efthimiou, Eleni and Fotinea, Stavroula-Evita and Hanke, Thomas and Hochgesang, Julie A. and Mesch, Johanna and Schulder, Marc}, booktitle = {Proceedings of the {LREC-COLING} 2024 11th Workshop on the Representation and Processing of Sign Languages: Evaluation of Sign Language Resources}, maintitle = {2024 Joint International Conference on Computational Linguistics, Language Resources and Evaluation ({LREC-COLING} 2024)}, publisher = {{ELRA Language Resources Association (ELRA) and the International Committee on Computational Linguistics (ICCL)}}, address = {Torino, Italy}, day = {25}, month = may, year = {2024}, isbn = {978-2-493814-30-2}, language = {english}, url = {https://www.sign-lang.uni-hamburg.de/lrec/pub/24013.html}, abstract = {Since the start of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, online conferencing has become a part of daily life for many people. This lifestyle change applies to hearing people and Deaf people. How have Deaf individuals, who essentially communicate in three-dimensional space, experienced this shift? To address this question, the present study recorded online conversations between Deaf people using the videoconferencing tool Zoom. In this article, we explain how latency is captured in videoconferencing dialogue and how recorded data are integrated and annotated using an annotation tool (ELAN). First, we present two examples of the analysis to clarify basic theoretical issues that affect turn-taking via videoconferencing systems focusing on the sequence structure of `greetings' and `encounters.' Videoconferencing dialogues often begin with the participants greeting each other, which may be delayed because of the nature of online communication or the technical specifications of each individual's device. Next, to discuss sequential issues with videoconferencing dialogue, we introduce how the fundamental adjacency pair, such as question (first pair part: FPP) and answer (second pair part: SPP), appears to each participant on their computers with latency. This research shows that recording videoconferencing dialogues with latency is useful for next-generation data collection in vision-sensitive sign languages, as well as audio-centred spoken languages with gestures.} } @inproceedings{mulrooney:14020:sign-lang:lrec, author = {Mulrooney, Kristin and Hochgesang, Julie A. and Morris, Carla and Lee, Katie}, title = {The ``how-to'' of integrating {FACS} and {ELAN} for analysis of non-manual features in {ASL}}, pages = {123--126}, editor = {Crasborn, Onno and Efthimiou, Eleni and Fotinea, Stavroula-Evita and Hanke, Thomas and Hochgesang, Julie A. and Kristoffersen, Jette and Mesch, Johanna}, booktitle = {Proceedings of the {LREC2014} 6th Workshop on the Representation and Processing of Sign Languages: Beyond the Manual Channel}, maintitle = {9th International Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation ({LREC} 2014)}, publisher = {{European Language Resources Association (ELRA)}}, address = {Reykjavik, Iceland}, day = {31}, month = may, year = {2014}, language = {english}, url = {https://www.sign-lang.uni-hamburg.de/lrec/pub/14020.html}, abstract = {The process of transcribing and annotating non-manual features presents challenges for sign language researchers. This paper describes the approach used by our research team to integrate the Facial Action Coding System (FACS) with the EUDICO Linguistic Annotator (ELAN) program to allow us to more accurately and efficiently code non-manual features. Preliminary findings are presented which demonstrate that this approach is useful for a fuller description of facial expressions.} } @inproceedings{wolfe-etal-2014-expanding:lrec, author = {Wolfe, Rosalee and McDonald, John C. and Berke, Larwan and Stumbo, Marie}, title = {Expanding n-gram analytics in {ELAN} and a case study for sign synthesis}, pages = {1880--1885}, editor = {Calzolari, Nicoletta and Choukri, Khalid and Declerck, Thierry and Loftsson, Hrafn and Maegaard, Bente and Mariani, Joseph and Moreno, Asuncion and Odijk, Jan and Piperidis, Stelios,}, booktitle = {9th International Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation ({LREC} 2014)}, publisher = {{European Language Resources Association (ELRA)}}, address = {Reykjavik, Iceland}, day = {26--31}, month = may, year = {2014}, isbn = {978-2-9517408-8-4}, language = {english}, url = {https://aclanthology.org/L14-1484}, abstract = {Corpus analysis is a powerful tool for signed language synthesis. A new extension to ELAN offers expanded n-gram analysis tools including improved search capabilities and an extensive library of statistical measures of association for n-grams. Uncovering and exploring coarticulatory timing effects via corpus analysis requires n-gram analysis to discover the most frequently occurring bigrams. This paper presents an overview of the new tools and a case study in American Sign Language synthesis that exploits these capabilities for computing more natural timing in generated sentences. The new extension provides a time-saving convenience for language researchers using ELAN.} } @inproceedings{crasborn:12030:sign-lang:lrec, author = {Crasborn, Onno and Hulsbosch, Micha and Sloetjes, Han}, title = {Linking {Corpus} {NGT} annotations to a lexical database using open source tools {ELAN} and {LEXUS}}, pages = {19--22}, editor = {Crasborn, Onno and Efthimiou, Eleni and Fotinea, Stavroula-Evita and Hanke, Thomas and Kristoffersen, Jette and Mesch, Johanna}, booktitle = {Proceedings of the {LREC2012} 5th Workshop on the Representation and Processing of Sign Languages: Interactions between Corpus and Lexicon}, maintitle = {8th International Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation ({LREC} 2012)}, publisher = {{European Language Resources Association (ELRA)}}, address = {Istanbul, Turkey}, day = {27}, month = may, year = {2012}, language = {english}, url = {https://www.sign-lang.uni-hamburg.de/lrec/pub/12030.html}, abstract = {This paper describes how we have made a first start with expanding the functionality of the ELAN annotation tool to create a bridge to a lexical database. A first lookup facility of an annotation in a LEXUS database is created, which generates a user-configurable selection of fields from that database, to be displayed in ELAN. In addition, an extension of the (open) controlled vocabularies that can be specified for tiers allows for the creation of very large vocabularies, such as lexical items in a language. Such an `external controlled vocabulary' is an XML file that can be published on any web server and thus will be accessible to any interested party. Future development should allow for the vocabulary to be directly linked to a LEXUS database and thus also allow for access right management.} } @inproceedings{masneri:10015:sign-lang:lrec, author = {Masneri, Stefano and Schreer, Oliver and Schneider, Daniel and Tsch{\"o}pel, Sebastian and Bardeli, Rolf and Bordag, Stefan and Auer, Eric and Sloetjes, Han and Wittenburg, Peter}, title = {Towards semi-automatic annotation of video and audio corpora}, pages = {150--153}, editor = {Dreuw, Philippe and Efthimiou, Eleni and Hanke, Thomas and Johnston, Trevor and Mart{\'i}nez Ruiz, Gregorio and Schembri, Adam}, booktitle = {Proceedings of the {LREC2010} 4th Workshop on the Representation and Processing of Sign Languages: Corpora and Sign Language Technologies}, maintitle = {7th International Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation ({LREC} 2010)}, publisher = {{European Language Resources Association (ELRA)}}, address = {Valletta, Malta}, day = {22--23}, month = may, year = {2010}, language = {english}, url = {https://www.sign-lang.uni-hamburg.de/lrec/pub/10015.html}, abstract = {AVATecH (Advancing Video/Audio Technology in Humanities Research) is a project in which two Fraunhofer Institutes and two Max Planck Institutes collaborate in order to promote the development and application of technology for semi-automatic annotation of digital audio and video recordings. One of the aims of the AVATecH project is to implement algorithms that allow for the automatic or semi-automatic creation of pre-annotations for the video corpora, hence reducing the time needed to perform the manual annotation task. Due to the huge size of the corpora, and the extreme variety of the video content, the algorithms developed need to be fast, efficient and robust. In this paper we will present some of the algorithms currently under development, the modifications applied in order to get them working with large video corpora and how the results of the annotations are stored, as well as how they can be integrated in ELAN annotation software.} } @inproceedings{dreuw:08038:sign-lang:lrec, author = {Dreuw, Philippe and Ney, Hermann}, title = {Towards Automatic Sign Language Annotation for the {ELAN} Tool}, pages = {50--53}, editor = {Crasborn, Onno and Efthimiou, Eleni and Hanke, Thomas and Thoutenhoofd, Ernst D. and Zwitserlood, Inge}, booktitle = {Proceedings of the {LREC2008} 3rd Workshop on the Representation and Processing of Sign Languages: Construction and Exploitation of Sign Language Corpora}, maintitle = {6th International Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation ({LREC} 2008)}, publisher = {{European Language Resources Association (ELRA)}}, address = {Marrakech, Morocco}, day = {1}, month = jun, year = {2008}, language = {english}, url = {https://www.sign-lang.uni-hamburg.de/lrec/pub/08038.html}, abstract = {A new interface to the ELAN annotation software that can handle automatically generated annotations by a sign language recognition and translation framework is described. For evaluation and benchmarking of automatic sign language recognition, large corpora with rich annotation are needed. Such databases have generally only small vocabularies and are created for linguistic purposes, because the annotation process of sign language videos is time consuming and requires expert knowledge of bilingual speakers (signers). The proposed framework provides easy access to the output of an automatic sign language recognition and translation framework. Furthermore, new annotations and metadata information can be added and imported into the ELAN annotation software. Preliminary results show that the performance of a statistical machine translation improves using automatically generated annotations. \par Automatic sign language recognition is a problem that is being solved by many research institutes in the world. Up to now there is a deficiency of corpora with good properties such as high resolution and frame rate, several views of the scene, detailed annotation etc. In this paper we take a closer look at the annotation of available data.} } @inproceedings{herrmann:08015:sign-lang:lrec, author = {Herrmann, Annika}, title = {Sign language corpora and the problems with {ELAN} and the {ECHO} annotation conventions}, pages = {68--73}, editor = {Crasborn, Onno and Efthimiou, Eleni and Hanke, Thomas and Thoutenhoofd, Ernst D. and Zwitserlood, Inge}, booktitle = {Proceedings of the {LREC2008} 3rd Workshop on the Representation and Processing of Sign Languages: Construction and Exploitation of Sign Language Corpora}, maintitle = {6th International Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation ({LREC} 2008)}, publisher = {{European Language Resources Association (ELRA)}}, address = {Marrakech, Morocco}, day = {1}, month = jun, year = {2008}, language = {english}, url = {https://www.sign-lang.uni-hamburg.de/lrec/pub/08015.html}, abstract = {Large corpus projects require logistic, technical and personal expertise and most importantly a conventionalized annotation system. In addition, relatively small projects with a definite set of data can also be an invaluable contribution to linguistic sign language research and therefore should use the same technical methods and annotation conventions for comparative reasons. The poster will present the process of building a corpus that is needed for a cross-linguistic study currently undertaken and focuses on the problems that arise with regard to annotation. The respective solutions shall be suggestions towards a unified convention. \par In this project, elicited data from three European sign languages and altogether 20 informants provide a set of approx. 900 sentences and short dialogues. Metadata information about participants and the recording situation will be edited in the IMDI metadata set. ELAN provides the most adequate annotation system for my purposes as the main interest of the study lies in the use of nonmanuals. The tool is widely used for sign language annotation and I try to guarantee for comparability by mainly adopting the ECHO annotation system with a few necessary adaptations. \par Problems listed below include repeatedly asked questions that are still not defined clearly yet: \par a) How are the on- and offsets of signs determined? Shall we annotate the separate signs or the signing stream integrating the transition period? \par b) How should pointing signs or constructions with many meaning components be transcribed? \par c) Despite more or less clear definitions of what each tier should be used for, the GLOSS-tier is sometimes intertwined with external information not fitting the tier. How can these problems be avoided? \par d) What kinds of disadvantages occur, if the eye gaze and eye blink annotations are not accurate? \par Possible Solutions: \par a) Even though the on- and offsets of signs can be defined more precisely than for words, the sign syllable not always has clear boundaries. Signing should be annotated as a streaming process that is interrupted when there is a hold or a significant pause. The transition from one sign to the other is often clearly visible through handshape change, which seems to be the more adequate marker for annotation. (The only problem left being sign duration, which cannot entirely be solved by the vague separate sign annotation either.) \par b) Proposal for a more detailed distinction of pointing signs without being theoretical (at least IX-1 for signer, IX-dual (excl., incl.) e.g.) and poly-meaning constructions (e.g. BE-LOCATED-CL:vehicle instead of (p-)vehicle-be-located; BLEAK instead of (p-)bleaking sheep when SHEEP is already introduced, decision between HOLD-CL:potato and HOLD-CL:round object). \par c) The GLOSS tier should only be used for manual signs or gestures, nonmanuals should not be included (*WALK- PURPOSEFUL). An additional tier is useful: other NMFs/look/other facial expressions \par d) Continuous eye gaze and eye aperture annotation is necessary to exactly determine eye gaze change with or without an eye blink and the duration and timing of blinks. This can especially be relevant for prosodic analysis.} } @inproceedings{mesch:08025:sign-lang:lrec, author = {Mesch, Johanna and Wallin, Lars}, title = {Use of sign language materials in teaching}, pages = {134--137}, editor = {Crasborn, Onno and Efthimiou, Eleni and Hanke, Thomas and Thoutenhoofd, Ernst D. and Zwitserlood, Inge}, booktitle = {Proceedings of the {LREC2008} 3rd Workshop on the Representation and Processing of Sign Languages: Construction and Exploitation of Sign Language Corpora}, maintitle = {6th International Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation ({LREC} 2008)}, publisher = {{European Language Resources Association (ELRA)}}, address = {Marrakech, Morocco}, day = {1}, month = jun, year = {2008}, language = {english}, url = {https://www.sign-lang.uni-hamburg.de/lrec/pub/08025.html}, abstract = {We are in the beginning phase of creating a Swedish Sign Language corpus. Some of the material is now used with students in two separate courses: Swedish Sign Language for beginners, and Swedish Sign Language linguistics (for deaf and hearing signers). In this workshop we will present some teaching methods and technical problems. Some examples are shown of how the students use the sign language corpus through the dictionary database, the corpus database and a learning platform for studying and analyzing sign language texts, like for example the small corpus in Bergman {\&} Mesch 2004 and also some old and new recordings. Students can practice sentences, analyze the entries and annotate the texts or their own recordings. Bergman's earlier transcription system for Swedish Sign Language (Bergman 1982) has been updated continuously, and partly adapted for possible use as a standard annotation system. Problems with storing sign language material are also discussed. \par References \par Bergman, Brita. {\&} Mesch, Johanna. 2004. ECHO data set for Swedish Sign Language (SSL). Department of Linguistics, University of Stockholm. \par Bergman, Brita. 1982. Teckenspr{\aa}kstranskription. Forskning om teckenspr{\aa}k X. Stockholms universitet, Institutionen f{\"o}r lingvistik.} } @inproceedings{wittenburg-etal-2006-elan:lrec, author = {Wittenburg, Peter and Brugman, Hennie and Russel, Albert and Klassmann, Alex and Sloetjes, Han}, title = {{ELAN}: a Professional Framework for Multimodality Research}, pages = {1556--1559}, editor = {Calzolari, Nicoletta and Choukri, Khalid and Gangemi, Aldo and Maegaard, Bente and Mariani, Joseph and Odijk, Jan and Tapias, Daniel}, booktitle = {5th International Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation ({LREC} 2006)}, publisher = {{European Language Resources Association (ELRA)}}, address = {Genoa, Italy}, day = {22--28}, month = may, year = {2006}, isbn = {978-2-9517408-2-2}, language = {english}, url = {https://aclanthology.org/L06-1082}, abstract = {Utilization of computer tools in linguistic research has gained importance with the maturation of media frameworks for the handling of digital audio and video. The increased use of these tools in gesture, sign language and multimodal interaction studies has led to stronger requirements on the flexibility, the efficiency and in particular the time accuracy of annotation tools. This paper describes the efforts made to make ELAN a tool that meets these requirements, with special attention to the developments in the area of time accuracy. In subsequent sections an overview will be given of other enhancements in the latest versions of ELAN that makes it a useful tool in multimodality research.} }