@inproceedings{fragkiadakis:20007:sign-lang:lrec,
  author    = {Fragkiadakis, Manolis and Nyst, Victoria and van der Putten, Peter},
  title     = {Signing as Input for a Dictionary Query: Matching Signs Based on Joint Positions of the Dominant Hand},
  pages     = {69--74},
  editor    = {Efthimiou, Eleni and Fotinea, Stavroula-Evita and Hanke, Thomas and Hochgesang, Julie A. and Kristoffersen, Jette and Mesch, Johanna},
  booktitle = {Proceedings of the {LREC2020} 9th Workshop on the Representation and Processing of Sign Languages: Sign Language Resources in the Service of the Language Community, Technological Challenges and Application Perspectives},
  maintitle = {12th International Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation ({LREC} 2020)},
  publisher = {{European Language Resources Association (ELRA)}},
  address   = {Marseille, France},
  day       = {16},
  month     = may,
  year      = {2020},
  isbn      = {979-10-95546-54-2},
  language  = {english},
  url       = {https://www.sign-lang.uni-hamburg.de/lrec/pub/20007.html},
  doi       = {10.63317/2ngd5uiu5xup},
  abstract  = {This study presents a new methodology to search sign language lexica, using a full sign as input for a query. Thus, a dictionary user can look up information about a sign by signing the sign to a webcam. The recorded sign is then compared to potential matching signs in the lexicon. As such, it provides a new way of searching sign language dictionaries to complement existing methods based on (spoken language) glosses or phonological features, like handshape or location. The method utilizes OpenPose to extract the body and finger joint positions. Dynamic Time Warping (DTW) is used to quantify the variation of the trajectory of the dominant hand and the average trajectories of the fingers. Ten people with various degrees of sign language proficiency have participated in this study. Each subject viewed a set of 20 signs from the newly compiled Ghanaian sign language lexicon and was asked to replicate the signs. The results show that DTW can predict the matching sign with 87{\%} and 74{\%} accuracy at the Top-10 and Top-5 ranking level respectively by using only the trajectory of the dominant hand. Additionally, more proficient signers obtain 90{\%} accuracy at the Top-10 ranking. The methodology has the potential to be used also as a variation measurement tool to quantify the difference in signing between different signers or sign languages in general.}
}

@inproceedings{nyst:08033:sign-lang:lrec,
  author    = {Nyst, Victoria},
  title     = {Documenting an Endangered Sign Language: Constructing a Corpus of {Langue} des {Signes} {Malienne} ({CLaSiMa})},
  pages     = {145--149},
  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/08033.html},
  abstract  = {Langue des Signes Malienne (LaSiMa) is the local sign language of Mali. It evolved spontaneously in the streets of urban centers outside the context of Deaf education. The Malian `grins', meeting places where men gather in the afternoon to chat and drink tea seem to be the cradle of this language.
\par
Since about 15 years now, American Sign Language (ASL) has been introduced in Deaf education in Mali. As a consequence, LaSiMa has become the language of non-educated Deaf people and is by many considered to be inferior to ASL. LaSiMa is marginalized and at present, few Deaf adults in Bamako sign LaSiMa without mixing in some ASL signs. It is likely that in few generations, the use of LaSiMa will have reduced or altered greatly.
\par
Little is known about sign languages from the African continent. In view of the evolution of LaSiMa outside the context of Deaf education in addition to its endangered status, a three-year documentation and description project was set up with the help of the Hans Rausing Endangered Language Program (URL). The aim of the project is to establish a corpus of LaSiMa discourse, a lexical database and descriptions of selected structural aspects of the language.
\par
The Corpus Langue des Signes Malienne (CLaSiMa) aims at collecting a large, filmed sample of LaSiMa discourse. The sample is to be diverse and representative with respect to its signers (age, gender) and with respect to its discourse types. So far, 15 hours of discourse have been filmed. The filmed discourse is to be translated in French using ELAN software. A selection of the discourse in the corpus will be glossed. The material will be deposited in a digital archive, where it will be accessible through internet for the academic as well as the Malian Deaf community.
\par
The initial approach to gather the data was inspired by the work on the NGT corpus (Crasborn {\&} Zwitserlood, 2007). Their approach involved among others inviting pairs of signers to a filming location where they discuss preset issues and do specific language-based tasks. A similar approach in the LaSiMa context was challenged in several ways. Controlling the age and gender balance, the ``nativeness'' of signers was problematic as well as the cultural appropriateness of the material and the tasks, affecting the spontaneity of the signers. An alternative approach was developed, which involved recording one or two signers in their `grins'. This required training two native LaSiMa signers in film and interview techniques.
\par
References
\par
Onno Crasborn {\&} Inge Zwitserlood (2007) 'The Corpus NGT project: challenges in publishing sign language data'. Workshop 'The emergence of corpus sign language linguistics', paper presented at BAAL 2007, Edinburgh, Thursday 6 Sept. 2007.}
}