This paper focuses on the analysis and annotation of non-manual features in the framework of a study of (dis)fluency markers in French Belgian Sign Language (LSFB). In line with Gˆtz (2013), we consider (dis)fluency as the result of the combination of many independent markers (ìfluencemesî). These fluencemes may contribute either positively or negatively to the efficiency of a discourse depending on their context of appearance, their specific combination, their position and frequency. We show that the non-manual features in LSFB make distinctions within pauses and palm-up signs in a consistent way and contribute to the value of the manual marker. The selection of a limited number of relevant combinations of nonmanuals, in the context of pauses and palm-up signs, proves to simplify the annotation process and to limit the number of features to examine for each nonmanual. The gaze and the head appear to be necessary and sufficient to describe pauses and palm-up signs accurately. Though these findings are limited to this pilot study, they will pave the way to the next steps of the broader research project on (dis)fluency markers in LSFB this work is part of.
@inproceedings{notarrigo:14015:sign-lang:lrec,
author = {Notarrigo, Ingrid and Meurant, Laurence},
title = {Nonmanuals as markers of (dis)fluency},
pages = {135--142},
editor = {Crasborn, Onno and Efthimiou, Eleni and Fotinea, Stavroula-Evita and Hanke, Thomas 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/14015.pdf}
}