This paper proposes a system of standardized transcription and orthographic representation for sign languages (Sign Language Orthography Builder) with a corresponding text-based corpus-building and annotation tool (Signotate). The transcription system aims to be analogous to IPA in using ASCII characters as a standardized way to represent the phonetic aspects of any sign, and the writing system aims to be transparent and easily readable, using pictographic symbols which combine to create a 'signer' in front of the reader. The proposed software can be used to convert transcriptions to written signs, and to create annotated corpora or lexicons. Its text-based human- and machine-readable format gives a user the ability to search large quantities of data for a variety of features and contributes to sources, such as dictionaries and transcription corpora.
Keywords
Language documentation and long-term accessibility for sign language data
Annotation and Visualization Tools
Computer recognition of sign language and steps towards automatic annotation
Proposals for standards for linguistic annotation or for metadata descriptions
Linking corpora and lexicons and integrated presentation of corpus and dictionary contents
@inproceedings{clark:18035:sign-lang:lrec,
author = {Clark, Brenda and Clark, Greg},
title = {{SiLOrB} and {Signotate}: A Proposal for Lexicography and Corpus-building via the Transcription, Annotation, and Writing of Signs},
pages = {29--32},
editor = {Bono, Mayumi and Efthimiou, Eleni and Fotinea, Stavroula-Evita and Hanke, Thomas and Hochgesang, Julie A. and Kristoffersen, Jette and Mesch, Johanna and Osugi, Yutaka},
booktitle = {Proceedings of the {LREC2018} 8th Workshop on the Representation and Processing of Sign Languages: Involving the Language Community},
maintitle = {11th International Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation ({LREC} 2018)},
publisher = {{European Language Resources Association (ELRA)}},
address = {Miyazaki, Japan},
day = {12},
month = may,
year = {2018},
isbn = {979-10-95546-01-6},
language = {english},
url = {https://www.sign-lang.uni-hamburg.de/lrec/pub/18035.pdf}
}