Norwegian Sign Language: Overview of Resources and Experiments with Automatic SignWriting Transcription

Othamar, Elisabeth | Scherrer, Yves

Volume:: Proceedings of the LREC2026 12th Workshop on the Representation and Processing of Sign Languages: Language in Motion
Venue:: Palma, Mallorca, Spain
Date:: 16 May 2026
Pages:: 408–418
Publisher:: European Language Resources Association (ELRA)
Licence:: CC BY-NC 4.0
sign-lang ID:: 26059
ISBN:: 978-2-493814-82-1

Abstract

Norwegian Sign Language (NTS) remains an under-resourced sign language despite its official recognition in Norway since 2022. The limited availability of structured, reusable, and publicly accessible datasets continues to hinder both linguistic research and the development of sign language technologies such as recognition and translation systems. This paper presents an overview of existing datasets and potential data sources for NTS, categorizing them by accessibility, format, and suitability for computational research. We further discuss legal, ethical, and practical considerations related to data reuse, including copyright and privacy constraints. In addition, we report on a series of pilot experiments exploring alternative data acquisition strategies, including dictionary videos, SignWriting resources, and broadcast news material. These preliminary experiments explore whether automatic SignWriting transcription can serve as an intermediate representation for NTS, and examine its potential role in sign identification within continuous signing. The aim of this work is both to document ongoing efforts and to support future initiatives toward the sustainable development of NTS resources.

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Citation in ACL Citation Format

Elisabeth Othamar, Yves Scherrer. 2026. Norwegian Sign Language: Overview of Resources and Experiments with Automatic SignWriting Transcription. In Proceedings of the LREC2026 12th Workshop on the Representation and Processing of Sign Languages: Language in Motion, pages 408–418, Palma, Mallorca, Spain. European Language Resources Association (ELRA).

BibTeX Export

@inproceedings{othamar:26059:sign-lang:lrec,
  author    = {Othamar, Elisabeth and Scherrer, Yves},
  title     = {{Norwegian} {Sign} {Language}: Overview of Resources and Experiments with Automatic {SignWriting} Transcription},
  pages     = {408--418},
  editor    = {Efthimiou, Eleni and Fotinea, Stavroula-Evita and Hanke, Thomas and Hochgesang, Julie A. and Mesch, Johanna and Schulder, Marc},
  booktitle = {Proceedings of the {LREC2026} 12th Workshop on the Representation and Processing of Sign Languages: Language in Motion},
  maintitle = {15th International Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation ({LREC} 2026)},
  publisher = {{European Language Resources Association (ELRA)}},
  address   = {Palma, Mallorca, Spain},
  day       = {16},
  month     = may,
  year      = {2026},
  isbn      = {978-2-493814-82-1},
  language  = {english},
  url       = {https://www.sign-lang.uni-hamburg.de/lrec/pub/26059.html}
}