Decomposing Sign Language Movements: A Multi-Band Visualization Method for Articulatory Analysis
Sevilla, Antonio F. G. 
| Lahoz-Bengoechea, José María
- Volume:
- Proceedings of the 15th International Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC 2026)
- Venue:
- Palma, Mallorca, Spain
- Date:
- 11 to 16 May 2026
- Pages:
- 9559–9568
- Publisher:
- European Language Resources Association (ELRA)
- Licence:
- CC BY-NC 4.0
- DOI:
- 10.63317/32sdurbs4fio
- ISBN:
- 978-2-493814-49-4
Abstract
Understanding the structure of sign language movements requires methods that can isolate and analyze the hierarchical and simultaneous nature of sign articulation. We present a method for tracking and visualizing sign language movements that progressively isolates dependent movements within the articulatory chain: hand rotation from arm displacement and finger movement from hand movement. Using MediaPipe hand tracking on ordinary 2D video, we decompose motion into separate gestural components and compute velocity and direction for each articulator. We present these movement channels in a time-aligned multi-band visualization that reveals temporal structure, bimanual synchronization patterns, and the coordination of different articulatory components. An interactive web-based viewer synchronizes the visualization with video, enabling researchers to efficiently explore movement patterns and their relationship to signing. We demonstrate the method with examples from isolated signs and continuous signing, showing how it reveals patterns that are difficult to observe in raw video, including bimanual coordination, internal movements, and the distinction between linguistic and non-linguistic segments. This approach provides accessible tools for empirical investigation of rhythmic and prosodic patterns in sign languages.Document Download
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Citation in ACL Citation Format
Antonio F. G. Sevilla, José María Lahoz-Bengoechea. 2026. Decomposing Sign Language Movements: A Multi-Band Visualization Method for Articulatory Analysis. In Proceedings of the 15th International Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC 2026), pages 9559–9568, Palma, Mallorca, Spain. European Language Resources Association (ELRA).BibTeX Export
@inproceedings{sevilla-lahozbengoechea-2026-multiband:lrec,
author = {Sevilla, Antonio F. G. and Lahoz-Bengoechea, Jos{\'e} Mar{\'i}a},
title = {Decomposing Sign Language Movements: A Multi-Band Visualization Method for Articulatory Analysis},
pages = {9559--9568},
editor = {Piperidis, Stelios and Bel, N{\'u}ria and van den Heuvel, Henk and Ide, Nancy and Krek, Simon and Toral, Antonio},
booktitle = {15th International Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation ({LREC} 2026)},
publisher = {{European Language Resources Association (ELRA)}},
address = {Palma, Mallorca, Spain},
day = {11--16},
month = may,
year = {2026},
isbn = {978-2-493814-49-4},
language = {english},
url = {https://lrec.elra.info/lrec2026-main-751},
doi = {10.63317/32sdurbs4fio}
}