Contrary to common belief, sign languages are distinct across different communities and cultures, evolving organically through interactions among deaf people, rather than being based on spoken... Show moreContrary to common belief, sign languages are distinct across different communities and cultures, evolving organically through interactions among deaf people, rather than being based on spoken languages. Each sign language has its own grammar, vocabulary, and cultural nuances, with variations even within a single country, showcasing the diverse communication methods within the deaf community. Deaf individuals often face encouragement to use spoken language techniques like lipreading or text communication, highlighting a bias towards spoken languages. This is compounded by the lack of sign languages in linguistic technologies, emphasizing the need for more inclusive research and development. This dissertation aims to address this gap using machine and deep learning to improve sign language processing and recognition. It covers six chapters, introducing methods for video-based sign annotation, webcam-based sign language dictionary search, and ranking systems for sign suggestions. It also explores tools for visualizing and comparing sign language variation, contributing valuable resources to linguistic research. Show less
This book is about three West African sign languages with different time-depths, community sizes and patterns of social interactions. Adamorobe Sign Language (AdaSL), Ghana, is an old village sign... Show moreThis book is about three West African sign languages with different time-depths, community sizes and patterns of social interactions. Adamorobe Sign Language (AdaSL), Ghana, is an old village sign language used by 33 deaf people. Langue des Signes de Bouakako (LaSiBo), Côte d'Ivoire, is a new village sign language, used by six deaf people. Língua Gestual Guineense, Guinea-Bissau, is an emerging school-based sign language used by around 500 deaf people.In the three sign languages, 45 narratives of personal experiences were analysed to better understand how the time depth, the community size and the socialisation frequency influenced the three sign languages. Four different descriptive analyses of the narratives were carried out. Study 1 analysed the structure of the narratives, following Labov & Waletzky's model (1967) and Freytag's dramatic pyramid (1894). Studies 2, 3 and 4 focus on specific narrative devices that work to make narratives more convincing, as part of Labov's (1972) "evaluation" component. These devices refer to the moments when storytellers give dramatic prominence to narratives through the incorporation of characters, such as the use of different signing perspectives (Study 2), the use of role shifting between characters and constructed dialogues (Study 3) and the use of different types of descriptions of the animal (Study 4).These studies show that AdaSL and male LGG signers use devices that reflect a greater ability to capture the audience's attention, while LaSiBo and female LGG signers tend to show similar patterns in using simpler or reduced devices.This study shows that the frequency of social interaction between deaf peers is the most crucial factor in language change over time. Show less
