Signed Language Corpora

Jordan Fenlon, Julie A. Hochgesang, Jordan Fenlon, Julie A. Hochgesang

• Publisher: Gallaudet University Press
• Year: 2022
• ISBN:
  9781954622067
• Topic: Languages & Linguistics
• Subtopic: Linguistics
• Index: Languages & Linguistics

Jordan Fenlon and Julie A. Hochgesang present a revolutionary contribution to the field of signed language linguistics with Signed Language Corpora, the first volume to provide a comprehensive overview of the creation, development, and use of signed language corpora. This work will advance discussions on corpus linguistics as a methodology and its place in signed language linguistics research. The ability to search corpora to obtain information about the frequency of patterns in language is an important step forward for signed language research. Access to large datasets will expand scholarly understandings of signed language structure in ways never before possible. Through reflective discussions on the processes of creating, using, and utilizing corpora, the editors and contributors hope that other linguists will be inspired to take similar steps. The descriptions provided in this book have been written to provide a framework for those eager to develop or make use of signed language corpora for their respective signed language varieties. Creating signed language corpora is significant not only for linguistic research, but for the long-term preservation of collected texts that include the stories and histories of signed language communities. Additional areas of focus include the use of signed language corpora in applied settings, the ethics of working with signed language communities, and the future of this methodology in research.

INDEX

Figures and tables are indicated by “f” and “t” following page numbers.

Acadeafic (website), 184

Adam, R., 182, 184

Adolphs, S., 202

age of participants, 22–23

ambiguity in annotation data, 70–75

American Sign Language. See ASL

Amsterdam Manifesto, 160

annotation, 46–81

ambiguity in data, 70–75

approaches to, 46–49

automatic sign recognition and annotation, 207–209

basic annotation, 57–67

specificity of annotations, 64–65

tokenization and lemmatization, 10, 12–13, 59–64, 60–61f

transcription, role of, 57–58

translation of signed language corpus data, 65–67

conventions, development of, 50–51

corpus evolution and, 75–76

crowdsourcing and, 204–205

ethical issues, 174–175

form-based lexical databases, development of, 55–57

further annotation, 67–70

future directions for, 203–205

automatic sign recognition and annotation, 207–209

crowdsourcing, 204–205

lexical database incorporation, 204

standardization of glossing, 203–204

good practice principles, 79–80

guidelines, 81

history of, 49–57

annotation conventions, development of, 50–51

before digital age, 49–50

form-based lexical databases, development of, 55–57

Signbank format, 55–57

ID-glossing, 59–64, 60–61f. See also ID-glossing

inter- and intra-annotator reliability and comparability, 73–75

lemmatization, 10, 12–13, 59–64, 60–61f

lexical database incorporation and, 204

machine-readable, 3–5

multiple articulators, dealing with, 67–69

research data management and, 78–79

Signbank format, 55–57

software for, 52–55, 52f, 54f

“splitters” vs. “lumpers,” 71–72

standardization of, 203–204

subjec...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Editorial Advisory Board
• Contributors
• Foreword
• Introduction to Signed Language Corpora
• Creating Corpora: Data Collection
• Good Practices in Annotation
• Searching and Utilizing Corpora
• Applied Uses of Corpora and Other Types of Signed Language Corpora
• Signed Language Corpora and the Ethics of Working With Signed Language Communities
• Signed Language Corpora: Future Directions
• Index