From creating virtual gestures to "writing" in sign languages

Authors:
Beifang Yi;Frederick C. Harris, Jr.;Sergiu M. Dascalu
Affiliations:
University of Nevada, Reno, NV;University of Nevada, Reno, NV;University of Nevada, Reno, NV
Venue:
CHI '05 Extended Abstracts on Human Factors in Computing Systems
Year:
2005

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Abstract

Sign languages have been proven to be natural languages, as capable of expressing human thoughts and emotions as traditional languages are. The distinct visual and spatial nature of sign languages seems to be an insurmountable barrier for developing a sign language "word processor". However, we argue that with the advancement of computer graphics technology and graphical implementations of linguistic results obtained from the study of sign languages, "writing" in a sign language should not be difficult. We have pursued exploratory work in constructing virtual gestures, applying hand constraints to facilitate the creation of natural gestures, and combining these gestures into meaningful American Sign Language (ASL) parts that follow the ASL Movement-Hold model. The results, although preliminary, are encouraging. We believe that space effective sign language composition is possible space with the implementation of easy-to-use graphical user interfaces and the development of specialized data management methods.