SignType: A cross-linguistic database of signs

数百种手语在各地独立出现，聋哑人有机会形成文化社区。这些手语有多相似，又有哪些不同之处？这些都是语言学家试图回答的问题。该项目旨在开发一种工具来比较手语的一个方面，即符号的视觉形状。在国家科学基金会的支持下，在一个由手语研究者和数据库专家组成的国际小组的帮助下，dr。Harry van der Hulst和Rachel Channon将建立SignType，一个关于标志视觉形状的数据库。该数据库将成为语言研究界和聋人界的网络资源。SignType将包括许多手语的照片和录像，但该数据库最重要的部分将是每个标志的分析数据结构，使用通用编码系统。编码系统将包括手的形状、运动和位置、面部表情和许多其他特征的编码。SignType将结合其他手语研究人员通过将各自的编码系统翻译成通用编码系统而完成的几个清单。SignType将允许研究人员回答这样的问题：有多少不同的手部形状或位置？有偏好吗？一旦开发出来，SignType还可以为开发通用（图形）符号系统提供基础。此外，还有许多潜在的实际应用，例如为词典或符号动画/识别软件提供材料。

Hundreds of sign languages have emerged independently everywhere that deaf people had the opportunity to form cultural communities. How similar are these sign languages and in what ways do they differ? These are questions that linguists try to answer. This project aims to develop a tool to compare one aspect of sign languages, namely the visual shape of signs. With NSF support, and the help of an international panel of sign language researchers and database experts, Drs. Harry van der Hulst and Rachel Channon will build SignType, a database of the visual shape of signs. This database will be a web-based resource for the linguistic research community and the deaf community. SignType will include photographs and videotapes of sign inventories of a number of sign languages but the most important part of this database will be an analytic data structure for each sign, using a universal coding system. The coding system will include codes for the shape, movement and location of the hands, facial expressions, and many other characteristics. SignType will combine several inventories that other sign language researchers have made by translating their separate coding systems into the universal coding system. SignType will allow researchers to answer questions like: How many different handshapes or locations are there? Are there preferences? Once developed, SignType can also provide a basis for developing a universal (graphic) notation system for signs. There are, in addition, many potential practical applications such as providing material for dictionaries or sign animation/recognition software.