Abstract
Sign synthesis (also known as text-to-sign) has recently seen a large increase in the number of projects under development. Many of these focus on translation from spoken languages, but other applications include dictionaries and language learning. I will discuss the architecture of typical sign synthesis applications and mention some of the applications and prototypes currently available. I will focus on SignSynth, a CGI-based articulatory sign synthesis prototype I am developing at the University of New Mexico. SignSynth takes as its input a sign language text in ASCII-Stokoe notation (chosen as a simple starting point) and converts it to an internal feature tree. This underlying linguistic representation is then converted into a three-dimensionala nimation sequence in Virtual Reality Modeling Language (VRML or Web3D), which is automatically rendered by a Web3D browser.
This project was supported by Grant Number 1R03DC03865-01 from the National Institute on Deafness and Communication Disorders of the United States Government (Jill P. Morford, Principal Investigator). This report is solely the responsibility of the author, and does not necessarily represent the official views of the NIDCD or the National Institutes of Health. I am also grateful to Sean Burke, Jill Morford, Benjamin Jones and Sharon Utakis.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Gallaudet Research Institute: Stanford Achievement Test, 9th Edition, Form S, Norms Booklet for Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing Students. Gallaudet University, Washington (1996)
Grieve-Smith, A.: English to American Sign Language Translation of Weather Reports. In: Nordquist, D. (ed): Proceedings of the Second High Desert Student Conference in Linguistics. High Desert Linguistics Society, Albuquerque. (to appear)
Verlinden, M., Tijsseling, C., Frowein, H: A signing Avatar on the WWW. This volume (2002)
VCom3d: SigningAvatar Frequently Asked Questions. Available at http://www.signingavatar.com/faq/faq.html( 2000)
Liberman, A., Harris, K., Hoffman, H., Griffith, B.: The Discrimination of Speech Sounds Within and Across Phoneme Boundaries. Journalo f Experimental Psychology 34 (1957) 358–368
Newport, E.: Task Specificity in Language Learning? Evidence from Speech Perception and American Sign Language. In: Wanner, E. and Gleitman, L. (eds): Language Acquisition: The State of the Art Cambridge University Press, Cambridge (1982)
Emmorey, K., McCullough, S., Brentari, D.: Categorical Perception in American Sign Language (to appear)
Klatt, D.: Review of Text-to-Speech Conversion for English. Journal of the Acoustic Society of America 82 (1987) 737–793
Baker-Shenk, C., Cokely, D.: American Sign Language Gallaudet University Press, Washington (1991)
Sutton, V.: Lessons in SignWriting. SignWriting, La Jolla (1985)
Newkirk, D.: SignFont Handboook. Emerson and Associates, San Diego (1987)
Stokoe, W., Casterline, D., Croneberg, C.: A Dictionary of American Sign Language on Linguistic Principles. Linstok Press, Silver Spring (1965)
Mandel, M.: ASCII-Stokoe Notation: A Computer-Writeable Transliteration System for Stokoe Notation of American Sign Language. Available at http://world.std.com/~mam/ASCII-Stokoe.html (1983)
Newkirk, D.: Outline of a Proposed Orthography of American Sign Language. Available at http://members.home.net/dnewkirk/signfont/orthog.htm (1986)
Prilliwitz, S., Leven, R., Zienert, H., Hanke, T., Henning, J.: HamNoSys, Version 2.0: Hamburg Notation System for Sign Languages-An Introductory Guide. Signum Press, Hamburg (1989)
Kennaway, R.: Synthetic Animation of Deaf Signing Gestures. This volume (2002)
Lebourque, T., Gibet, S.: A Complete System for the Specification and the Generation of Sign Language Gestures. In: Braffort, A. et al. (eds): Gesture-based Communication in Human Computer Interaction: InternationalG estureWorkshop, GW’99. Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence 1739. Springer-Verlag, Berlin Heidelberg New York (1999) 227–238
da Rocha Costa, A. C., Pereira Dimuro, G.: A SignWriting-Based Approach to Sign Language Processing This volume. (2002)
Zhao, L., Kipper, K., Schuler, W., Vogler, C., Badler, N., Palmer, M.: A Machine Translation System from English to American Sign Language. Presented at the Association for Machine Translation in the Americas conference (2000)
Browman, C., Goldstein, L., Kelso, J. A. S., Rubin, P., Saltzman, E.: Articulatory Synthesis from Underlying Dynamics. Journal of the Acoustic Society of America 75 (1984) S22–S23
Roehl, B. (ed): Specification for a Standard VRML Humanoid. Available at http://www.H-anim.org (1998)
Schein, J. D., Delk, M. T.: The Deaf Population of the United States. National Association of the Deaf, Silver Spring (1974)
McCloud, S.: Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art. Harper Perennial, New York (1994)
Ohki, M., Sagawa, H., Sakiyama, T., Oohira, E., Ikeda, H., Fujisawa, H.: Pattern Recognition and Synthesis for Sign Language Transcription System. ASSETS 10 (1994) 1–8
Lu, S., Igi, S., Matsuo, H., Nagashima, Y.: Towards a Dialogue System Based on Recognition and Synthesis of Japanese Sign Language. In:Wachsmuth, I., Fröhlich, M. (eds): International Gesture Workshop, GW’97. Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence. Springer-Verlag, Berlin Heidelberg New York (1997) 259–271
SignTel: How It Works Available at http://www.signtelinc.com/productshowitworks.htm (2001)
Messing, L., Stern, G.: Sister Mary Article. Unpublished manuscript (1997)
Losson, O., Vannobel, J.-M.: Sign Specification and Synthesis. In: Braffort, A. et al. (eds): Gesture-based Communication in Human Computer Interaction: International Gesture Workshop, GW’ 99. Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence 1739. Springer-Verlag, Berlin Heidelberg New York (1999) 227–238
Liddell, S., Johnson, R.: American Sign Language: The Phonological Base. In: Valli, C., Lucas, C. (eds): Linguistics of American Sign Language: A Resource Text for ASL Users. Gallaudet University Press, Washington (1992)
Gibet, S., Marteau, F., Julliard, F.: Internal Models for Motion Control. This volume. (2002)
Tolani, D., Goswami, A., Badler, N.: Real-time Inverse Kinematics Techniques for Anthropomorphic Limbs. Available at http://hms.upenn.edu/software/ik/ikan_gm.pdf (2000)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2002 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
About this paper
Cite this paper
Grieve-Smith, A.B. (2002). SignSynth: A Sign Language Synthesis Application Using Web3D and Perl. In: Wachsmuth, I., Sowa, T. (eds) Gesture and Sign Language in Human-Computer Interaction. GW 2001. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 2298. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-47873-6_14
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-47873-6_14
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-540-43678-2
Online ISBN: 978-3-540-47873-7
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive