Australian Sign Research Articles

Australian sign language recognition

This paper presents an automatic Australian sign language (Auslan) recognition system, which tracks multiple target objects (the face and hands) throughout an image sequence and extracts features for the recognition of sign phrases. Tracking is performed using correspondences of simple geometrical features between the target objects within the current and the previous frames. In signing, the face and a hand of a signer often overlap, thus the system needs to segment these for the purpose of feature extraction. Our system deals with the occlusion of the face and a hand by detecting the contour of the foreground moving object using a combination of motion cues and the snake algorithm. To represent signs, features that are invariant to scaling, 2D rotations and signing speed are used for recognition. The features represent the relative geometrical positioning and shapes of the target objects, as well as their directions of motion. These are used to recognise Auslan phrases using Hidden Markov Models. Experiments were conducted using 163 test sign phrases with varying grammatical formations. Using a known grammar, the system achieved over 97% recognition rate on a sentence level and 99% success rate at a word level.

Comparing Action Gestures and Classifier Verbs of Motion: Evidence From Australian Sign Language, Taiwan Sign Language, and Nonsigners' Gestures Without Speech

Recent research into signed languages indicates that signs may share some properties with gesture, especially in the use of space in classifier constructions. A prediction of this proposal is that there will be similarities in the representation of motion events by sign-naive gesturers and by native signers of unrelated signed languages. This prediction is tested for deaf native signers of Australian Sign Language (Auslan), deaf signers of Taiwan Sign Language (TSL), and hearing nonsigners using the Verbs of Motion Production task from the Test Battery for American Sign Language (ASL) Morphology and Syntax. Results indicate that differences between the responses of nonsigners, Auslan signers, and TSL signers and the expected ASL responses are greatest with handshape units; movement and location units appear to be very similar. Although not definitive, these data are consistent with the claim that classifier constructions are blends of linguistic and gestural elements.

Interpreting omissions

This paper discusses findings of a study conducted on Australian Sign Language (Auslan)/English interpreters in a university lecture, with consideration given to factors that influenced the interpreters’ omissions. The hypothesis of the study was that interpreters would make recourse to omissions both consciously and unconsciously, depending on their familiarity with the discourse environment and the subject matter. Through exploration of theoretical perspectives of interpreting and discourse studies, it is argued that interpreters use omissions as linguistic strategies for coping with the discourse environment. The findings of the study present interpreters with a new perspective on omissions in interpreting, which can be applied to both signed- and spoken-language interpreting.

The assessment and achievement of proficiency in a native sign language within a sign bilingual program: The pilot Auslan receptive skills test

The assessment of sign language proficiency is essential for evaluating the outcomes of sign bilingual education. This paper reports an attempt to assess the sign language proficiency of children in a self-described sign bilingual program in Sydney by adapting a British Sign Language (BSL) test to Australian Sign Language (Auslan). The test appears to measure basic Auslan skills in young children and, in particular, appears to identify native-like signers. However, two qualifications need to be made regarding how standardized norms are established (and thus their interpretation) and the make-up and population size of this study. Namely, the original BSL test is not normed on native signers alone; and the number of subjects in the study is extremely small and varied. These factors limit the generalizations that can be made from the data. Further testing with a larger population of signers is essential before results could be confidently interpreted. However, due to the small number of potential subjects in Australia, such data may never become available. Despite these observations and qualifications, it does appear from this study that the sign bilingual program under investigation faces important challenges in ensuring that all children achieve early native-like proficiency in the community signed language.

The assessment and achievement of proficiency in a native sign language within a sign bilingual program: the pilot Auslan receptive skills test

AbstractThe assessment of sign language proficiency is essential for evaluating the outcomes of sign bilingual education. This paper reports an attempt to assess the sign language proficiency of children in a self-described sign bilingual program in Sydney by adapting a British Sign Language (BSL) test to Australian Sign Language (Auslan). The test appears to measure basic Auslan skills in young children and, in particular, appears to identify native-like signers. However, two qualifications need to be made regarding how standardized norms are established (and thus their interpretation) and the make-up and population size of this study. Namely, the original BSL test is not normed on native signers alone; and the number of subjects in the study is extremely small and varied. These factors limit the generalizations that can be made from the data. Further testing with a larger population of signers is essential before results could be confidently interpreted. However, due to the small number of potential sub...

Allegations of unlawful discrimination in education: parents taking their fight for Auslan to the courts.

This paper examines the use of the Disability Discrimination Act (Commonwealth of Australia, 1992) by parents seeking access for their deaf children to native sign language in the classroom. It reviews a number of cases in which Australian parents have claimed indirect discrimination by educational authorities over their children's lack of access to instruction through Australian Sign Language (Auslan) and discusses the outcomes of such litigation. The policies endorsed by deafness organizations are contrasted with those of state educational authorities. The author discusses the limitations of a complaints-based system to address systemic discrimination and suggests the need for legislation to protect the linguistic rights of deaf children.

Accessing university education: perceptions, preferences, and expectations for interpreting by deaf students.

This paper provides a brief review of the history of deaf education in Australia, Australian Sign Language (Auslan), and Auslan interpreting. A panel of Australian deaf university students from diverse linguistic and educational backgrounds provides insights into their perceptions of sign language interpreting provision in university lectures. They commented on their interpreting preferences after viewing two videotaped segments of university lecture interpretation, one demonstrating a predominantly free approach and the other a predominantly literal approach. Expectations of the deaf students were explored in relation to the educational backgrounds and qualifications of university interpreters; comprehension of interpreters is also discussed. Results suggest that the university students preferred interpreters to combine both interpretation styles, switching between literal and free approaches when appropriate. In doing so, students can access lecture content in Auslan while accessing subject-specific terminology or academic language in English. In terms of qualifications, the students advocated for interpreters to have a university qualification in general, especially if they are working in a university context. However, the students also acknowledged that interpreting did not provide them with full access in educational settings.

W(h)ither the deaf community? Population, genetics, and the future of Australian sign language.

According to enrollments in schools for the deaf and data from the national census and neonatal hearing screening programs, the incidence of severe and profound childhood deafness in Australia is, and has been, less than commonly assumed. Factors implicated include improved medical care, mainstreaming, cochlear implants, and genetic science. Data for the United States, Britain, and other developed countries seem consistent with those for Australia. Declining prevalence and incidence rates have immediate implications for sign-based education, teacher-of-the-deaf training programs, and educational interpreting. There are also serious consequences for research, documentation, and teaching regarding Australian Sign Language (Auslan), and for the future viability of Auslan. Prompt action is essential if a credible corpus of Auslan is to be collected as the basis for a valid and verifiable description of one of the few native sign languages in the world with significant attested historical depth.

Language Standardization and Signed Language Dictionaries

The issue of the use of signed language dictionaries in the standardization of signed languages is discussed with reference to the Australian Sign Language (Auslan) dictionaries. First I describe language standardization as broadly understood in the context of written and unwritten languages, on the one hand, and signed and spoken languages on the other. I then describe the distinctive situation of deaf community signed languages and the types of dictionaries that have recently been produced of these languages and the limitations. I detail the structure of the Auslan dictionaries and argue that bilingual, bidirectional dictionaries of this type must be produced first if communities are to encourage language standardization in a meaningful and informed way. I conclude that the Internet provides a means of recording and displaying signed language lexicons in widely dispersed signing communities in a way that may facilitate language standardization in a grassroots manner, rather than being imposed on the community in the form of a prescriptive publication.

Fast Clustering for Time-series Data with Average-time-sequence-vector Generation Based on Dynamic Time Warping.

This paper proposes a fast clustering method for time-series data based on average time sequence vector. A clustering procedure based on an exhaustive search method is time-consuming although its result typically exhibits high quality. BIRCH, which reduces the number of examples by data squashing based on a data structure CF (Clustering Feature) tree, represents an effective solution for such a method when the data set consists of numerical attributes only. For time-series data, however, a straightforward application of BIRCH based on a Euclidean distance for a pair of sequences, miserably fails since such a distance typically differs from human's perception. A dissimilarity measure based on DTW (Dynamic Time Warping) is desirable, but to the best of our knowledge no methods have been proposed for time-series data in the context of data squashing. In order to circumvent this problem, we propose DTWS (Dynamic Time Warping Squashed) tree, which employs a dissimilarity measure based on DTW, and compresses time sequences to the average time sequence vector. An average time sequence vector is obtained by a novel procedure which estimates correct shrinkage of a result of DTW. Experiments using the Australian sign language data demonstrate the superiority of the proposed method in terms of correctness of clustering, while its degradation of time efficiency is negligible.

Issues in development of the test battery for Australian sign language morphology and syntax.

In this article, we outline the initial stages in development of an assessment instrument for Australian Sign Language and explore issues involved in the development of such a test. We first briefly describe the instruments currently available for assessing grammatical skills in Australian Sign Language and discuss the need for a more objective measure. We then describe our adaptation of an existing American Sign Language test, the Test Battery for American Sign Language Morphology and Syntax. Finally, this article presents some of the data collected from a group of deaf native signers. These data are used to demonstrate the range of variability in key grammatical features of Australian Sign Language and to raise methodological issues associated with signed language test design.

The lexical database of Auslan (Australian Sign Language)

The form and content of the lexical database of Auslan (Australian Sign Language) is described and explained. The type of database utilized and its precise structure (relational or flat, the type and number of fields, the design of the data entry interface, etc.) is first described. This is followed by a detailed description of the types of information registered in the database: phonological, definitional, bilingual (English-based glossing), grammatical, and semantic. The non-gloss based representations of each sign record (graphic, video, and transcription) that are used in the lexical database are then discussed. Finally, the compatibility of the Auslan lexical database with other lexical databases is examined. The paper concludes with a discussion of the possibility of building an extensive “universal” database of signs that could centralize lexical information from scores of signed languages and facilitate cross-linguistic investigations of lexis and phonology.

The lexical database of Auslan (Australian Sign Language)

The form and content of the lexical database of Auslan (Australian Sign Language) is described and explained. The type of database utilized and its precise structure (relational or flat, the type and number of fields, the design of the data entry interface, etc.) is first described. This is followed by a detailed description of the types of information registered in the database: phonological, definitional, bilingual (English-based glossing), grammatical, and semantic. The non-gloss based representations of each sign record (graphic, video, and transcription) that are used in the lexical database are then discussed. Finally, the compatibility of the Auslan lexical database with other lexical databases is examined. The paper concludes with a discussion of the possibility of building an extensive “universal” database of signs that could centralize lexical information from scores of signed languages and facilitate cross-linguistic investigations of lexis and phonology.

The Klagenfurt database for sign language lexicons

The Klagenfurt database was originally developed as a base for both monolingual and bilingual dictionaries of Austrian Sign Language. The part dealing with the formational features of signs as well as the morphosyntactic and semantic information have already been finished. We decided on an approach using modified versions of Liddell & Johnson’s (1989) Movement-and-Hold model, the HamNoSys (Prillwitz, S. et al. 1989) and the SignPhon category system (Blees, M. et al. 1996).

The Klagenfurt database for sign language lexicons

The Klagenfurt database was originally developed as a base for both monolingual and bilingual dictionaries of Austrian Sign Language. The part dealing with the formational features of signs as well as the morphosyntactic and semantic information have already been finished. We decided on an approach using modified versions of Liddell & Johnson’s (1989) Movement-and-Hold model, the HamNoSys (Prillwitz, S. et al. 1989) and the SignPhon category system (Blees, M. et al. 1996).

Nouns and verbs in Australian sign language: an open and shut case?

Results of the noun-verb pair comprehension and production tests from the Test Battery for Auslan Morphology and Syntax (Schembri et al., 2000) are re-presented, re-analyzed, and compared to data from two other cases also dealing with noun-verb pairs: the Auslan lexical database and a comparison of Auslan and American Sign Language (ASL) signs. The data elicited through the test battery and presented in this article confirm the existence of formationally related noun-verb pairs in Auslan in which the verb displays a single movement and the noun displays a repeated movement. The data also suggest that the best exemplars of noun-verb pairs of this type in Auslan form a distinct set of iconic (mimetic) signs archetypically based on inherently reversible actions (such as opening and shutting). This strong iconic link perhaps explains why the derivational process appears to be of limited productivity, though it does appear to have "spread" to a number of signs that appear to have no such iconicity. There appears to be considerable variability in the use of the derivational markings, particularly in connected discourse, even for signs of the "open and shut" variety. Overall, the derivational process is apparently still closely linked to an iconic base, is incipient in the grammar of Auslan, and is thus best described as only partially grammaticalized.

The Short-Term Memory of Profoundly Deaf People for Words, Signs, and Abstract Spatial Stimuli

The short-term memory (STM) of 25 deaf and 20 hearing adults fluent in Australian Sign Language (Auslan) was tested using both free- and serial-recall versions of three tasks. On two tasks, where stimuli were presented as either written words or Auslan signs, hearing subjects performed significantly better than deaf subjects. This difference was attributed to the facility of the hearing subjects in translating these two classes of language-based stimuli into phonological codes, which have a preferred status in STM. On the third, language-free task, which was an adaptation of the Corsi Blocks test, the deaf and hearing subjects performed at comparable levels, indicating that differences in their STM became evident only with the introduction of language-based factors. Analyses restricted to the deaf subjects showed that performances on the language-based STM tasks correlated positively with scores on a reading comprehension test. Also, deaf subjects who reported an oral education outperformed their counterparts, who reported a total communication (oral plus signed English) education on the language-based STM tasks. Thus, for this diverse adult deaf sample, proficiency in STM for language-based material, skill in reading, and report of an oral rather than total communication education appear to covary.

The Use of Australian Sign Language by Deaf People

Australian Sign Language (Auslan) is a descendant of British Sign Language and is recognized in national and state language policy statements as a community language. Estimates have varied regarding the number of deaf people who use Auslan, as have views of what the features of this use may be. These data are essential for efficient planning and distribution of interpreting, educational, vocational and other services for deaf people. The present study used a range of demographic techniques to identify the number of deaf Auslan users and to examine the settings in which sign language was used. Over 15,000 deaf users of signs were identified, with the majority using the language every day in interactions with deaf and hearing people. There was evidence of strong social and linguistic cohesion in the deaf community but no evidence that signing deaf people live in a “ghetto” where they do not communicate with hearing people. There was, however, evidence of high levels of unemployment and underemployment among deaf respondents to the study. The implications of the findings are discussed.

The realization of the linguistic metafunctions in a sign language

Abstract According to the metafunctional hypothesis, there is a non arbitrary relationship between three major kinds of linguistic structure—'wave’ (sequence and periodicity), ‘field’ (intonation) and ‘particle’ (constituents)— and the core meanings they typically express (textual, interpersonal and ideational, respectively). Furthermore, every act of meaning using a linguistic semiotic system is said to simultaneously encode and express all three types of meaning. This paper looks at Auslan (Australian sign language) in the light of this hypothesis and tries to show that the substantive difference between language in the two media (signed and spoken) is not the simultaneity of codings in the former (as frequently maintained in the sign linguistics literature); rather, it is the availability of space in a visual‐gestural language which gives it an extra dimension in which to configure sequence and order. Examples are given in which sign strings instantiate a highly complex spatio‐temporal matrix (rather t...

Language and identity in the Australian deaf community

This paper examines the relationship between the Deaf1, their language, Auslan2 (Australian Sign Language), and the encompassing dominant hearing society and its culture in the context of the development of effective language policies for the Deaf, not only within the context of schooling but in the years prior to formal education and beyond the school. The paper has developed out of an initial response by AUSLAB (the Australian Sign Language Advisory Board, formed by the Australian Association of the Deaf) to the Federal Government’s Green Paper, The Language of Australia: Discussion Paper on an Australian Literacy and Language Policy for the 1990s. (Commonwealth of Australia 1990), later superseded by the White Paper, Australia’s Language: The Australian Language and Literacy Policy (Commonwealth of Australia 1991a & b).