Task Dynamics in the Production of American Sign Language

美国手语产生中的任务动力

• 批准号: 7589147
• 负责人: MARTHA TYRONE
• 金额: $ 24.2万
• 依托单位: HASKINS LABORATORIES, INC.
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 财政年份: 2008
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2008-12-01 至 2010-11-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/7589147
• 关键词: Articulators; Communication; Complex; Computer Simulation; Data; Future; Gestures; Goals; Hand; Hearing Impaired Persons; Human; Individual; Language; Lead; Linguistics; Location; Location Signs; Manuals; Measures; Mission; Modality; Modeling; Motion; Movement; North America; Output; Pattern; Perception; Production; Public Health; Quality of life; Sign Language; Specific qualifier value; Speech; Speed; Structure; System; Testing; Time; Upper arm; Variant; animation; base; design; kinematics; limb movement; native American sign language; phonology; phrases; programs; public health relevance; theories

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The proposed study seeks to develop the first task-dynamic model of sign movement in American Sign Language (ASL). The model will be derived from analyses of kinematic sign production data. Our approach is grounded in the theory of Articulatory Phonology, which proposes that the basic units of speech are articulatory gestures. These gestures are movement tasks that are invariant from one production to another, and their temporal overlap determines the structure of language output. In this study, we hypothesize that articulatory gestures are also the structural primitives of sign, and we seek to discover what the gestures are and how they are timed. During sign production, the articulators must move from one sign's location to the next sign's location, and they must also produce movements that are internal to an individual sign. Theories of sign phonology have tried to differentiate these two types of movement (sign-internal and transitional) from one another and also to determine whether movement is a specified part of the sign, or simply a means of getting from one physical location to another. This study will examine the kinematics and the dynamics of sign-internal and transitional movements in ASL. Kinematic data will be collected from native signers as they produce signs with movements toward or away from specific locations on the body. Signing speed, sign context, and phrase context will be manipulated in order to identify what aspects of sign production remain invariant when movement trajectories and velocities are explicitly varied. Measures derived from the kinematic data will be used as input to a computational model, which will allow us to examine the articulatory gestures. The gestures that are identified from the computational model will then be compared to human production data via an animation program and judged for intelligibility and naturalness by native ASL signers. In this way, we will use converging lines of evidence to test what the minimal units of sign production are and how they are related to each other. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE This study is relevant to NIH's public health mission, because it contributes to our understanding of the structure of American Sign Language, which is used by an estimated 500,000 people in North America. The study has the potential to enhance the quality of life for Deaf sign language users. Our approach could lead the way toward a more naturalistic means of communication for Deaf people via automated communication systems. If the structure we have proposed accurately describes the minimal units of sign structure, then it should provide the most natural model for sign synthesis.

描述（由申请人提供）：拟议的研究旨在开发美国手语（ASL）的第一个任务动态运动模型。该模型将来自运动标志生产数据的分析。我们的方法基于发音语音理论，该理论提出言语的基本单位是发音手势。这些手势是运动任务，从一个生产到另一个生产，它们的时间重叠决定了语言输出的结构。在这项研究中，我们假设关节手势也是标志的结构原始，我们试图发现手势是什么以及它们的定时方式。在标志生产过程中，铰接器必须从一个标志的位置移至下一个标志的位置，并且还必须产生在单个标志内部的动作。符号语音的理论试图将这两种类型的运动（签名内部和过渡）彼此区分，并确定运动是否是符号的指定部分，还是仅是从一个物理位置到另一种物理位置的一种手段。这项研究将检查ASL中签名内部和过渡运动的运动学和动力学。运动数据将从本地签名者中收集，因为它们会产生朝向体内特定位置的运动或远离运动的迹象。签名速度，标志上下文和短语上下文将被操纵，以确定当运动轨迹和速度明显变化时，标志生产的哪些方面仍然不变。从运动数据得出的措施将用作计算模型的输入，这将使我们能够检查关节手势。然后，从计算模型中鉴定出的手势将通过动画程序将其与人类生产数据进行比较，并根据本机ASL签名者对可理解性和自然性进行判断。这样，我们将使用融合的证据线来测试标志生产的最低单位以及它们之间的关系。公共卫生相关性这项研究与NIH的公共卫生任务有关，因为它有助于我们对美国手语结构的理解，北美估计有50万人使用了美国手语的结构。这项研究有可能提高聋哑语言使用者的生活质量。我们的方法可以通过自动交流系统引导聋人通往更自然的交流手段。如果我们提出的结构准确地描述了符号结构的最低单位，则应为符号合成提供最自然的模型。