Publications

In 1990, Vermeerbergen started the first larger-scale corpus study with (semi)spontaneous language data from adult signers on the morpho-syntactic aspects of Flemish Sign Language (VGT). After this, a number of lexicographic projects, including the collection of a 90-h corpus, led to the launch of the first online bilingual Dutch/VGT—VGT/Dutch dictionary in 2004. Since then, researchers have developed several corpora of variable sizes, with the ...

This paper addresses the tasks of sign segmentation and segment-meaning mapping in the context of sign language (SL) recognition. It aims to give an overview of the linguistic properties of SL, such as coarticulation and simultaneity, which make these tasks complex. A better understanding of SL structure is the necessary ground for the design and development of SL recognition and segmentation methodologies, which are fundamental for machine ...

This paper reports on the South African Sign Language Bible Translation Project, an ongoing project aiming to translate 110 Bible stories into South African Sign Language (SASL). The project started in 2014 and, at the time of writing, 32 stories have been finalised. A team of three Deaf2 signers are translating the stories from written English to SASL. As signed languages have no written form, the signed translations are video-recorded. The ...

Constituent order can encode grammatical relations in a language. The visual-spatial modality imbues sign languages with characteristics such as simultaneity or the use of space which raise the question of the appropriate unit of analysis in constituent order studies. In this paper, we provide empirical evidence on the order of core constituents in elicited declarative clauses for non-reversible, reversible and locative ...

This dissertation provides a first systematic account into the role of eye gaze in Flemish Sign Language discourse. Using a multifocal eye-trakcking approach, I investigated 1) unaddressed participants' gaze behavior and 2) the role of eye gaze in the coordination of depictions. In the first study, I used eye gaze as an empirical measure of anticipation processes. I have thereby shown that the tight temporal coordination of interaction is also ...

One basic characteristic of human interaction lies in its tight temporal coordination, i.e. interlocutors manage to achieve smooth turn-transitions and as such minimize the occurrences of gaps and overlaps. To accomplish this rapid exchange of turns-at-talk, interlocutors must not only recognize but also anticipate the end of the current speaker's turn. This study aims to contribute to the theory of the turn-taking machinery by providing an ...