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Project Overview
Our goal is to translate English to American Sign Language, the language of the Deaf in North America. American Sign Language is different from English, with its own unique grammar. It is at least as different from English as any other foreign language.

An automatic English to ASL translator would give deaf people greater access to the hearing world. Currently we are developing tools to generate ASL as animation in response to spoken English.

Notes on American Sign Language


American Sign Language (ASL) is a dynamic set of hand configuration, hand positions, body positions, body movement, and facial expressions that, when used in combination, support communication among deaf people of North America. Certain signs represent complete words or phrases. A manual alphabet is used to "finger-spell" to introduce the Proper Noun before creating specific signs for these nouns. It is also used for concepts which do not have a specific, single sign before it can introduce a "synonym" sign for the concept.

Currently, human ASL translators are frequently necessary to facilitate communication between deaf and hearing presenters and their audiences. Good ASL translators are in high demand and are not always available. That means that communication among hearing and deaf people may be impaired or nonexistent, to the detriment of both groups.

Development of an automated synthesizer for ASL will make much more information accessible to deaf people on a more economical basis. It will allow the deaf to participate in and more fully understand the exchanges among a hearing audience in classrooms, meetings, and other venues. The synthsizer will also provide deaf people with a better tool than English documents or notes for understanding content.

Given that ASL is the fourth most-used language in the United States, the project team feels that a very large group of people will benefit.

 

Link to Project Information Link to Demo Link to Team Info Link to Publications Send us Email

Copyright 2002-2005, DePaul University CTI
Original pages by MaryJo Davidson.
Revised by Jerry Schnepp, 2002-2005.