A Study on How to Express Non-manual Markers in the Electronic Dictionary of Japanese Sign Language

摘要

This paper reports on how we would express non-manual markers in NVSG element model. Sign language is a visual language for which there are no general methods of providing descriptions in text. That is why we are proposing a new NVSG element model that focuses on the linguistic structure of sign language. The NVSG element model defines four elements that describe sign language. Manual movements are expressed as N and V elements, and non-manual markers as S and G elements. We have mostly finalized the descriptive parameters for the N and V elements. Up until this point, we have described approximately 1,500 words using the NVSG element model. As a result of this process, we have achieved a greater visual understanding of the hierarchical structures of morphological elements per word. Such descriptions of non-manual markers also enable us to write sentences.