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Article published In:
Interpreting
Vol. 21:1 (2019) ► pp.62–90

A corpus for signed language interpreting research

 | North-West University
Because of the visual nature of signed language, the compilation of a signed language interpreting corpus along the lines of spoken-language interpreting corpora has been viewed as extremely challenging, if not impossible. This study offers a unique contribution in the construction of a lemmatized, annotated text-based corpus of signed language media interpretations, which allows analysis of interesting features using readily-available concordance software. In this article, characteristics of original (not interpreted) signed language corpora are explored in terms of metadata conventions, transcription and annotation, in order to provide a framework for an interpreting corpus. Within this framework, the decisions and steps taken in the construction of the interpreting corpus are discussed and explained.
Keywords: signed language interpreting, corpus-driven interpreting studies, transcription, annotation, sign language corpora
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Considerations in constructing a corpus
  • 3.Original sign language corpora
    • 3.1Multilingual and bilingual corpora
    • 3.2Monolingual corpora
  • 4.Construction of a signed language interpreting corpus
    • 4.1Material selection
    • 4.2Recording
    • 4.3Metadata
    • 4.4Transcription
      • 4.4.1Notation system
      • 4.4.2Gloss systems
    • 4.5Annotation
    • 4.6Corpus alignment
  • 5.Conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 13 March 2019
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/intp.00020.weh
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