Category: Academia

Conferences, workshops, publications, etc.

Workshop Visual Prosody

On February 2, 2007

In Academia, My Own Research, Psycholinguistics, Speech versus Gesture

On May 10-11, Alexandra Jesse and Elizabeth Johnson from the Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics in Nijmegen are organizing a Workshop on Visual Prosody in Language Communication.

I am invited to participate with a talk and enter discussions with fellow researchers. The list of participants is quite nice and I am proud to be amongst them.

Talking is visual too? (MPI)

I am a little worried about the title though, in particular the phrase ‘Visual Prosody’. It appears to suggest that the main role of visual information in language is prosodic, which at least for sign language and gestures is not the case in my opinion. But the abstract does mention other aspects of visual information in language, so it must be allright if I add my perspective.

The deadline for abstract submission is february 23, and the programme will be made available after that I guess. Update 2 April ’07: The program, my talk When Does Sign Recognition Start?. Registration is required but free.

Grammar, Gesture, and Meaning in ASL

By Jeroen

On January 5, 2007

In Academia, Gesture Semiotics, Semiotics, Sign Language

I recently read (or glanced through parts) of the 2003 book by Scott K. Liddell: Grammar, Gesture, and Meaning in American Sign Language

The main message of the book is one that I would have found trivial if I did not know anything about linguistics. It must take a linguist to surprise a linguist, I guess. Liddell basically points out that there is more to talking than just what is said. I wonder if there are really any structural linguisitic professors out there that would argue against this?

Using many examples he shows how in ASL there are many processes of meaning-making at work. And he suggests that the same is true for spoken languages. When we speak we use words and grammar, but we also use intonation, and we gesture, raise our eyebrows, roll our eyes, etc, etc. Not surprisingly, the same is true for American Sign Language, and undoubtedly for all spoken and signed languages across the globe. When we sign we also gesture, use space in different ways, raise our eyebrows in different flavours, and roll our eyes in all directions. Every language has lexical items (signs and words) and grammatical processes to combine and alter them, but there is always so much more going on when we express ourselves.

Deaf or Hearing?

Liddell is however probably now the first and foremost figure in the Sign Language research community to move to a new agenda. The old (or current) agenda is proving that Sign Language is at a par with spoken/written languages at all levels (such as categorical perception of phonological properties). Alongside runs research showing (dis)similarities in neurological processing between so-called non-linguistic gestures and linguistic gestures (further proof that sign language is like ‘real’ language and not like gesturing).

Signers or Talkers?

When I started reading about sign language and gestures I found it difficult to believe how little interaction there was between research on both topics. Gesture researchers were finding out that gestures and speech are not separated by a fence called ‘linguistic status’, while at the same time Sign Language researchers kept on proving the inferior nature of “gesticulation”. Did they choose to be blind to normal gestures of hearing people? Is there still fear of not being taken seriously? Perhaps there is, and I cannot fathom whether such fear is warranted nor whether ASL status still requires defence beyond reason.

ASL or English?

I heartily recommend Liddell’s book to anyone interested in the similarities between signed and spoken languages and the similarities between sign language and gestures. Rest assured that Liddell provides a score of wonderful material on ASL meaning-making mechanisms, which will clear anyone of the notion that it is a poor or primitive language. The richness he documents is testimony to what matter most: people´s enormous potential to communicate effectively with eachother, through any and all means available.

Two out of four of the above pictures contain people that are ‘signers’, the other are mere ‘talkers and gesturers’. Can you spot them?

Journals for Gesture and Sign Language Research

By Jeroen

On November 28, 2006

In Academia

For my own research, I am considering where to submit papers about the perception of sign language and other gestures. I previously submitted a paper to the journal Gesture, but other journals might be good as well or even better. Let us consider a few candidates: Gesture, SLS, TAP, JEP:HPP, LCP, SLL, JML, and more

Gesture is a multidisciplinary journal about all sorts of gestures, including sign language. There are often long papers, sometimes about experimental work, and sometimes theoretical. It is supported by the ISGS. Main editors are Adam Kendon and Cornelia Muller.

Gesture publishes articles reporting original research, as well as survey and review articles, on all aspects of gesture. The journal aims to stimulate and facilitate scholarly communication between the different disciplines within which work on gesture is conducted. For this reason papers written in the spirit of cooperation between disciplines are especially encouraged.

Sign Language Studies seems a general forum for a large variety of sign language studies, with a special place for research regarding Deaf culture and communities (see also the Gallaudet University home of editor David F. Armstrong). It seems like the editorial board of SLS has some overlap with the board of Gesture. They both list for example Adam Kendon, David McNeill and Sherman Wilcox. :

Sign Language Studies publishes a wide range of original scholarly articles and essays relevant to signed languages and signing communities. The journal provides a forum for the dissemination of important ideas and opinions concerning these languages and the communities who use them. Topics of interest include linguistics, anthropology, semiotics, Deaf culture, and Deaf history and literature. While the journal is especially interested in work concerning Deaf communities, signed languages used by hearing people are also of interest.

The ACM Transactions on Applied Perception (ACM TAP) provides a platform for those who try to bridge the gap between human perception and computer vision work (Editors. Erik Reinhard, Heinrich H. BÃ¼lthoff)

TAP: A current trend in the field of computer science is the assimilation of results from other disciplines. In particular, there is a move towards the application of breakthroughs from the field of experimental psychology. The purpose of ACM Transactions on Applied Perception is to further the development of inter-disciplinary research that crosses the boundaries between perception and computer science disciplines such as graphics, vision, acoustics and haptics. The scope of this journal includes applications and algorithms in any of these fields that incorporate elements of perception.

Language and Cognitive Processes has a history of publishing work on both sign language and gesture. The editorial board includes people with expertise in gestures (e.g. Levelt) and sign language (e.g. Grosjean).

Language and Cognitive Processes provides an international forum for the publication of theoretical and experimental research into the mental processes and representations involved in language use. The psychological study of language has attracted increasing research interest over the past three decades, and Language and Cognitive Processes provides a common focus for this enterprise. The journal is also interested in fostering the relationship between cognitive theoretical accounts of language and its neural bases, and for this reason will consider research on the cognitive neuroscience of language which is rooted in cognitive theory.

The Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance has previously published studies on sign language, and it might be a good option:

The Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance publishes studies on perception, control of action, perceptual aspects of language processing, and related cognitive processes. All sensory modalities and motor systems are within its purview (more detailed)

I briefly considered Sign Language & Linguistics, but they seem to recruit sign language research for general linguistic topics (which the title already suggested, I must confess). That is not necessarily a bad thing, it is just not my cup of tea.

Sign Language & Linguistics aims to increase our understanding of language by providing an academic forum for researchers to discuss sign languages in the larger context of natural language, crosslinguistically and crossmodally. SLL presents studies that apply existing theoretical insights to sign language in order to further our understanding of SL; it investigates and expands our knowledge of grammar based on the study of SL and it specifically addresses the effect of modality (signed vs. spoken) on the structure of grammar.

The Journal of Memory and Language has published papers on gestures (and speech), I am not sure of sign language research (ed. K. Bock):

Articles in the Journal of Memory and Language contribute to the formulation of scientific issues and theories in the areas of memory, language comprehension and production, and cognitive processes. Special emphasis is given to research articles that provide new theoretical insights based on a carefully laid empirical foundation.

The American Annals of the Deaf covers a range of topics (mostly life sciences but some technology applications) concerning being Deaf and sign language. (ed. D. Moores, board).

[it] is a professional journal dedicated to quality in education and related services for deaf or hard of hearing children and adults. First published in 1847, the Annals is the oldest and most widely read English-language journal dealing with deafness and the education of deaf persons. The Annals is the official organ of the Council of American Instructors of the Deaf (CAID) and of the Conference of Educational Administrators of Schools and Programs for the Deaf (CEASD) and is directed and administered by a Joint Annals Administrative Committee made up of members of the executive committees of both of these organizations.

The Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education consists mainly of research on Deaf people. There is nothing on technology but perceptual studies are not excluded (Ed. M. Marschark, board)

[it] is a peer-reviewed scholarly journal integrating and coordinating basic and applied research relating to individuals who are deaf, including cultural, developmental, linguistic, and educational topics.

Slightly farther away on the horizon, but possible for specific subjects (all have a history of publishing work on gesture or sign language):

Which other journals should I consider? (Honestly, if you have suggestions, please leave a comment). Update 13 feb ’07: Impact factors may be important as well, though it seems a bit hard to find them. Update 11 sep ’07: The TU Delft, where I work, keeps a the following administration on publications:

De TU Delft hanteert een peerlijst, waarop wetenschappelijke tijdschriften staan genoemd, die niet in de CWTS-lijst voorkomen. Publicaties in zo’n tijdschrift van de peerlijst worden met 4 outputpunten beloond door de BTA-commissie (mits minimaal vier pagina’s). Publicaties in een tijdschrift dat noch in de CWTS-lijst, noch in de peerlijst staat worden met slechts 1 punt beloond, of ze nu wetenschappelijk zijn of niet.

I checked the CWTS-lijst and the Peerlijst for the journals listed above: Gesture, SLS, TAP, LCP, JEP:HPP, SLL, JML, AAOTD, JDSDL The CWTS-list contains the following journals of interest: Language and Cognitive Processes Journal of Experimental Psychology-Human Perception and Performance Journal of Memory and Language Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education American Annals of The Deaf Human Movement Science Mind & Language, Language & Communication, Journal of Child Language, Perception, Cognitive Science, Applied Cognitive Psychology, Cognitive Linguistics, European Journal of Cognitive Psychology, Trends In Cognitive Sciences, Research On Language and Social Interaction Computer Speech and Language Journal of Visual Languages and Computing Language Learning & Technology Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology Section A-Human Experimental Psychology The ‘peerlijst’ contains only one items of potential interest: Visible language. Perhaps I can suggest that those journals which are not on the CWTS-list can be put on the peerlijst. These are (in order of relevance for my own research): Gesture, Sign Language Studies, ACM Transactions on Applied Perception, Sign Language Linguistics, Semiotica, Sign Systems Studies, Perception and Motor Skills, International Review of Applied Linguistics in Language Teaching, International Journal of Research and Practice in Interpreting.

Gesture Volume 2006 Number 2

By Jeroen

On November 2, 2006

In Academia

A new issue of journal Gesture is out. They provide an rss feed for such occasions.

The contents of this issue

If you are interested in studies of gesture, this journal has the latest acedemic developments in most related fields. The only thing it does not cover is technological development. And sign language research is usually reffered to Sign Language Studies or Sign Language Linguistics if it is too specifically about phonology or linguistics. Some of my own research I hope to have published in future issues.