SLPAnnotator: Tools for Implementing Sign Language Phonetic Annotation

This paper introduces a new resource for building phonetically transcribed corpora of signed languages. The free, open-source software tool, SLPAnnotator, is designed to facilitate the transcription of hand configurations using a slightly modified version of the Sign Language Phonetic Annotation (SLPA) system ([1], [2], [3], [4]; see also [5]). While the SLPA system is extremely phonetically detailed, it can be seen as cumbersome and, perhaps, harder for humans to use and interpret than other transcription systems (e.g. Prosodic Model Handshape Coding, [6]). SLPAnnotator is designed to bridge the gap between such systems by automating some of the transcription process, providing users with informative references about possible configurations as they are coding, giving continuously updatable access to a visual model of the transcribed handshape, and allowing users to verify that transcribed handshapes are both phonologically and anatomically plausible. Finally, SLPAnnotator is designed to interface with other analysis tools, such as Phonological CorpusTools ([7], [8]), to allow for subsequent phonological analysis of the resulting sign language corpora.

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