Glossary

Terms used in accessibility research and practice. Each entry has a definition, common aliases, and category tags.

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Search-by-Feature(also: Feature-based sign search, Linguistic-property search): A sign-language dictionary search technique in which a user manually selects linguistic properties of the target sign — typically handshape, body-relative location, movement type, orientation, and number of hands — from a menu, and the system returns dictionary entries matching…
Search-by-Video(also: Video-based search, Search by video): A sign-language dictionary search technique in which a user performs a sign into a webcam or camera and computer-vision-based sign recognition returns a ranked list of candidate dictionary entries. Search-by-video is easier for novice signers than search-by-feature because it…
Sign Duration(also: Sign Speed, Signing Speed): The average time spent performing individual signs during sign language production, typically measured in seconds. Sign duration is a key parameter in sign language animation that affects both understandability and user satisfaction. Research has shown that DHH users of ASL…
Sign Language Classifier(also: Classifier Sign, Depicting Sign, Classifier Predicate): A type of sign in sign languages that is not part of a fixed vocabulary but is created dynamically during discourse to represent a class of objects sharing a common shape, size, or physical characteristic. Classifiers function as "super-pronouns" — they replace and describe…
Sign Language Dictionary(also: SL Dictionary, ASL Dictionary): A reference tool that allows users to look up signs in a sign language, providing video demonstrations, definitions, and usage examples. Sign language dictionaries can be organized by English gloss (word-based lookup), linguistic features (handshape, location, movement), or…
Sign Language Generation(also: Sign Language Synthesis, Signing Generation): The automatic production of sign language content, typically through computer-generated animations of signing avatars or video synthesis. Sign language generation systems convert text or symbolic representations of signs into visual output, often using motion-capture data,…
Sign Language Interface(also: Sign-language interface, Signing interface): A computing interface that accepts input from, or presents output to, a user in a signed language such as American Sign Language (ASL) or British Sign Language (BSL), rather than assuming a spoken or written language. Sign-language interfaces span sign-language recognition…
Sign Language Interpretation(also: Sign Language Interpreting, SLI): The process of conveying spoken or written language into a sign language (or vice versa) by a trained interpreter, enabling communication access for Deaf and hard of hearing individuals. In digital media and immersive environments, sign language interpretation is typically…
Sign Language Learning(also: Sign Language Education, Sign Language Acquisition): The process by which people learn a sign language as a first or second language, through instruction, immersion, or self-directed study. For hearing second-language learners, reading back fingerspelling and comprehending fast, connected signing are reported as the hardest skills…
Sign Language Phonology: The study of the smallest meaningful units that make up signs in signed languages, analogous to phonemes in spoken languages. In American Sign Language, signs are composed of phonological parameters including handshape, movement, location (place of articulation), and non-manual…
Sign Language Synthesis(also: Sign Language Generation, Sign Language Avatar, Signing Avatar): Sign language synthesis is the automated generation of sign language output, typically through 3D animated avatars or computer graphics, from text or other input. The technology involves translating written or spoken language into the grammar, vocabulary, and spatial expressions…
Sign Language Writing System(also: Sign Language Script, Sign Language Notation, Sign Language Character System): A system of symbols or characters designed to represent sign language in written form. Unlike spoken languages, which have well-established writing systems, sign languages generally lack a standard written form — meaning the approximately 70 million people worldwide who use sign…
Sign Linguistics(also: Sign Language Linguistics): The scientific study of the structure and properties of sign languages. Sign linguistics examines the phonological, morphological, syntactic, and semantic components of visual-gestural languages. Key parameters studied include handshape (approximately 90 distinct configurations…
Sign Name(also: ASL name sign, Name sign): A unique sign in American Sign Language (or another signed language) used to uniquely identify an individual person or, in some proposals, an object or device, in place of fingerspelling their English name. Sign names are culturally significant in Deaf communities and are…
Sign Phoneme(also: cheremes, sign language phoneme): The smallest contrastive units in sign language that bear meaning and distinguish one sign from another, analogous to phonemes in spoken language. Sign phonemes include hand shapes, movements, locations, and orientations that combine to form signs. In sign language recognition…
Sign Spotting(also: Sign Detection, Continuous Sign Spotting): Sign spotting is the task of automatically locating instances of specific signs within a continuous signing video, as opposed to classifying a pre-segmented isolated sign. It is a building block for search-by-sign in archive footage, automatic captioning of signed media, and…
Sign Vocabulary(also: Signing Vocabulary, Sign Lexicon): The set of signs that a person knows or that a sign language recognition system can identify. In the context of sign language technology, vocabulary size is a critical constraint that determines a system's practical utility — current AI-powered sign language recognition systems…
Sign Writing(also: SignWriting, Sutton SignWriting): A graphical notation system for writing sign languages, developed by Valerie Sutton in 1974. Sign Writing uses visual symbols to represent hand shapes, movements, facial expressions, and body positions used in signing, enabling sign languages to be written and read in a visual…
SignWriting: A writing system for sign languages that uses visual symbols to represent handshapes, movements, facial expressions, and body positions. Created by Valerie Sutton in 1974, SignWriting allows sign languages to be written and read without translation into a spoken language. Unlike…
Signbank(also: Auslan Signbank): An online dictionary and lexical database for a sign language, typically providing video or image entries for each sign along with metadata such as handshape, region, and usage examples. Auslan Signbank is the preeminent online Auslan dictionary and serves trainee interpreters,…
Signed Chinese(also: Manually Coded Chinese, Wenfa Shouyu): A manually coded signing system that imposes the grammar and word order of written/spoken Mandarin Chinese onto signs, analogous to Signed Exact English in anglophone contexts. Signed Chinese is commonly used in official Chinese television news interpretation and in deaf…
Signed Exact English(also: SEE, SEE-II, Signing Exact English): A manually coded sign system that represents spoken English visually by following English grammar, word order, and morphology rather than using the natural grammar of American Sign Language (ASL). Unlike ASL, which is a distinct language with its own syntax and structure, Signed…
Signer(also: Sign Language User, Signing Person): A person who communicates using sign language. In accessibility contexts, signers may be deaf, hard of hearing, or hearing individuals (such as interpreters, children of deaf adults, or others who have learned sign language). When creating accessible video content, signers…
Signer Box(also: Signing Space, Sign Space): The three-dimensional space in front of a sign language user within which signs are produced, typically extending from the waist to just above the head and about an arm's width to either side. The signer box is a critical concept in sign language video production, video…
Signing Avatar(also: Sign Language Avatar, Virtual Signer): A 3D computer-generated character that produces sign language through animated hand movements, facial expressions, and body posture. Signing avatars are used in educational contexts to deliver accessible sign language instruction, provide real-time multi-angle content, and offer…
Signing Avatar(also: Sign Language Avatar, Virtual Signer): A computer-generated animated character that produces sign language output, translating text or spoken content into visual sign language for deaf and hard of hearing users. Signing avatars are used in applications such as public digital terminals, websites, and educational…
Signing Space(also: Sign Space): The three-dimensional area in front of a signer where sign language is produced, typically extending from waist to head height and shoulder width to either side. In American Sign Language and other sign languages, this space serves grammatical functions—locations within it can…
Song Signing(also: Signed Song, Sign-Singing, Song Sign): A performative art form in which song lyrics are interpreted in a sign language (most commonly ASL) alongside body movement, facial expression, rhythm, and spatial use, so that the performer simultaneously conveys linguistic meaning and musical qualities such as tempo, dynamics,…
South African Sign Language(also: SASL): The primary sign language used by the Deaf community in South Africa, recognized as one of the country's official languages under the Constitution. SASL has its own grammar, syntax, and vocabulary distinct from spoken South African languages. Like all sign languages, SASL is a…
Spatial Grammar(also: Spatial Syntax): Spatial grammar is the set of grammatical rules that signed languages express through the three-dimensional signing space in front of the signer, rather than through linear word order. Signers establish referents at specific spatial loci, use directional verbs that agree with…
Spatial Inflection(also: Verb Agreement, Directional Verb, Inflecting Verb): A grammatical process in sign languages where the motion path and orientation of a verb sign are modified based on the 3D locations in space that have been assigned to its subject and/or object during discourse. In American Sign Language and many other sign languages, signers…
Stokoe Notation(also: Stokoe System): A notational system for representing the formational components of sign language signs, devised by William C. Stokoe for the 1965 Dictionary of American Sign Language on Linguistic Principles. The system analyzes each sign into three parameters: location (where the sign is…
Swedish Sign Language(also: SSL, Svenskt teckenspråk): The sign language used by the Deaf community in Sweden, recognized as an official minority language since 1981. Like other national sign languages, SSL is a complete natural language with its own grammar distinct from spoken Swedish. It uses manual signs (hand shapes, movements,…
Syntactic NMS(also: Syntactic Non-Manual Sign): Non-manual signs that define sentence types and grammatical structure in sign languages. In ASL, syntactic NMS include raised eyebrows for Yes/No questions, furrowed brows and forward head tilt for WH-questions, head shake for negation, and specific facial configurations for…

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