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A preprocessor for an English-to-Sign Language Machine Translation system

Thesis (MSc (Computer Science))--University of Stellenbosch, 2005.

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Combrink, Andries J.
Other Authors: Van Zijl, L.
Format: Thesis
Published: Stellenbosch : University of Stellenbosch 2006
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access_status_str Open Access
author Combrink, Andries J.
author2 Van Zijl, L.
author_browse Combrink, Andries J.
Van Zijl, L.
author_facet Van Zijl, L.
Combrink, Andries J.
author_sort Combrink, Andries J.
collection Thesis
dc_rights_str_mv University of Stellenbosch
description Thesis (MSc (Computer Science))--University of Stellenbosch, 2005.
format Thesis
id oai:scholar.sun.ac.za:10019.1/2832
institution Stellenbosch University (South Africa)
last_indexed 2026-06-10T12:46:40.081Z
license_str Other — see source repository
provenance_str_mv Harvested via OAI-PMH from SUNScholar — Stellenbosch University Repository
publishDate 2006
publishDateRange 2006
publishDateSort 2006
publisher Stellenbosch : University of Stellenbosch
publisherStr Stellenbosch : University of Stellenbosch
record_format dspace
source_str SUNScholar — Stellenbosch University Repository
spelling oai:scholar.sun.ac.za:10019.1/2832 A preprocessor for an English-to-Sign Language Machine Translation system Combrink, Andries J. Van Zijl, L. University of Stellenbosch. Faculty of Science. Dept. of Mathematical Sciences. Institute for Applied Computer Science. Theses -- Computer science Dissertations -- Computer science Sign language -- Computer-aided design Translating and interpreting -- Data processing South African Sign Language English language -- Anaphora -- Computer-aided design. Thesis (MSc (Computer Science))--University of Stellenbosch, 2005. Sign Languages such as South African Sign Language, are proper natural languages; they have their own vocabularies, and they make use of their own grammar rules. However, machine translation from a spoken to a signed language creates interesting challenges. These problems are caused as a result of the differences in character between spoken and signed languages. Sign Languages are classified as visual-spatial languages: a signer makes use of the space around him, and gives visual clues from body language, facial expressions and sign movements to help him communicate. It is the absence of these elements in the written form of a spoken language that causes the contextual ambiguities during machine translation. The work described in this thesis is aimed at resolving the ambiguities caused by a translation from written English to South African Sign Language. We designed and implemented a preprocessor that uses areas of linguistics such as anaphora resolution and a data structure called a scene graph to help with the spatial aspect of the translation. The preprocessor also makes use of semantic and syntactic analysis, together with the help of a semantic relational database, to find emotional context from text. This analysis is then used to suggest body language, facial expressions and sign movement attributes, helping us to address the visual aspect of the translation. The results show that the system is flexible enough to be used with different types of text, and will overall improve the quality of a machine translation from English into a Sign Language. 2006-10-09T07:41:48Z 2010-06-01T08:59:30Z 2006-10-09T07:41:48Z 2005-12 Thesis http://hdl.handle.net/10019.1/2832 University of Stellenbosch 689961 bytes application/pdf application/pdf Stellenbosch : University of Stellenbosch
spellingShingle Theses -- Computer science
Dissertations -- Computer science
Sign language -- Computer-aided design
Translating and interpreting -- Data processing
South African Sign Language
English language -- Anaphora -- Computer-aided design.
Combrink, Andries J.
A preprocessor for an English-to-Sign Language Machine Translation system
title A preprocessor for an English-to-Sign Language Machine Translation system
title_full A preprocessor for an English-to-Sign Language Machine Translation system
title_fullStr A preprocessor for an English-to-Sign Language Machine Translation system
title_full_unstemmed A preprocessor for an English-to-Sign Language Machine Translation system
title_short A preprocessor for an English-to-Sign Language Machine Translation system
title_sort preprocessor for an english to sign language machine translation system
topic Theses -- Computer science
Dissertations -- Computer science
Sign language -- Computer-aided design
Translating and interpreting -- Data processing
South African Sign Language
English language -- Anaphora -- Computer-aided design.
url http://hdl.handle.net/10019.1/2832
work_keys_str_mv AT combrinkandriesj apreprocessorforanenglishtosignlanguagemachinetranslationsystem
AT combrinkandriesj preprocessorforanenglishtosignlanguagemachinetranslationsystem