Cover not available
Part of
Advances in Sign Language Corpus Linguistics
Edited by Ella Wehrmeyer
[Studies in Corpus Linguistics 108] 2023
► pp. 262–286

Chapter 10
Overview of and epistemological conditions for building and using LSF corpora

| Structures Formelles du Langage, Université Paris 8, CNRS
| Structures Formelles du Langage, Université Paris 8, CNRS
This chapter discusses French Sign Language (LSF) corpora and how they have evolved over the last thirty years in France. We first outline the epistemological and social conditions in which corpora were constructed by the pioneers of the field to explain how, in our opinion, their corpus-driven approach was decisive and very specific to France. Second, we focus on the theoretical framework we use, namely the Semiological Approach, and on the corpus-driven linguistics underlying this approach. On these bases, we present various LSF corpora that exist today, with particular focus on the two main corpora designed by our team, namely LS-Colin and Creagest, with special attention to data collected from deaf children. We then highlight how our own relationship with corpus data remains fundamental and heuristic.
Keywords: French Sign Language corpora, Semiological Approach, LS-Colin corpus, Creagest corpus
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Construction of French Sign Language as a scientific object: A corpus-driven versus corpus-based approach
    • 2.1The Semiological Approach
  • 3.Compilation of LSF corpora
    • 3.1LS-Colin corpus
    • 3.2Creagest corpus
      • 3.2.1Creagest-Dialogues corpus
      • 3.2.2Creagest-Acquisition corpus
      • 3.2.3LSF corpora as a contribution to corpus linguistics
    • 3.3Other LSF corpora
      • 3.3.1Corpora produced according to the LS-Colin or Creagest corpora methodology
      • 3.3.2Corpora produced in different contexts
  • 4.Conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 3 April 2023
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/scl.108.10sal
References (80)
References
Antinoro Pizzuto, Elena & Pietrandrea, Paola. 2001. The notation of signed texts: Open questions and indications for further research. Sign Language & Linguistics 4(1–2): 29–43. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Antinoro Pizzuto, Elena & Garcia, Brigitte. (forthcoming). Coming back to the issue of the graphic representation of Sign Language (SL) discourse in SL linguistics. In Volume in Honor of Sherman Wilcox, Terry Janzen & Barbara Shaffer (eds). Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.
Baker, Anne, Van den Bogaerde, Beppie & Woll, Bencie. 2005. Methods and procedures in sign language acquisition studies. Sign Language & Linguistics 8(1–2): 7–58. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Baker, Charlotte & Padden, Carol. 1978. American Sign Language. A Look at its History, Structure and Community. Dallas TX: T.J. Publishers.Google Scholar
Balvet, Antonio, Courtin, Cyril, Boutet, Dominique, Cuxac, Christian, Fusellier-Souza, Ivani, Garcia, Brigitte, L’Huillier, Marie-Thérèse & Sallandre, Marie-Anne. 2010. The Creagest Project: A digitized and annotated corpus for French Sign Language (LSF) and natural gestural languages. In Proceedings of the International Language Resources and Evaluation Conference (LREC 2010), Nicoletta Calzolari, Khalid Choukri, Bente Maegaard, Joseph Mariani, Jan Odijk … Daniel Tapias (eds), 469–475. Paris: ELRA. <[URL]> (30 June 2022).
Batista, Aurore, Brossier, Frédéric, Bonhoure, Sandrine, Clouard, Chantal, Roux, Marc-Olivier, Gendrot, Monique, Dronne, Alizée, Labbé, Alexa, Seban-Lefebvre, Dominique & Sallandre Marie-Anne. 2018. Semantic and syntactic assessment of French Sign Language TELSF 2: The first test for children and teenagers aged from 4 to 14 years old. Poster, 3rd International Conference on Sign Language Acquisition, Istanbul. <[URL]> (30 June 2022).
Benveniste, Emile. 1970. L’appareil formel de l’énonciation. Langages 5: 12–18. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Blondel, Marion. 2020. Les Langues des Signes, des Langues Incarnées. Habilitation dissertation, University of Paris 8. <[URL]> (30 June 2022).
Boutet, Dominique & Blondel, Marion. 2016. Les corpus de Langue des Signes Française. In La Langue des Signes Française, Annelies Braffort (ed.), 39–76. London: ISTE Editions.Google Scholar
Boutet, Dominique. 2018. Pour une Approche Kinésiologique de la Gestualité. Habilitation dissertation, University of Rouen. <[URL]> (30 June 2022).
Bouvet, Danielle. 1996. Approche Polyphonique d’un Récit Produit en Langue des Signes Française. Lyon: Presses Universitaires de Lyon.Google Scholar
Cantin, Yann, Encrevé, Florence & L’Huillier, Marie-Thérèse. 2019. The societal and political recognition of French Sign Language (LSF) in France: 1970–2018. In The Legal Recognition of Sign Languages: Advocacy and Outcomes Around the World, Martjie de Meulder, Joseph Murray & Rachel McKee (eds), 145–158. Bristol: Multilingual Matters. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Capirci, Olga, Bonsignori, Chiara & Di Renzo, Alessio. 2022. Signed languages: A triangular semiotic dimension. Frontiers in Psychology. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Catteau, Fanny. 2020. Traduire la poésie en langue des signes : L’empreinte prosodique lors du changement de modalité. PhD dissertation, University of Paris 8. <[URL]> (30 June 2022).
Chevrefils, Léa. 2022. Formalisation et Modélisation du Mouvement en Langue des Signes Française : Pour une Approche Kinésio-linguistique des Productions Gestuelles. PhD dissertation, University of Rouen.
Crasborn, Onno & Sloetjes, Han. 2008. Enhanced ELAN functionality for sign language corpora. In Proceedings of the 3rd Workshop on the Representation and Processing of Sign Languages: Construction and Exploitation of Sign Language Corpora (LREC 2008), Onno Crasborn, Thomas Hanke, Eleni Efthimiou, Inge Zwitserlood & Ernst Thoutenhoofd (eds), 39–43. Paris: ELRA. <[URL]> (27 March 2022).
Culioli, Antoine. 1990. Pour une Linguistique de L’enonciation. Paris: Ophrys.Google Scholar
Cuxac, Christian. 1985. Esquisse d’une typologie des langues des signes. In Proceedings of the Workshop Autour de la Langue des Signes, Christian Cuxac (ed.), 35–60.Google Scholar
. 1993. Iconicité des langues des signes. Faits de Langue 1: 47–56. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
. 1996. Fonctions et Structures de L’iconicité des Langues des Signes. Habilitation dissertation, University of Paris 5.
. 1999. The expression of spatial relations and the spatialization of semantic relations in French Sign Language. In Language Diversity and Cognitive Representations [Human Cognitive Processing 3], Catherine Fuchs & Stéphane Robert (eds), 123–142. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
. 2000. La Langue des Signes Française, les Voies de L’iconicité [Faits de Langues]. Paris: Ophrys.Google Scholar
Cuxac, Christian, Braffort, Annelies, Choisier, Annick, Collet, Christophe, Dalle, Patrice, Fusellier-Souza, Ivani, Jirou, Gwenaëlle, Lejeune, Fanch, Lenseigne, Boris, Monteillard, Nathalie, Risler, Annie & Sallandre, Marie-Anne. 2002. Corpus LS-Colin sur plusieurs genres discursifs, Projet Cognitique «Langage et Cognition», Ministère de la Recherche et de la Technologie. <[URL]> (30 June 2022).
Cuxac, Christian & Sallandre, Marie-Anne. 2007. Iconicity and arbitrariness in French Sign Language: Highly iconic structures, degenerated iconicity and diagrammatic iconicity. In Verbal and Signed Languages: Comparing Structures, Constructs and Methodologies, Antinoro Pizzuto, Elena, Pietrandrea, Paola & Simone, Rafaele (eds), 13–33. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.Google Scholar
Cuxac, Christian & Antinoro Pizzuto, Elena. 2010. Emergence, norme et variation dans les langues des signes: Vers une redéfinition notionnelle. Langage et Société (131): 37–53. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Ducrot, Oswald. 1985. Le Dire et le Dit. Paris: Editions de Minuit.Google Scholar
Encrevé, Pierre. 2005. Histoire sociale des langues de France <[URL]> (30 June 2022).
Encrevé, Florence. 2012. Les Sourds dans la Société Française au XIXe Siècle. Idée de Progrès et Langue des Signes. Paris: Creaphis Éditions.Google Scholar
Ferrara, Lindsay & Hodge, Gabrielle. 2018. Language as description, indication, and depiction. Frontiers in Psychology. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Fischer, Susan. 1975. Influences on word order change in American Sign Language. In Word order and word order change, Charles N. Li (ed.), 1–25. Austin: University of Texas Press.Google Scholar
Friedman, Lynn (ed.). 1977. On the Other Hand. New Perspectives on American Sign Language. London: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Frishberg, Nancy. 1975. Arbitrariness and iconicity: Historical change in American Sign Language. Language 51: 676–710. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Fusellier-Souza, Ivani. 2006. Emergence and development of signed languages: From diachronic ontogenesis to diachronic phylogenesis. Sign Language Studies 7(1): 30–56. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Garcia, Brigitte. 2000. Contribution à L’histoire des Débuts de la Recherche Linguistique sur la Langue des Signes Française (LSF): Les travaux de Paul Jouison. PhD dissertation, University of Paris 5.
. 2010. Sourds, Surdité, Langue(s) des Signes et Epistémologie des Sciences du Langage. Problématiques de la Scripturisation et Modélisation des Bas Niveaux en Langue des Signes Française (LSF). Habilitation dissertation, University of Paris 8.
. 2021. L’interprétation langue vocale/langue des signes et la question du «lexique»: Inverser le regard! In Traductologie et Langues des Signes, Florence Encrevé (ed.), 137–166, Paris: Classiques Garnier.Google Scholar
Garcia, Brigitte, L’Huillier, Marie-Thérèse & Vincent, Coralie. 2015. Corpus Creagest, dialogues en LSF d’adultes sourds. Projet ANR. <[URL]> (30 June 2022)
Garcia, Brigitte & Sallandre, Marie-Anne. 2014. Reference resolution in French Sign Language (LSF). In Crosslinguistic Studies on Noun Phrase Structure and Reference [Syntax & Semantics 39], Patricia Cabredo Hofherr & Anne Zribi-Hertz (eds), 316–364. Leiden: Brill.Google Scholar
. 2020. Contribution of the Semiological Approach to deixis–anaphora in sign language: The key role of eye-gaze. Frontiers in Psychology. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Haspelmath, Martin. 2010. Comparative concepts and descriptive categories in crosslinguistic studies. Language 86(3): 663–687. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Haug, Tobias, Ebling, Sarah, Boyes Braem, Penny, Tissi, Katja & Sidler-Miserez, Sandra. 2019. Sign language learning and assessment in German Switzterland: Exploring the potential of vocabulary size tests for Swiss German Sign Language. Language Education & Assessment 2(1): 20–40. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Hickmann, Maya. 2003. Children’s Discourse: Person, Space and Time across Languages. Cambridge: CUP.Google Scholar
Hodge, Gabrielle & Ferrara, Lindsay. 2022. Iconicity as multimodal, polysemiotic, plurifunctional . Frontiers in Psychology. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Humphries, Tom, Kushalnagar, Poorna, Mathur, Gaurav, Napoli, Donna Jo, Rathmann, Christian & Smith, Scott. 2019. Support for parents of deaf children: Common questions and informed, evidence-based answers. International Journal of Pediatric Otorhinolaryngology 118: 134–142. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Jakobson, Roman. 1957/1971. Shifters, verbal categories and the Russian verb. Reprinted in Roman Jakobson, Selected Writings, 130–147. The Hague: Mouton.Google Scholar
Jouison, Paul. 1995. Écrits sur la Langue des Signes Française. Edition établie par Brigitte Garcia. Paris: L’Harmattan.Google Scholar
Kegl, Judy & Wilbur, Ronnie. 1976. Where does structure stop and style begin? Syntax, morphology, and phonology vs. stylistic variation in American Sign Language. Chicago Linguistic Society 12: 376–396.Google Scholar
Klima, Edward & Bellugi, Ursula (eds). 1979. The Signs of Language. Cambridge MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Kopf, Maria, Schulder, Marc & Hanke, Thomas. 2021. Overview of datasests for the sign languages of Europe (D6.1). EASIER Consortium. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Liddell, Scott. 1980. American Sign Language Syntax. The Hague: Mouton. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
L’Huillier, Marie-Thérèse. Forthcoming. Quel a été l’apport de Christian Cuxac dans le « réveil linguistique » des Sourds en France? In ‘Les Voies de l’Iconicité’ Aujourd’hui. Ouvrage Rétrospectif Autour des Travaux de Christian Cuxac, Marie-Anne Sallandre & Stéphanie Gobet (eds). Limoges: Editions Lambert-Lucas.
Lyons, John. 1977. Semantics, Vol. II. Cambridge: CUP.Google Scholar
Makouke, Dina. 2019. A la Recherche de Composés en Langue des Signes Française (LSF). PhD dissertation, University of Paris 8.
Martinod, Emmanuella. 2019. Approche Typologique des Composants Minimaux Porteurs de Sens dans Plusieurs Langues des Signes (LS) se Situant à Divers Degrés de Communautarisation. PhD dissertation, University of Paris 8. <[URL]> (30 June 2022).
Mayaffre, Damon. 2005. Rôle et place des corpus en linguistique: Réflexions introductives. In Actes du colloque JETOU’2005, Pascale Vergely (ed.), 5–17. Toulouse: Université de Toulouse-Le Mirail. <[URL]> (30 June 2022).
McBurney, Susan. 2001. William Stokoe and the discipline of sign language linguistics. Historiographia Linguistica 28(1–2): 143–186. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
. 2012. History of sign languages and sign language linguistics. In Sign Language: An International Handbook, Roland Pfau, Markus Steinbach & Bencie Woll (eds), 909–948. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Mhimdi, Fadwa. 2020. Étude Sociolinguistique de la Langue des Signes Pratiquée dans la Région de Tunis. Master’s dissertation, University of Paris 8.
Millet, Agnès. 1999. Orthographe et Ecriture, Langage et Surdité, Systèmes, Représentations, Variations. Habilitation dissertation, University of Grenoble 3.
Morgenstern, Aliyah & Caët, Stéphanie. 2021. Signes en famille [Corpus]. ORTOLANG (Open Resources and TOols for LANGuage). <[URL]> (30 June 2022).
Naert, Lucie, Larboulette, Caroline & Gibet, Sylvie. 2020. LSF-ANIMAL: A motion capture corpus in French sign language designed for the animation of signing avatars. In Proceedings of the 12th International Language Resources and Evaluation Conference (LREC 2020), Nicoletta Calzolari, Frédéric Béchet, Philippe Blache, Khalid Choukri, Christopher Cieri … Stelios Piperidis, 6008–6017. Paris: ELRA. <[URL]> (30 June 2022).
Newport, Elissa & Supalla, Ted. 2000. Sign language research at the millennium. In The Signs of Language Revisited: An Anthology to Honor Ursula Bellugi and Edward Klima, Karen Emmorey & Harlan Lane (eds), 103–114. Mahwah NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.Google Scholar
Pica, Pierre & Rooryck, Johan. 1994. On the development and current status of generative grammar in France: A personal point of view. In Noam Chomsky: Critical Assessments, Carlos Otero (ed.), 1–23. London: Routledge. <[URL]> (30 June 2022).
Poizner, Howard, Brentari, Diane, Tyrone, Martha E. & Kegl, Judy. 2000. The structure of language as motor behavior: Clues from signers with Parkinson’s disease. In The Signs of Language Revisited: An Anthology to Honor Ursula Bellugi and Edward Klima, Karen Emmorey & Harlan Lane (eds), 432–452. Mahwah NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.Google Scholar
Puissant-Schontz, Laetitia. 2020. Les Constructions Prédicatives en Langue des Signes Française (LSF): Description Linguistique et Développementale, en Vue de Leur Evaluation. PhD dissertation, University of Paris Nanterre.
Sallandre, Marie-Anne. 2003. Les Unités du Discours en Langue des Signes Française. Tentative de Catégorisation dans le Cadre d’une Grammaire de L’iconicité. PhD dissertation, University of Paris 8.
Sallandre, Marie-Anne, L’Huillier, Marie-Thérèse & Vincent, Coralie. 2016. Corpus Creagest, acquisition de la LSF. Projet ANR. <[URL]> (30 June 2022).
Sallandre, Marie-Anne, Di Renzo, Alessio & Gavrilescu, Robert. 2016. Various types of personal transfers (constructed actions) in seven sign languages. Poster, Theoretical Issues in Sign Language Research Conference (TISLR 12), La Trobe University, Melbourne, Australia, January 4, 2016. DOI logo
Sallandre, Marie-Anne, Schoder, Camille & Hickmann, Maya. 2018. Motion expressions in the acquisition of French Sign Language. In Sources of Variation in First Language Acquisition: Languages, Contexts, and Learners [Trends in Language Acquisition Research 22], Maya Hickmann, Edy Veneziano & Harriet Jisa (eds), 365–390. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Sallandre, Marie-Anne, Balvet, Antonio, Besnard, Geoffrey & Garcia, Brigitte. 2019. Etude exploratoire de la fréquence des catégories linguistiques dans quatre genres discursifs en LSF. LIDIL 60: 1–18. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Schoder, Camille. 2019. L’expression du Déplacement par L’enfant Sourd en Langue des Signes Française: Vers une Perspective Translinguistique. PhD dissertation, University of Paris 8.
Slobin, Dan Isaac. 2008. Breaking the molds: Signed languages and the nature of human language. Sign Language Studies 8: 114–130. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Soroli, Eva, Poudat, Céline, Badin, Flora, Balvet, Antonio, Delais-Roussarie, Elisabeth, Etienne, Carole, Ho-Dac, Lydia-Mai, Liégeois, Loïc & Parisse, Christophe. 2020. CORLI: The French Knowledge-Centre. In The Common Language Resources and Technology Infrastructure (CLARIN) Annual Conference Proceedings 2020, Costanza Navarretta & Maria Eskevich (eds), 19–23. <[URL]> (30 June 2022).
Stokoe, William. 1960/2005. Sign language structure: An outline of the visual communication system of the American deaf. Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education 10: 3–37. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Supalla, Ted. 1978. Morphology of verbs of motion and location in American Sign Language. In American Sign Language in a Bilingual, Bicultural Context. Proceedings of the Second National Symposium on Sign Language Research and Teaching, Frank Caccamise & Doin Hicks (eds), 27–46. Coronado CA: National Association of the Deaf.Google Scholar
Tognini-Bonelli, Elena. 2001. Corpus Linguistics at Work [Studies in Corpus Linguistics 6]. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Van der Hulst, Harry & Van der Kooij, Els. 2021. Sign language phonology – Theoretical perspectives. In The Routledge Handbook of Theoretical and Experimental Sign Language Research, Josep Quer, Roland Pfau & Annika Herrmann (eds), 1–33. New York NY: Routledge. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Van Herreweghe, Mieke, Vermeerbergen, Myriam, Demey, Eline, De Durpel, Hannes, Nyffels, Hilde & Verstraete, Sam. 2015. Het Corpus VGT. Een digitaal open access corpus van videos and annotaties van Vlaamse Gebarentaal, ontwikkeld aan de Universiteit Gent ism KU Leuven. <[URL]> (30 June 2022).
Vermeerbergen, Myriam. 2006. Past and current trends in sign language research. Language & Communication 26(2): 168–192. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Woll, Bencie. 2003. Modality, universality, and the similarities among sign languages: An historical perspective. In Cross-linguistic Perspectives in Sign Language Research, Anne Baker, Beppie van den Bogaerde & Onno Crasborn (eds), 17–27. Hamburg: Signum.Google Scholar