Italian Sign Language (LIS) and Natural Language Processing: An Overview

The past decade has seen an increase in studies conducted on the interaction between NLP and sign languages. In this paper, we mainly focus on LIS while discussing the current state of the art, possible future developments and the ethical implications of this growing research context. In the history of NLP, human/ computer interaction has been mainly based on the transcription of spoken languages. We investigate how existing resources for spoken language processing can be applied to SLs and combined with language-specific tools, providing examples of recent resources. We discuss novel strategies for sign transcription that consider both the need for standardized writing forms to enable NLP, as well as the language-specific features of SLs that are conveyed through the visual-manual channel. Deaf contributors are fundamental within this research. When NLP and SLs interact, we find a shift from a user-centric approach towards a user-based one to be essential: Deaf end-users of the resulting resources thus become part of the designing process.