Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Chinese sign language'

American Sign Language (ASL) signs are claimed to be composed of four parameters: handshape, location, movement (Sto]çoe 1960) and palm orientation (Battison 1974). This paper focuses solely on handshape, that is, the configuration of the thumb and the fingers in a given sign. Handshape is significant in ASL and Chinese Sign Language (CSL); that is, minimal pairs exist for handshape in each. Thus, the two ASL signs in (1) differ in one parameter: the handshapes are different, but the location, palm orientation and movement are the same. Similarly, the two CSL signs in (2) differ in one parameter: handshape. A logical next question asks if handshapes are further divisible into parts; more specifically, are handshapes composed of distinctive features? This question is not new; in fact, researchers have made many proposals for ASL handshape features (Lane, Boyes -Braem and Bellugi, 1979; Mandel, 1981; Liddell and Johnson, 1985; Sandler, 1989; Corina and Sagey, 1988 and others). This paper focuses on the proposal of Corina and Sagey (1988). In Section 2, I outline the proposed system for the distinctive handshapes of ASL, of which [lateral] is a part. Then using data from ASL and CSL, I give three arguments in support of the claim that there is not sufficient justification in ASL or CSL for the feature [lateral]. First, I show in Section 3 that the prediction which follows from the claim that [lateral] applies only to the thumb, namely that the thumb behaves differently from the other fingers, is not borne out by CSL data. Second, I argue in Section 4 that since other features (proposed by Corina and Sagey, 1988) can derive the same phonetic effects as [lateral], [lateral] is unnecessary to describe thumb features in either ASL or CSL. Third, in Section 5, I use ASL and CSL data to argue that the notion of fingers as "specified" or "unspecified ", although intuitively pleasing, should be discarded. If this notion cannot be used, the feature [lateral] does not uniquely identify a particular set of handshapes. I show that CSL data suggests that two other features, [contact to palm] and [contact to thumb] are independently needed. With these two features, and the exclusion of [lateral], the handshapes of both ASL and CSL can be explained. In Section 6, the arguments against [lateral] are summarized.

Работа посвящена исследованию роли и места китайского языка в ЛЛ города Екатеринбурга. Материалом для исследования послужили рекламные знаки, вывески торговых магазинов и ресторанов, объявления и указательные знаки в общественном пространстве. В первой части работы были рассмотрены различные взгляды на вопрос определения лингвистического ландшафта. Были определены основные функции и цель лингвистического ландшафта. Особое внимание было уделено проблемам, присутствующим в данной области исследования как на теоретическом, так и на методологическом уровнях. В процессе анализа научной базы выявлено, что лингвистический ландшафт как область исследований значительно расширилась за последнее десятилетие. Во втором параграфе были рассмотрены различные подходы к исследованию ЛЛ, а также была представлена общая модель изучения лингвистического ландшафта П. Бэкхауса. В третьем параграфе были рассмотрены уже проведенные исследования ЛЛ, связанные с китайским языком. Можно сделать вывод, что данное направление исследований еще недостаточно развито. А исследования ЛЛ России только начинают расти. Во второй части работы мы проанализировали 71 языковой знак. Собранные знаки были классифицированы по трем категориям: текстовые ресурсы, визуальные ресурсы и контекстуальные ресурсы. Также был выполнен сравнительный анализ исследований ЛЛ, связанных с китайским языком. По результатам анализа можно сделать вывод, что данные работы являются отправной точкой для будущих исследований, связанных с китайским языком. Кроме того, нам встретились вывески и объявления с грамматическими и синтаксическими ошибками. Анализ ошибок, встречающихся в вывесках, показал, что полное понимание лингвистического ландшафта требует знания языка. Данная работа вносит вклад в изучение китайского языка в лингвистическом ландшафте города. Исследования такого рода в России не проводились ранее, следовательно они являются весьма актуальными для пограничной с Китаем страны. В Приложении представлены языковые знаки на китайском языке в городе Екатеринбург.
The research is devoted to the study of the role and place of the Chinese language in the LL of Yekaterinburg. The materials for the study are advertising signs, signs of stores and restaurants, announcements, and directional signs in the public space. In the first part of the research different views on the issue of linguistic landscape definition are considered. The main functions and purpose of the linguistic landscape are identified. Particular attention is paid to the problems present in this field of study on both theoretical and methodological levels. In the process of analyzing the scientific background, it is revealed that the linguistic landscape as a field of research has expanded significantly in the last decade. In the second paragraph, different approaches to the study of LL are considered, and the general model of studying linguistic landscape by P. Backhaus is presented. In the third paragraph, the already conducted LL research related to the Chinese language was considered. It can be concluded that this direction of research is still underdeveloped. And LL studies of Russia are just beginning to grow. In the second part of the research we have analyzed 71 language signs. The collected signs are classified into three categories: textual resources, visual resources, and contextual resources. The comparative analysis of LL studies related to the Chinese language is also performed. According to the results of the analysis, we can conclude that these works are a starting point for future research related to the Chinese language. In addition, we encountered signs and advertisements with grammatical and syntactical errors. The analysis of the errors encountered in the signs showed that a full understanding of the linguistic landscape requires knowledge of the language. This work contributes to the study of Chinese in the linguistic landscape of the city. Studies of this kind have not been conducted in Russia before, hence they are highly relevant for a country bordering China. The appendix presents Chinese language signs in the city of Yekaterinburg.

Le Sūtra du diamant est réputé et populaire aussi bien en Orient qu’en Occident. Il s’est très tôt introduit en Chine et n’a pas cessé de faire l’objet de multiples traductions du Ve au VIIIe siècle ; il en existe six versions distinctes, toutes traduites par d’éminents moines, sous le contrôle officiel de la Cour Impériale. Toutefois, seule la première version de Kumārajīva (407) a été la cible de commentaires et d’annotations au cours du temps. Ceci nous permet d’approfondir la raison pour laquelle sa version mérite d’être étudiée dans ses différences par rapport aux autres versions. De là nous mettons en évidence la prédominance de l’emploi du terme xiang相 comme le concept le plus récurrent dans cette version. Il semble en effet que xiang ne dérive pas d’un seul et unique mot équivalent en sanskrit, d’où l’intérêt de notre recherche sur le décalage textuel entre l’original indien et sa traduction, ainsi que sur l’osmose culturelle entre le bouddhisme et la pensée traditionnelle chinoise. Dans cette optique nous axerons notre approche selon trois plans parallèles : philologique, philosophique et esthétique de la traduction. Nous évoquerons d’abord les facteurs extérieurs des textes-source et des textes-cible, puis nous entreprendrons l’analyse textuelle comparative entre les versions sanskrites et les traductions chinoises, en mettant en avant simultanément le sens terminologique et philosophique du texte. Comme xiang (phénomène) est aussi un concept clé dans l’ensemble des textes bouddhistes, nous élargirons notre vision dans une sphère plus globale, en nous référant à d’autres textes connexes. Nous finirons par l’étude de l’utilisation du terme, et son retentissement culturel dans le monde chinois dans la perspective traductologique, ce qui nous conduira également à réfléchir à la traduction bouddhique en français
The Diamond Sūtra is renowned and popular in both the East and West. It was introduced very early in China and has not ceased to be the subject of numerous translations from the 5th to the 8th century; There are six distinct versions, all rendered by eminent monks, under the official control of Imperial Court. However, only the first translation of Kumārajīva (407) was the target of so many comments and annotations over time. This allows us to demand why this version merits further study of its differences to other versions. From here we find the use of the term xiang 相 as the most recurrent theme in the text. It seems that xiang is not derived from one single equivalent in Sanskrit, hence the focus of our research on the textual shift between the Indian origin of the word and its translation, as well as on the cultural osmosis between Buddhism and Chinese culture. With this view, our approach is based on three parallel axes: philological, philosophical researches and aesthetic study of translation. We will first deal with the questions about external factors of the source texts and the target texts. Then we undertake the comparative textual analysis between the Sanskrit and all Chinese translations, highlighting the terminological and philosophical meaning of the text. Since xiang (phenomenon) is also a key concept in Buddhist jargon, we suppose to reframe and refine our perspective by referring to other related texts. We will conclude with the use of the term and its cultural repercussions in the Chinese world from a translatological view, which leads us to think, going forward, about Buddhist translations into French

He, Jia.
Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2011.
Includes bibliographical references (p. [150-154] ).
Abstracts in English and Chinese.
Acknowledgements --- p.i
Abstract --- p.iii
摘要 --- p.iv
Chapter CHAPTER ONE --- INTRODUCTION --- p.5
Chapter 1.1 --- Introduction --- p.5
Chapter 1.2 --- Classifiers in natural languages --- p.7
Chapter 1.2.1 --- Classifier systems in spoken languages --- p.7
Chapter 1.2.2 --- Classifiers in signed languages --- p.10
Chapter 1.3 --- Instruments in spoken languages --- p.13
Chapter 1.4 --- Objectives of the study --- p.18
Chapter 1.5 --- Research questions --- p.19
Chapter 1.6 --- Organization of the thesis --- p.20
Chapter CHAPTER TWO --- CLASSIFIERS IN SIGNED LANGUAGES --- p.22
Chapter 2.1 --- Introduction --- p.22
Chapter 2.2 --- Classifier predicates in signed languages --- p.22
Chapter 2.2.1 --- Classification of classifier handshape unit in classifier predicates --- p.22
Chapter 2.2.2 --- Classification of movement unit in classifier predicates --- p.25
Chapter 2.3 --- Previous formal analyses on classifier predicates in signed languages --- p.28
Chapter 2.3.1 --- Meir's (2001) noun incorporation analysis in Israel Sign Language --- p.28
Chapter 2.3.2 --- Zwitserlood's (2003) analysis of verbs of motion and location in NGT --- p.29
Chapter 2.3.3 --- Benedicto and Brentari's (2004) syntactic analysis of classifier predicates in ASL --- p.31
Chapter 2.3.4 --- Some previous attempts to analyze classifier predicates in HKSL --- p.33
Chapter 2.4 --- Interim discussion and conclusion --- p.36
Chapter CHAPTER THREE --- RESEARCH METHODOLOGY --- p.37
Chapter 3.1 --- Introduction --- p.37
Chapter 3.2 --- Background of Tianjin Sign Language --- p.37
Chapter 3.3 --- Data collection --- p.38
Chapter 3.3.1 --- Consultants --- p.38
Chapter 3.3.2 --- Elicitation materials --- p.39
Chapter 3.3.2.1 --- "Movies: ""Tweety and Sylvester""" --- p.39
Chapter 3.3.2.2 --- Picture stories --- p.40
Chapter 3.3.2.3 --- Simple picture descriptions --- p.41
Chapter 3.3.3 --- Elicitation tasks and procedures --- p.46
Chapter 3.3.4 --- Transcription method --- p.47
Chapter 3.4 --- Interim discussion and conclusion --- p.47
Chapter CHAPTER FOUR --- RESULTS AND DATA DESCRIPTION --- p.48
Chapter 4.1 --- Introduction --- p.48
Chapter 4.2 --- Inventory of handshapes for instrument classifier predicates --- p.48
Chapter 4.3 --- Classifier handshape and predicate types --- p.66
Chapter 4.4 --- Interim discussion and conclusion --- p.68
Chapter CHAPTER FIVE --- THEORETICAL BACKGROUNDS --- p.69
Chapter 5.1 --- Distributed Morphology --- p.69
Chapter 5.1.1 --- An overview of Distributed Morphology --- p.69
Chapter 5.1.2 --- The concept of morpheme in DM --- p.73
Chapter 5.1.3 --- Cyclic domain in DM --- p.73
Chapter 5.1.4 --- Why reject Lexicalism? --- p.74
Chapter 5.1.5 --- Interim discussion and conclusion --- p.77
Chapter 5.2 --- Capturing 3-place predicates in syntax --- p.79
Chapter 5.2.1 --- Larson's VP-shell analysis (1988) --- p.79
Chapter 5.2.2 --- "Pylkannen's analysis (2002, 2008)" --- p.83
Chapter 5.2.2.1 --- Introduction of non-core arguments --- p.83
Chapter 5.2.2.2 --- Applicatives in natural languages --- p.84
Chapter 5.2.3 --- Interim Discussion and conclusion --- p.87
Chapter CHAPTER SIX --- FORMAL ANALYSIS OF INSTRUMENT CLASSIFIER PREDICATES IN TJSL --- p.89
Chapter 6.1 --- Introduction --- p.89
Chapter 6.2 --- Morphosyntactic properties of instrument classifier predicates in TJSL --- p.89
Chapter 6.2.1 --- Two types of three-place classifier predicates in TJSL --- p.89
Chapter 6.2.2 --- Handling classifier handshape and agentivity --- p.93
Chapter 6.2.3 --- Signer's body encodes agentivity --- p.96
Chapter 6.2.3.1 --- Grammatical function of the signer's body --- p.97
Chapter 6.2.3.2 --- Test for argument status of signer's body --- p.100
Chapter 6.2.4 --- Classifier handshape and noun class system --- p.107
Chapter 6.2.4.1 --- Classifier handshape and gender system --- p.109
Chapter 6.2.4.2 --- Instrument classifier handshapes: unifying gender system and noun classes --- p.110
Chapter 6.2.4.2.1 --- Variation in the choice of classifier handshape in instrument classifier predicates in TJSL --- p.110
Chapter 6.2.4.2.2 --- Classifier handshape and ^-feature specification --- p.113
Chapter 6.2.4.2.3 --- Locationalization of classifier handshapes in space --- p.118
Chapter 6.3 --- Structural representation of instrument classifier predicates --- p.120
Chapter 6.3.1 --- Voice0 and volitional external argument in instrument classifier predicates --- p.120
Chapter 6.3.2 --- Instrument as high applicative --- p.121
Chapter 6.3.3 --- How instrument classifier predicates are derived in TJSL? --- p.125
Chapter 6.4 --- Interim discussion and conclusion --- p.138
Chapter CHAPTER SEVEN --- CONCLUSIONS --- p.139
Chapter 7.1 --- Summery --- p.139
Chapter 7.2 --- Theoretical implications --- p.140
List of tables
Appendix I
Appendix II
References

碩士
國立成功大學
資訊工程學系碩博士班
90
People with hearing/speech impairments usually have communication problems in daily activities, education and vocation leading to incapable of getting into the mainstream of society. These dysfunctions often affect and limit the language learning and expression seriously. Presently, there are few of Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) technology and devices as well as the associated education-training system available in Taiwan. Besides, Taiwanese Sign Language (TSL) and written Chinese have several structural differences in linguistics. Deaf students usually make ill-formed sentences from the viewpoint of written Chinese. The purpose of this thesis is to develop an innovative TSL AAC system to provide communication aids in daily activities and language learning. More specifically, the study focuses on: 1) developing an effective TSL virtual keyboard for more intuitional selection input, 2) developing an error tolerant sign cue retrieval mechanism for word prediction and 3) integrating the predictive sentence template language model (PST) with path branching between equivalence classes for robust sentence generation. In order to evaluate the performance of our approach, 1881 frequently used signs and 2000 Chinese sentences, in which the mean length of utterance is 6.24 words, were selected as the training and testing database. The trained PST language model includes 461 sentence templates. The retrieval enhancement using word prediction, hand-shape deletion and movement deletion achieved 99.73%, 77.9% and 97.07%, respectively. For the assessment of practical communication aid, 8 profoundly deaf students were asked to conduct the experiments. After training, adaptation and evaluation phases, the accuracy of sentence generation achieved 80%. This proposed system aims to improve speech communication ability and activities of daily life for communication-impaired people.

碩士
國立成功大學
資訊工程學系碩博士班
91
The hearing-impaired people generally use sign language to express their intention. Sign language can be learned from teachers, books or videotapes. Presently, the use of either photographs or drawings overlaid with textual descriptions to represent sign language makes the reader harder to understand the process of signing. Videotapes better represent the signing process, but they have difficulty for flexible access and are limited in a small coverage of sign words. Besides, there exist many language differences between Chinese and Taiwanese sign language (TSL). The able-bodied people present sign language by way of the use of Chinese grammar. This situation frequently occurs and makes it hard to communicate with the hearing impaired. In this thesis, we propose a Chinese to TSL translation and sign image synthesis system for TSL learning. More specially, we focuses on 1) proposing a set of syntactic clusters and a two-stage processing strategy to parse the Chinese and TSL parallel sentence into the sentence translation pattern and the phrase alignment pattern, 2) developing a novel statistical translation model to estimate the optimal TSL sentence and deal with the out-of-pattern issue, 3) developing a sign image database based on the balanced characteristics of sign motion features, 4) proposing an image synthesis mechanism to concatenate video clips by simultaneously considering the distance of palm positions and movement directions, and 5) integrating the above approaches into an image-based sign language learning system. In order to evaluate our proposed approaches, 2159 sign words and 4554 parallel sentences, in which the mean length of sentence is 4.5 words, were collected. Of this database, 90% was used as the training corpus and the remainder for testing. 1518 sentence patterns and 867 phrase patterns were obtained. The trained balanced corpus consists of 409 sentences and 1776 sign words. The translation performance achieved 92.3% accuracy for top-5 candidates. In subjective and objective evaluation of image synthesis, our proposed approach achieved better performance. In case study, the reading comprehension performance of our proposed system also achieved 82% satisfactory degree. Consequently, our proposed system can provide the deaf and the able-bodied to learn TSL and be used as an alternative method for the exam in deaf schools.

碩士
國立成功大學
資訊工程學系碩博士班
92
The hearing-impaired people generally use sign language to express their intention. However, hearing people don’t know how to use sign language and, therefore, the communication obstacle between them are formed. Presently, machine translation researches mainly focus on word-to-word translation, and some syntactic rule-based translation. On the other hand, the lack of parallel corpus of sign language limits the development of machine translation. For this reason, TSL translation system applied present machine translation technique will have no good performance. In this study, we propose a statistical approach using syntactic information for the translation from Chinese to Taiwanese Sign Language (TSL). 　　More specially, we focuses on 1) establishing a integrated corpus which consist of word, part of speech, semantic role, and semantic feature by combining information of several Chinese corpora, 2) collecting the context free grammar and training its probability by EM algorithm for proposal translation mechanism, 3) proposing a Chinese to Taiwanese Sign Language translation mechanism based on sentence structure and using syntactic information by complete statistical parsing model, and 4) integrating the above approaches into a Chinese to TSL translation system. 　　In order to evaluate our proposed approaches, 2,036 parallel sentences, in which the mean length of sentence is 5.6 words, were collected. Of this database, 80% was used as the training corpus and the remainder for testing, and 7,931 transfer rules were obtained. The translation performance achieved 81.6% and 91.5% accuracy for top-1 and top-5 candidates respectively, and got 0.087 Alignment Error Rate (AER). All of the above TSL translation　evaluations, our proposed approach achieved higher performance than IBM Model 3. In Mean Opinion Score evaluation, the average translation performance of our proposed system also achieved 81% satisfactory degree. Consequently, our proposed system can provide a channel of communication between the deaf and the able-bodied, and applied to TSL education in future.

Yim-Binh, Sze.
Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2000.
Includes bibliographical references (leaves 225-235).
Abstracts in English and Chinese.
Acknowledgement
Abstract
Table of Contents
List of Tables
Chapter Chapter 1 --- : Introduction Page
Chapter (1.1) --- Research questions --- p.1
Chapter (1.1.1) --- Space and spoken languages --- p.1
Chapter (1.1.2) --- Space and sign languages --- p.4
Chapter (1.1.3) --- Nominals in Hong Kong Sign Language --- p.8
Chapter (1.1.4) --- Research focus: interaction of space and nominals --- p.11
Chapter (1.2) --- Thesis outline --- p.12
Chapter (1.3) --- A brief note on the transcription convention --- p.13
Chapter (1.4) --- Sociolinguistic background of Hong Kong Sign Language --- p.15
Chapter (1.5) --- Documentation of Hong Kong Sign Language and Chinese Sign Language --- p.17
Chapter Chapter 2: --- Space and Grammatical Relations
Chapter (2.0) --- Introduction --- p.21
Chapter (2.1) --- On the grammatical relations 'subject' and 'object' --- p.21
Chapter (2.2) --- Literature review --- p.28
Chapter (2.2.1) --- Grammatical relations in American Sign Language (ASL) --- p.28
Chapter (2.2.2) --- Grammatical relations in Chinese Sign Language (CSL) --- p.35
Chapter (2.3) --- Experiment 1: Picture description and selection task --- p.36
Chapter (2.4) --- Results: --- p.39
Chapter (2.4.1) --- Non-reversible sentences --- p.39
Chapter (2.4.2) --- Reversible sentences --- p.52
Chapter (2.4.2.1) --- Linear representation: S V O --- p.52
Chapter (2.4.2.2) --- "Spatial representation: the use of loci, inflecting verbs and classifiers" --- p.54
Chapter (2.4.2.3) --- Reversible and non-reversible data: a further discussion --- p.64
Chapter (2.4.3) --- An extension to dative constructions --- p.71
Chapter (2.5) --- Chapter summary --- p.77
Chapter Chapter 3: --- Space and NP Referential Properties
Chapter (3.0) --- Introduction --- p.78
Chapter (3.1) --- On the various referential properties --- p.78
Chapter (3.2) --- Realization of referential properties in spoken and sign languages --- p.79
Chapter (3.3) --- Specific NPs: indefinites and definites --- p.89
Chapter (3.3.1) --- Experiment 2: picture story description and picture reordering --- p.89
Chapter (3.3.2) --- NPs in subject positions --- p.90
Chapter (3.3.2.1) --- Specific indefinites --- p.91
Chapter (3.3.2.2) --- Specific definites --- p.96
Chapter (3.3.3) --- NPs in object positions: specific indefinites and definites --- p.106
Chapter (3.4) --- Non-specific indefinites and generics --- p.118
Chapter (3.5) --- Chapter summary --- p.121
Chapter Chapter 4: --- Space and Referential Loci --- p.123
Chapter (4.0) --- Introduction --- p.123
Chapter (4.1) --- Literature review --- p.1 24
Chapter (4.1.1) --- Frame of reference in sign languages --- p.1 24
Chapter (4.1.2) --- Nature of space and loci --- p.129
Chapter (4.1.3) --- Shift of loci/ frame of reference --- p.133
Chapter (4.2) --- Observation of Hong Kong Sign Language --- p.138
Chapter (4.2.1) --- Localization of referents in narrative discourse --- p.138
Chapter (4.2.2) --- Shift of loci / frame of reference in HKSL --- p.150
Chapter (4.2.2.1) --- Role-play/ locus shift in HKSL --- p.150
Chapter (4.2.2.2) --- Three more types of locus shift --- p.153
Chapter (a) --- Loci contrast exaggeration --- p.153
Chapter (b) --- Shifted focalization --- p.157
Chapter (c) --- Token-surrogate alternation --- p.162
Chapter (4.3) --- Chapter summary --- p.170
Chapter Chapter 5: --- Suggestions for Future Research --- p.171
Appendix 1: Notation conventions --- p.176
Appendix 2: Picture stimuli for experiment1 --- p.179
"Appendix 3: Topic, Comment and Topicalization in HKSL" --- p.181
Appendix 4: Picture stimuli for experiment2 --- p.190
Appendix 5: Illustrations --- p.203
References --- p.225

Lee Wai-Fung.
Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2002.
Includes bibliographical references (leaves [46-51] (3rd gp.)).
Abstracts in English and Chinese.
Abstract --- p.i
Acknowledgement --- p.iii
Table of Contents --- p.iv
List of Tables and Figures --- p.vii
Chapter Chapter 1 --- Introduction --- p.1
Chapter 1.0 --- Introduction --- p.1
Chapter 1.1 . --- Aspect: a definition --- p.1
Chapter 1.2 --- Analyses of verb classes --- p.3
Chapter 1.2.1 --- Interim summary of analysis of verb classes --- p.14
Chapter 1.3 --- Research questions --- p.16
Chapter 1.4 --- Thesis outline --- p.18
Chapter 1.5 --- Notation system --- p.18
Chapter 1.6 --- Previous researches of Hong Kong Sign Language (HKSL) --- p.20
Chapter Chapter 2 --- The Study of Aspect --- p.22
Chapter 2.0 --- Introduction --- p.22
Chapter 2.1 --- Two-component Theory --- p.22
Chapter 2.1.1 --- Viewpoint Aspect --- p.22
Chapter 2.1.1.1 --- Perfective Viewpoint --- p.24
Chapter 2.1.1.2 --- Imperfective Viewpoint --- p.26
Chapter 2.1.1.3 --- Neutral Viewpoint --- p.27
Chapter 2.1.2 --- Situation Aspect --- p.28
Chapter 2.1.2.1 --- Temporal features of situation types --- p.29
Chapter 2.1.2.2 --- Situation Types --- p.31
Chapter 2.1.2.2.1 --- Activity --- p.31
Chapter 2.1.2.2.2 --- Accomplishments --- p.33
Chapter 2.1.2.2.3 --- Achievements --- p.35
Chapter 2.1.2.2.4 --- Semelfactives --- p.37
Chapter 2.1.2.2.5 --- States --- p.38
Chapter 2.1.2.2.6 --- Summary of the temporal features of the five situation types --- p.39
Chapter 2.2 --- Aspect in signed languages --- p.41
Chapter 2.2.1 --- Viewpoint Aspect in signed languages --- p.42
Chapter 2.2.1.1 --- Aspectual inflections of viewpoint in signed languages --- p.42
Chapter 2.2.1.2 --- Aspect Markers in signed languages --- p.47
Chapter 2.2.2 --- Situation Aspect in signed languages --- p.52
Chapter 2.3 --- Predictions on the movement features of verb types in HKSL --- p.61
Chapter Chapter 3 --- Situations Aspect in HKSL --- p.66
Chapter 3.0 --- Introduction --- p.66
Chapter 3.1 --- Background of informants --- p.66
Chapter 3.2 --- Experiment 1: Comic strips and pictures description task --- p.67
Chapter 3.3 --- Differentiating verb types in HKSL --- p.67
Chapter 3.3.1 --- Imperative test --- p.67
Chapter 3.3.2 --- Single movement test --- p.70
Chapter 3.3.3 --- Durative adverbial test --- p.71
Chapter 3.3.4 --- Telicity confirmation test --- p.72
Chapter 3.4 --- Classification of situation types in HKSL --- p.74
Chapter 3.4.1 --- States --- p.74
Chapter 3.4.1.1 --- Generalization and statistics of movement features in States --- p.74
Chapter 3.4.1.2 --- Psychological verbs --- p.75
Chapter 3.4.1.3 --- Verbs of postures and locations --- p.77
Chapter 3.4.1.4 --- Mental verbs and verb of possession/existence --- p.83
Chapter 3.4.2 --- Activities --- p.84
Chapter 3.4.2.1 --- Generalization and statistics of movement features in Activities --- p.84
Chapter 3.4.2.2 --- Activities with [TM] or [Repeat] --- p.85
Chapter 3.4.2.3 --- Activities with single movements --- p.89
Chapter 3.4.2.4 --- Activities without the feature [Path] --- p.91
Chapter 3.4.3 --- Semelfactives --- p.93
Chapter 3.4.3.1 --- Generalization and statistics of movement features in Semelfactives --- p.93
Chapter 3.4.3.2 --- Movement features of Semelfactives --- p.94
Chapter 3.4.4 --- Achievements --- p.98
Chapter 3.4.4.1 --- Generalization and statistics of movement features in Achievements --- p.98
Chapter 3.4.4.2 --- Achievements with the feature [Path] --- p.99
Chapter 3.4.4.3 --- Achievements without the feature [Path] --- p.103
Chapter 3.4.4.4 --- Multiple-events Activities consisting of Achievements as sub-events --- p.105
Chapter 3.4.5 --- Accomplishments --- p.108
Chapter 3.4.5.1 --- Generalization and statistics of movement features in Accomplishments --- p.108
Chapter 3.4.5.2 --- Type (I) Accomplishments´ؤcomposite of an Activity verb and an outcome --- p.109
Chapter 3.4.5.2.1 --- Activity and a quantifying particle (QP) --- p.110
Chapter 3.4.5.2.2 --- Verb series in type (I) Accomplishments --- p.114
Chapter 3.4.5.2.2.1 --- Serial Verb Construction --- p.114
Chapter 3.4.5.2.2.2 --- Verbal Compound --- p.117
Chapter 3.4.5.3 --- Type (II) Accomplishments´ؤsingle Accomplishment verbs --- p.122
Chapter 3.5 --- Generalizations on the representation of situation types in HKSL --- p.126
Chapter 3.6 --- Chapter summary --- p.131
Chapter Chapter 4 --- Aspectual Modification --- p.133
Chapter 4.0 --- Introduction --- p.133
Chapter 4.1 --- Viewpoint Aspect in HKSL´ؤan overview --- p.133
Chapter 4.2 --- Experiment 2: Natural conversation --- p.135
Chapter 4.3. --- The syntactic distributions and grammatical functions of FINISH in HKSL --- p.136
Chapter 4.4 --- Interaction between Situation Aspect and Viewpoint Aspect in HKSL --- p.144
Chapter 4.4.1 --- States --- p.144
Chapter 4.4.2 --- Activities --- p.147
Chapter 4.4.3 --- Semelfactives --- p.149
Chapter 4.4.4 --- Achievements --- p.150
Chapter 4.4.5 --- Accomplishments --- p.152
Chapter 4.5 --- Meaning of the perfective marker FINSIH in HKSL --- p.157
Chapter 4.6 --- Chapter summary --- p.165
Chapter Chapter 5 --- Suggestions for Future Research --- p.166
Appendix 1 Tables and Figures
Appendix 2 Example of pictures and comic strips for experiment1
Appendix 3 Transcription of natural conversation of Experiment2
Appendix 4 Illustrations
Bibliography

Sin Yee Prudence, Lau.
Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2002.
Includes bibliographical references.
Abstracts in English and Chinese.
Chapter Chapter 1: --- Introduction Page
Chapter 1.1 --- Introduction --- p.1
Chapter 1.1.1 --- Causativity and causative constructions --- p.1
Chapter 1.1.2 --- A Typology of causative alternations --- p.4
Chapter 1.2 --- Research focus: Causative alternation in Hong Kong Sign Language --- p.9
Chapter 1.3 --- Thesis Outline --- p.9
Chapter 1.4 --- A brief note on the transcription convention --- p.11
Chapter 1.5 --- Linguistic research on Hong Kong Sign Language --- p.13
Chapter Chapter 2: --- Argument Structure approach to causative alternation
Chapter 2.0 --- Introduction --- p.16
Chapter 2.1 --- Various approaches to causative alternations --- p.16
Chapter 2.1.1 --- The Unaccusativity Hypothesis and Burzio´ةs Generalizations --- p.16
Chapter 2.1.2 --- Various approaches to causative alternations --- p.17
Chapter 2.2 --- The concept of argument structure --- p.22
Chapter 2.2.1 --- A semantic approach --- p.23
Chapter 2.2.2 --- A syntactic approach --- p.27
Chapter 2.3 --- The semantics of causative alternation --- p.33
Chapter 2.3.1 --- Causative alternation in English --- p.33
Chapter 2.3.2 --- Causative alternation in Chinese --- p.40
Chapter 2.4 --- Causative alternation in signed languages --- p.44
Chapter 2.4.1 --- Classifiers in signed languages --- p.44
Chapter 2.4.2 --- Causative alternation in American Sign Language (ASL) --- p.50
Chapter Chapter 3: --- Causative alternation in Hong Kong Sign Language
Chapter 3.0 --- Introduction --- p.55
Chapter 3.1 --- Experiment: picture-description task --- p.55
Chapter 3.2 --- Results: --- p.58
Chapter 3.2.1 --- Volitional agents as external arguments --- p.58
Chapter 3.2.1.1 --- Lexical causative variants with unaccusative counterparts --- p.60
Chapter 3.2.1.2 --- Unaccusative variants without lexical causative counterparts --- p.71
Chapter 3.2.1.3 --- Lexical causative variants without unaccusative counterparts --- p.85
Chapter 3.2.2 --- Natural forces and instruments as external arguments --- p.92
Chapter 3.2.2.1 --- Unaccusative variants without lexical causative counterparts --- p.92
Chapter 3.3 --- More evidence on lexical causative constructions --- p.99
Chapter 3.4 --- Interim discussion --- p.109
Chapter 3.5 --- Chapter summary --- p.118
Chapter Chapter 4: --- The syntax of causative alternation in HKSL
Chapter 4.0 --- Introduction --- p.119
Chapter 4.1 --- The X-bar theory --- p.120
Chapter 4.1.1 --- The checking theory --- p.125
Chapter 4.2 --- The derivation pattern of causative/unaccusative pairs in HKSL --- p.128
Chapter 4.3 --- The abstract causative morpheme and feature checking --- p.135
Chapter 4.4 --- Verbal classifiers as a functional projection --- p.140
Chapter 4.4.1 --- Functional categories and lexical categories --- p.141
Chapter 4.4.2 --- The functional projection - verbal classifier phrase (VCLP) --- p.148
Chapter 4.5 --- An alternative approach --- p.157
Chapter 4.6 --- Chapter Summary --- p.163
Chapter Chapter 5: --- Suggestion for future research --- p.164
Appendix I: Notational conventions
Appendix II: Verb classes for the experiment
Appendix III: Picture stimuli for the experiment
Appendix IV: Figures
References

碩士
中國文化大學
華語文教學研究所
100
The purpose of this study is to identify a potentially successful approach for teaching Chinese vocabulary to beginning and intermediate learners of Chinese as a second language through a combination of songs and Chinese sign language. We hope this approach not only increases the rate and the speed of learners’ acquisition of vocabulary, but also grows their interest in learning Chinese language. We conducted a quasi-experimental study with two pilot tests involving three different age groups of participants: children, teenagers and adults. For our quasi-experimental study, we recruited 30 graduate students from non-Chinese backgrounds who were in various masters’ programs taught in English at the Chinese Culture University. The 10-participant experimental group, who were beginning learners of CSL, would learn Chinese vocabulary through Chinese songs with Chinese sign language. The 20-partipant control groups, one beginning learners and the other intermediate learners of CSL, would learn identical vocabulary through identical Chinese songs without sign language. Pre-tests and post-tests were administered to both groups before and after the 4-week intervention study. A delayed post-test was administered to both groups 3 weeks after the post-test to further understand the retention differences between the groups. The results of our study suggest that: (1) For all participants, the Chinese sign language song approach was more effective in teaching vocabulary than Chinese songs; (2) The beginning learners of CSL benefited more from the Chinese sign language song approach; (3) The core vocabulary used in everyday life with a concrete meaning and a strong connection with sign language is most suitable for the Chinese sign language song approach; (4)Tthe vocabulary introduced in the Chinese sign language song approach has to match the level and age of the learners. The combined results from the two pilot tests and the quasi-experimental study also pointed out that the adult learners of CSL equally, if not more, benefit from the Chinese sign language song approach with regard to their acquisition of vocabulary.

博士
國立中正大學
語言學研究所
104
This thesis compares the phonological patterns of Taiwan Sign Language (TSL) with those of Signed Chinese (SC). TSL has a grammatical system that is different from Chinese, whereas SC basically adopts the grammar of Chinese and was invented with the goal of improving deaf children’s Chinese literacy. However, SC has not succeeded in helping deaf children to improve their Chinese literacy, and it also cannot be well learned by deaf children. Factors that have been investigated for why SC is difficult to learn include incomplete SC input from teachers and complicated morphological properties of SC itself. However, at the phonological level, it is unclear whether the sign-internal composition of SC signs is similar to that of TSL, and it is also uncertain whether SC signs obey natural phonotactic constraints that hold true for TSL signs. This thesis investigates the possibility that the SC lexicon is structurally different from that of TSL (i.e., violating phonotactic constraints that are obeyed by TSL signs). In addition, two sets of experiments were run to test whether these differences would cause learning difficulties. Comparisons of handshape, location and movement patterns between TSL and SC showed that SC adopts marked handshapes more frequently than TSL. Regarding phonotactic constraints, SC violates the Dominance Condition (by using the nondominant hand for articulating hand movement) and the Narrator Perspective Principle (by depicting Chinese characters from the viewer’s perspective) more frequently than TSL. These differences might make it difficult for people to learn this system. In order to test whether violations of the Dominance Condition and the Narrator Perspective Principle would cause learning difficulties, a difficulty judgment task was designed to test hearing nonsigners’ preference regarding the choice of hand for making movements and the perspective taken for depicting Chinese characters. A memory task followed with the goal of testing whether signs violating these constraints would be harder to recall correctly. Experimental results suggested that using the nondominant hand for making movement is disfavored by novice learners. Nevertheless, nonsigners showed no clear preference as to how to sign a Chinese character. Thus, the Narrator Perspective Principle might not be as natural a principle for signing as the Dominance Condition. Results are summarized and discussed with regard to the implications for the design principles of SC signs and deaf education.

博士
國立成功大學
資訊工程學系碩博士班
97
Sign language is a visual/gestural language that serves as the primary means of communication for deaf individuals, just as spoken languages are used among the hearing. Even though Sign Language (SL) is their first language (L1), the Deaf are usually forced to use spoken languages in daily life for communicating with hearing people. To assist their participation in education, employment, and society at large, Sign language machine translation (SLMT) technologies could provide the Deaf an intuitive way of communicating and a sign language learning assistance in special education. Distinct from ordinary statistical machine translation, the most crucial problem is the insufficient bilingual corpus with unified annotations. Besides, the output of sign language is quiet a challenge. In order to deal with the problem of sign language machine translation, this study started with traditional statistical machine translation model: IBM models, then several linguistic information were conducted for improving the sparseness of using small corpus in statistical approach. At the first, a statistical alignment based on phrase fragments is proposed to reduce the complexity of word level alignments. Further, phrase structure was adopted for systemizing the linear phrase fragment defined in sentences. At last, an innovation mechanism cooperated with knowledge-based and statistical approach was presented. Translation memory, an example base retrieved from parallel corpus was used to generate transferred rules in statistical way. Develop the bilingual corpus is an important issue for this work. This paper presented a complete procedure to collect and annotate a size-limited parallel corpus due to that the annotation requires labor efforts. For sign language displaying, a synthesis approach is proposed which is developed with a designed transition-balanced video corpus. The designed corpora were analyzed for verifying the reliabilities and shown that they can be satisfied with the goal we wish to attain. Several experiments were conducted to evaluate the translation performance of proposed machine translation architectures, and the comprehension effectiveness for the Deaf. BLEU metric, and word error rate were conducted in objective evaluations, and means of opinion scores and reading comprehension test were proposed for subjective evaluations. The experiments demonstrate that the proposed approaches had outperformed to previous MT system in time and all of them were more outstanding than traditional SMT. According to evaluations, the architecture using linguistic information makes the translation quality more robust, especially translating longer sentences. For reading comprehensions, deaf students perceived sign sequences generated with/and synthesis videos by the proposed method to be satisfactory. In terms of applications, the proposed approach can be integrated into the electronic public services for providing the Deaf an intuitive interface for receiving information. In this paper, the use of linguistic information presented in this study will not only assist the analysis of TSL, but also provide a solution to develop machine translation for other minor languages. c In the future, more TSL characteristics can be considered and exploited with the development of TSL linguistics.

碩士
健行科技大學
資訊工程系碩士班
104
There are hundreds of languages in the world, and sign language is one of the communications. This study topic is explaining sign language recognition and Gesture Image Coding. In this study are used sign language image of slash encoding and oval circles styles, then using the oval circles Four-quadrant image coding. Then through Gaussian Mixture Model and Gaussian probability distribution technology to build sign language model to process identification. However, sign language action in the image that most important transform about change of fingers moving, and slash encoding is using the image to take mesh slash, than to find the part of finger which slash overlap. Through the Gaussian Mixture Model, to build sign language model to process identification, than you can recognize that sign language is what. According to the experiment result, this method entire recognize accuracy can be 93.95%. 　　The mention of our study about oval circles styles, can accurate difference finger’s direction and transform, and oval circles styles is using the image to take oval lines, than to find the part of finger which oval overlap. Through the Gaussian Mixture Model, to build sign language model to process identification, than you can recognize that sign language is what. According to the experiment result, this method entire recognize accuracy can be 78.98%. And then using the oval circles Four-quadrant image coding to improve recognition accuracy can reach89.3% in our experiment. This study is focus on Gaussian Mixture Model, slash encoding, oval circles styles, and oval circles Four-quadrant image coding

碩士
國立臺灣師範大學
華語文教學研究所
88
Can Chinese public signs be used as instructional materials? How can a large variety of authentic Chinese public signs be compiled as interactive and fascinating instructional materials? Multimedia offers some effective solutions for self-instruction or for language teachers who aim at making their classes rich in content using authentic materials. Certain applications can promote communicative competence, offer a balance of guided learning and free navigation and provides corrective feedback. This work focuses on the design and development of a computer assisted language learning (CALL) program “Chinese Signs Explorer”. The instructional CD is based on the communicative language teaching (CLT) approach and uses multimedia human computer interaction (HCI) to introduce Chinese L2 learners with a large variety of public signs in China and Taiwan and to assist students to fully function in a Chinese speaking environment. The program presents students with a comprehensive, easy to use database of over 470 Chinese public signs divided to 25 subject-oriented units. Each unit introduces users with a selection of visual authentic materials, English translation, Pinyin romanization, audio files for correct pronunciation, grammatical and cultural glosses, practice and testing. Chinese and English overall search application, help and user-friendly navigation are available throughout the program. For a better adjustment to students needs and in order to enhance the learning process, the program presents all learning materials (including the practice and testing sections) in both simplified and traditional Chinese forms which can be displayed at any given time. In addition, the program offers learning management applications such as a study record save and load functions for efficient learning. It is believed that “Chinese Signs Explorer” program can serve both as instructional material and a reference database, it can assist Chinese L2 learners to better understand Chinese public signs as well as identify the nature of new signs (such as prohibition, caution, direction etc.). Thus, “Chinese Signs Explorer” may not only teach L2 learners Chinese through signs, it may also ease their adjustment and to a Chinese speaking environment both in Taiwan and China.

Lo Ka Yu.
Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2005.
Includes bibliographical references (leaves 334-341).
Abstracts in English and Chinese.
Lo Ka Yu.
論文擇要 --- p.i
Abstract --- p.ii
Acknowledgments --- p.iii
Table of Content --- p.iv
List of Figures --- p.vi
List of Tables --- p.xv
Introduction --- p.1
Chapter 1.1 --- Questions raised --- p.1
Chapter 1.2 --- Literature in Chinese wood carving and symbolic language --- p.11
Chapter 1.3 --- Methodology and field work --- p.26
Chapter 1.4 --- Content of the thesis --- p.29
Jixiang 吉祥 carvings --- p.30
Chapter 2.1 --- An exhibition of wishes --- p.30
Chapter 2.2 --- Chinese: People of symbols --- p.32
Chapter 2.3 --- Chinese Sense of Auspiciousness --- p.37
Chapter 2.4 --- Chinese House: symbols and jixiang 吉祥 --- p.41
Chapter 2.5 --- Jixiang 吉祥 motifs in wood carvings --- p.44
Chapter 2.6 --- "Motifs, symbols and symbolic language" --- p.47
Domestic Decorations --- p.55
Chapter 3.1 --- Tai Fu Tai 大夫第，San Tin 新田 --- p.57
Chapter 3.2 --- "No. 123 village house, San Tin 新田" --- p.104
Chapter 3.3 --- Ching Shu Hin 清暑軒，Ping Shan 屏山 --- p.107
Chapter 3.4 --- "No. 93 village house, Shui Tsan Tin Tsuen 水盞田村" --- p.141
Chapter 3.5 --- "No. 32&33 village houses, Ha Tin Liu Ha 下田寮下" --- p.143
Ceremonial Buildings --- p.147
Chapter 4.1 --- Man Ancestral Hall 文氏宗祠，San Tin 新田 --- p.149
Chapter 4.2 --- Man Lun Fung ancestral hall 麟峰文公祠，San Tin 新田 --- p.155
Chapter 4.3 --- Kun Ting Study Hall 覲廷書室，Ping Shan 屏山 --- p.171
Chapter 4.4 --- Wai Hing Study Hall 渭卿書室，Ping Shan 屏山 --- p.198
Chapter 4.5 --- Yan Dun Kong Study Hall 仁敦岡書室，Ping Shan 屏山 --- p.201
Chapter 4.6 --- Sin Sui Study Hall 善述書室，Lung Yeuk Tau 龍躍頭 --- p.217
Religious Buildings --- p.246
Chapter 5.1 --- Tung Shan Temple 東山古廟，San Tin 新田 --- p.248
Chapter 5.2 --- Kwan Tai Temple 關帝古廟，Tai O 大澳 --- p.251
Chapter 5.3 --- "Yeung Hau Temple 楊侯古廟, Tai O 大澳" --- p.262
Symbolic Language of Wood Carvings --- p.277
Chapter 6.1 --- Symbols - pictorial vocabularies --- p.277
Chapter 6.2 --- Symbolic meanings --- p.284
Chapter 6.3 --- Reading the Symbolic language --- p.287
Chapter 6.4 --- Dynamics of Symbolic Language --- p.312
Conclusion --- p.316
Appendix I --- p.319
Appendix II --- p.320
Appendix III --- p.321
Appendix IV --- p.323
Appendix V --- p.326
Appendix VI --- p.327
Bibliography --- p.334
Manuscripts before 1911 --- p.334
Works after 1911 --- p.336
Other References --- p.341