Speak Pakistan: Challenges in Developing Pakistan Sign Language using Information Technology

Authors

  • Adnan Abid University of Management and Technology, Lahore, Pakistan. Author
  • Nabeel Sabir Khan University of Management and Technology, Lahore, Pakistan. Author
  • Uzma Farooq University of Management and Technology, Lahore, Pakistan Author
  • Kamran Abid University of the Punjab, Lahore, Pakistan. Author
  • Hamza Jameel University of Management and Technology, Lahore, Pakistan. Author
  • Muhammad Shoaib Farooq University of Management and Technology, Lahore, Pakistan Author

Keywords:

HamNoSys, Sign Language Translation, American Sign Language, Sign Language, Pakistan Sign Language

Abstract

Gesture based communication called Sign Language (SL) is the fundamental communication channel between hard of hearing individuals. Communication through signing is a visual motion dialect. Hard of hearing individuals use gesture based communication as their primary medium for correspondence. Different countries have their own sign language as the United States of America has American Sign Language (ASL), China has Chinese Sign Language (CSL), India has Indian Sign Language (ISL), and similarly Pakistan has Pakistan Sign Language (PSL). Most of the developed nations have addressed the issues of their hearing impaired people by launching projects involving Information Technology to reduce this gap between a deaf and a normal person. In central and south Asia, a considerable work has been conducted on ISL and CSL. However, Pakistan Sign Language is a linguistically under-investigated in the absence of any structured information about the language contents, grammar, and tools and services for communication. Hence, the major contributions of this research are to highlight the challenges to bridge this communication gap for Pakistani deaf community by using the existing literature, and to propose an Information Technology based architectural framework to identify major components to build applications which may help bridging the gap between the deaf and normal people of the country.

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Published

2015-12-31

Issue

Section

Articles