A multimedia bilingual database for the lexicon of Swiss German Sign Language

This multimedia database project is the first large-scale collection and description of the signs of Swiss German Sign Language (Deutschschweizerische Gebärdensprache, DSGS). The aim of the database is to gather linguistic information on the DSGS lexicon which can serve as a basis for future dictionaries and teaching materials, as well as function as a tool for linguistic research. For each lexical entry, there is information about all of the sign’s meanings, its morphological and syntactic characteristic, several categories of usage (geographical and generation variation, style, register) as well as example links to videotaped signed sentences. The information about each lexical item is represented in the database in several different forms: Video clips of the base form of the sign and of signed sentences in which it appears, line drawings, information checkboxes, form notation (HamNoSys and SignWriting), as well as German text.