Identifying Intensification Processes in Brazilian Sign Language in the Framework of Brazilian Portuguese Machine Translation

Abstract

Brazilian Portuguese (BP) to Brazilian Sign Language (Libras) machine translation differs from traditional automatic translation between oral languages specially because Libras is a visuospatial language. In our approach the final step of the translation process is a 3D avatar signing the translated content. However, to obtain an understandable signing is necessary that the translation takes into account all linguistic levels of Libras. Currently, BP-Libras translation approaches neglect important aspects of intensification of words and construction of plural nouns, generating inappropriate translations. This paper presents a study of the intensification of adjectives, verbs and nouns’ pluralization, with the aim of contributing to the advance of automatic sign language translation. We apply a hierarchical clustering method for the classification of Libras’ intensified signs considering the modification of manual parameters. The method allows for the identification of distinct intensification patterns and plural marking in BP sentences. The results of our study can be used to improve the intelligibility of the signing avatar.