Moroccan Sign Language (MSL) is a poorly resourced language with communication problems compounded by a severe lack of interpreters. It is also worth noting that Sign Language research in developing countries (including Morocco) is still in its infancy, so standardization of communication tools has rarely been attempted. The high rate of illiteracy among the deaf community and the lack of sign language interpreters often deprives members of this community of critical information, with serious consequences to their welfare, safety, health, opportunities, and rights.

 

This project will be carried out in collaboration with the U.S.-based Institute for Disabilities Research and Training, Inc., which is currently developing a translation engine that provides reciprocal translation between American Sign Language (ASL) and English. The project is aimed at creating a robust assistive technology that would be of accessible cost for deaf individuals in Morocco and their families, service providers, educators, or businesses that employ them or have them as customers. The technology should be able to function as both an instructional tool to improve the literacy of deaf children and adults and as a real-time translation device between MSL and standard written Arabic. This translation technology will accommodate a variety of input and output options, including input for standard Arabic text (typing, scanning, screen text transfer); input for MSL (a sensor-enabled glove capable of reading the finger and hand movements of sign language and camera integration); output for standard Moroccan text (standard Arabic text); and output for MSL (sign graphics, sign video clips). By collaborating on this PEER-supported project, the researchers hope to determine whether the gesture capture technology currently under development for ASL is applicable to MSL and whether the English-to-ASL/ASL-to-English translation engine and hardware currently under development are relevant for Standard Arabic-to-MSL/MSL-to-Standard Arabic. The results obtained should benefit both sides in their efforts to use technologies to assist marginalized disabled communities in both Morocco and the United States.

 

 

Dr. Soudi and his team further developed the standard Arabic-MSL translation system during the first quarter of 2013. Five instructional tools (including quizzes) have been developed, serving to validate the translation engine data. The lexical database has been extended for both dictionary and text support, and 600 additional video clips and 600 graphics of signs have been created. The Moroccan team and their U.S. partners are currently working to integrate Natural Language Processing tools into the English-to-American Sign Language engine. The Moroccan team demonstrated these tools and the translation engine to NAS Program Officer Dr. Dalal Najib during her visit to the Moroccan Sign Language Lab. The tools have also been demonstrated at a pair of schools for the deaf in Morocco. Dr. Soudi will be disseminating his results at the conference “At the Crossroad between Africa, Asia and Europe: Challenges and Perspectives” in Venice from May 29 to June 1, 2013, and he will make another presentation at the Fourth Conference of the Scandinavian Association for Language and Cognition later in June.