Menusigne: A Serious Game for Learning Sign Language Grammar

Manny Rayner, Irene Strasly, Nikolaos Tsourakis, Johanna Gerlach, Pierrette Bouillon

Abstract: We present Menusigne, a serious game designed to help beginner students learn basic sign language grammar. At the first level, the game uses a generation grammar and a signing avatar to let the student create signed utterances from menu-based patterns; at higher levels, the game presents avatar-generated or human-produced signed utterances, and the student uses the menus to indicate the meaning. The intention is to introduce the students to the principles of sign language grammar, and the game in particular emphasises the crucial role played by non-manual (non-hand) movements. We describe an initial course for teaching basic Langue de Signes Franaise (French sign language) to French students.