Development of a Web-based Unified Arabic/American Sign Language Bilingual Dictionary
Abstract
A sign language dictionary allows the hearing impaired and deaf individuals to expand their abilities to communicate with other people by learning their respective sign language. In this paper, a web-based bilingual and bidirectional sign language dictionary is described that will allow the hearing impaired and deaf individuals to learn another target sign language without the need to learn the target mother or spoken language. The developed dictionary system provides a highly accessible visual interface to allow users to translate from the Unified Arabic Sign language (UASL) to the American Sign Language (ASL) and vice versa. The developed dictionary system as an assistive technology can contribute to social inclusion and the development of humans and societies for better future and opportunities. This dictionary can easily be integrated with a new sign language and extended to become a trilingual dictionary.
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