I. SEARCHING THE OPEN REPOSITORY OF THE POLISH SIGN LANGUAGE CORPUS

I. SEARCHING THE OPEN REPOSITORY OF THE POLISH SIGN LANGUAGE CORPUS

The resources of the Repository can be searched using the search tool on the homepage. For users with free access, there are three ways to search: 

1. by the birthplace, age, or gender of the signer, 

2. by the type and topic of discussion, 

3. by words contained in the Polish translations.

1. By birthplace, age, or gender of signer

This search mode allows the Repository to be treated as a source of sociolinguistic data about PJM signers. We can look for speakers from a specific province of Poland, a specific sex, or a specific age range. This may be useful for those who want to study regional variation in PJM or to compare the signing of women vs. men, or older vs. younger signers.

To search the Repository this way, click on the map icon. This takes you to a page with an interactive map of Poland. Select any province (voivodship) to display all video clips showing informants from there.

The search can be further narrowed using the drop-down lists at the top of the page, by selecting gender (options: m – male, f – female, mm – dialog between two men, ff – dialog between two women and mf – dialog between a man and a woman) and/or age range (options: 18-30, 31-45, 46-60, 60+).

Search the Repository by place of birth, gender, age

Clicking the “Display” button will take you to a page listing all the video clips in the Repository that meet the set criteria. Clicking on a particular video clip will take you to its individual page, allowing you to watch the recording with Polish subtitles and providing more detailed information about it (which you can read more about here)

2. By the topic of discussion

With this search tool, you can filter the stored recordings in terms of the topic discussed by the informant(s). This search mode may be useful for people who want to study the effect of the type (monolog/dialog) and topic of discussion on the informants’ style of signing. 

 

The individual filters are:
 

A. Monolog/dialog: 

The recordings in the corpus are of two types. Some present conversations between two signers (dialogs), while the remainder present statements by a single informant (monolog). One of these types of video clips can be selected.

 

B. Type of stimulus: 

A stimulus is material used in a recording. See more about this in the CORPUS MATERIAL section. During the recordings, the informants looked at various material and were asked to perform certain tasks on their basis (in pairs or individually). The video clips contained in the Repository are based on two types of stimuli: films (dynamic stimuli) and images (static stimuli). One of these two types of can be selected.. 
 

C. Type of material: 

This filter specifies in detail what type of stimulus was used in the recordings. In the category “film” we find: signed recording in PJM, acted film, or animation. In the category “images” the choices are comic strip, text, or illustration. Only one type of material can be chosen in a given search. 

 

D. Name of task: 

The informants were given specific tasks to perform as they were being recorded, for example to tell a story, describe an object, explain what something means, discuss a problem, etc. Selected tasks forming part of the corpus material are included in the Repository. To make it easier to use the filters, they were given shortened names that refer to the topic of the evocation materials used during the recording. The list of tasks included in the Repository can be found in the CORPUS MATERIAL section. 

 

To search the Repository this way, click on the search-field icon. This takes you to a search engine with specific filters. Select one option in each of the four columns: 

 

- type of discussion (dialog, monolog)
 - type of stimulus (film, image)
 - type of elicitation material (film in PJM, acted film, animation, text, comic strip, illustration)
 - name of task.

Search the Repository by type and topic of discussion

After making your selection, click the “Display” button. This will display a list of all results in the Repository that meet the selected criteria. Clicking on a particular video clip will take you to its individual page, allowing you to watch the recording with Polish subtitles and providing more detailed information about it (which you can read more about here).

3. By words in Polish translations
 

This mode makes it possible to search for specific words in the Polish translations of the corpus recordings. It should be borne in mind that these words are not simple counterparts to PJM signs, but their possible translational equivalents. Searching this way may be useful to those users with sufficient knowledge of Polish, who want to search for signs with meanings that correspond to specific Polish words. 

 

To search the Repository this way, click on the magnifying glass icon. This takes you to a search engine based on key words. Enter a word in Polish and click “Display”. This will display a list of the film clips whose translations into Polish contain the given word (in precisely the same form as entered into the search field). Clicking on a particular video clip will take you to its individual page, allowing you to watch the recording with Polish subtitles and providing more detailed information about it (which you can read more about here).

II. EXPANDED ACCESS FOR RESEARCHERS

It is possible to obtain expanded access to the Repository. Users wishing to gain such access are asked to justify their need by filling out the registration form [for more information please contact j.filipczak@uw.edu.pl]. Each account request will be considered by the editorial team. After gaining approval and creating an account, the user will be able to download the .eaf file for each of the films contained in the Repository. The .eaf format is standard for files used with the ELAN software for annotating films. Opening a .eaf file requires that you have the ELAN software installed on your computer. It is available free of charge here and documentation is available here.

The .eaf files accessible from the Repository contain four layers of annotation: 

- gloss for dominant hand

- gloss for non-dominant hand

- HamNoSys transcription
 - written translation into Polish. 
 

The search modes with expanded access are the same as for open access. 

III. ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Given the need to protect sensitive data, only certain tasks have been published in the Open Repository of the Polish Sign Language Corpus: 
 

Fire Alarm (monolog)
Instruction: watch the film showing a signed story and relate the story to your partner

Objective: eliciting narrative structures and mechanisms used when retelling a signed text

Elicitation material: a short film with a story signed by a native speaker of PJM. 

 

The Kid (monolog)

Instruction: watch the film and relate the content to your partner
 Objective: eliciting narrative strategies with elements of humor
 Elicitation material: a three-minute fragment of the film The Kid starring Charlie Chaplin (1921) 
 

Pear Stories (monolog)
Instruction: watch the film and relate the content to your partner
Objective: eliciting narrative strategies (including classifiers, anaphors, deixis); comparative studies between sign languages (the same task appears in corpus projects in other countries) and between modes

Elicitation material: a five-minute film used by many researchers dealing with narration in phonic languages (Chafe, 1980), also used in corpus studies in other countries. 

 

Canary Row (monolog)

Instruction: watch a fragment of a well-known cartoon and then relate the content to your partner 

Objective: eliciting narrative strategies (mainly classifiers); comparative studies between sign languages (the same task appears in corpus projects in other countries)
 Elicitation material: a film showing the cartoon Tweety and Sylwester, divided into three shorter clips
 

Frog Story (monolog)

Instruction: look at a series of images making up a story, then relate the content to your partner 

Objective: eliciting narrative strategies (including classifiers, anaphors, deixis); comparative studies between sign languages (the same task appears in corpus projects in other countries) and between modes 

Elicitation material: 24 cards showing illustrations from the children’s book Frog, where are you? by Mercer Mayer


 

Let’s Meet (dialog task)
Instruction: study the monthly planner on the screen showing your classes, and find two different convenient times you can meet

Objective: elicitation of dialogues, negotiations, expressions of time and names of activities; comparative studies between sign languages (the same task appears in corpus projects in other countries)
 Elicitation material: two different monthly planners showing scheduled events 

 

What’s that sign? (dialog task)
Instruction: together with your partner, consider what the presented atypical signs of warning or prohibition might mean

Objective: the elicitation of structures with negation and constructions expressing a prohibition or obligation; 

comparative studies between sign languages (the same task appears in corpus projects in other countries)
 Elicitation material: 12 cards showing atypical signs of warning or prohibition 

 

Tell Me a Comic Strip (dialog task)

Instruction: look at the short comic strip (about Mikey Mouse or Donald Duck), and when the screen fades relate the content to your partner 

Objective: eliciting narrative strategies, the use of classifiers and the use of topographic space; comparative studies 

Elicitation material: cards showing a comic strip with Disney characters – three for each informant

 

2. Individual film page view 

 

After you select the search parameters, clicking the “Display” button will take you to a page listing all the video clips in the Repository that meet the set criteria. Clicking on a particular video clip will take you to its individual page, allowing you to watch the recording with Polish subtitles and providing more detailed information about the recording: 

-       type of discussion

-       type of stimulus

-       type of elicitation material

-       name of task

-       gender of informant

-       age group of informant

-       number of recording session when film was recorded

-       number of task during recording session

-       date of most recent update of data.