Specification for the Harmonization of Sign Language Annotations

This document compiles information required for the joint use of several specific sign language corpora. It compares the annotations of 17 different corpora (some covering multiple languages) that include data for 17 signed languages. The comparison addresses annotation standards for manual and non-manual signs, describing their basic annotation format, formats for various specific phenomena and handshape coding approaches. This information is then used to formulate a strategy for the harmonization of these annotation standards that will result in a corpus-independent interchange format for the representation of all considered corpora.