The SIGN-HUB Project

The SIGN-HUB is a project that investigates European sign languages. Seven different countries are involved in this project: Spain, Italy, Germany, Netherlands, Turkey, Israel, and France. The project lasts for four years (2016-2020) and is funded by the European Commission within the research and innovation program Horizon 2020.

The overall goal of the project is the development, the preservation and the dissemination of the linguistic, cultural and historical heritage of European Deaf signing communities. We create an open-source online platform including the following components:

(1) reference-grammars of sign languages;

(2) an interactive online ATLAS of the sign languages of the world;

(3) online tools for sign language assessment;

(4) a digital archive of elderly deaf signers’ linguistic and cultural heritage (‘life stories’).

Through the creation of these four components, our research project promotes the recognition of sign languages and contributes to a better understanding of their linguistic properties. In addition, the digital open-source platform will be open for researchers working on other sign languages and thus foster research on sign languages and deaf communities worldwide.