HT 2024:

• LIT004 Taktilt teckenspråk och socialhaptisk kommunikation, 7,5 hp
• LIT230 Teckenspråkslingvistiska metoder och arbetssätt, 2,5 hp 
• LITK10/LIT410/LIT412 Svenskt teckenspråk II, 10 hp
• LITK10/LIT410/LIT403 Dövas kultur och historia, 5 hp

VT 2024:

• LIT003 Teckenspråk - lär dig grunderna II (4 timmar)
• LIT009 Att transkribera och annotera teckenspråkstexter, 7,5 hp
• LIT150 Introduktion till metoder och analys av forskningsdata, 5 hp
• TTA236 Dövblindtolkning I (4 timmar)
• Handledning av kandidatuppsatser

Min expertis inom taktil teckenspråkskommunikation har varit efterfrågad i flera år, efter min doktorsavhandling Teckenspråk i taktil form – turtagning och frågor i dövblindas samtal på teckenspråk (1998). Jag har haft ett övergripande ansvar för ett treårigt projekt Korpus för det svenska teckenspråket under åren 2009-2011. Jag har varit involverad i ett treårigt TATE-projekt Från tal till tecken - att lära sig Svenskt teckenspråk som andraspråk under åren 2017-2019, tillsammans med Krister Schönström. Under augusti-oktober 2018 vistades jag i Florianópolis, Brasilien, som gästprofessor. Jag har haft ett akademiskt uppdrag: Vice-chair in (International) Sign Language Linguistics Society 2013-2022. 

Mitt forskningsintresse är taktilt teckenspråk, utvecklingen av teckenspråkskorpora och teckenspråkslexikon samt språkteknologi (språkcentrisk AI).

Jag är involverad i följande projekt/forskningsnätverk:

Pågående projekt/nätverk:

• Swe-CLARIN – utvecklar forskningsinfrastruktur för data i form av text och tecken. https://www.su.se/forskning/forskningsprojekt/swe-clarin, finansierat av Vetenskapsrådet, 2025–2028.
• SIGNBOT - Generativ AI för teckenspråk, 2024-2027
  https://www.kth.se/is/tmh/projects/signbot-1.1328312, the Wallenberg AI, Autonomous Systems and Software Program (WASP) finansierad av the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation och Vetenskapsrådet proj. 2023-04548 https://www.vr.se/swecris.html#/project/2023-04548_VR 
• DEPICT - How do interpreters use depiction when interpreting for deafblind individuals?, projektet av Høgskulen på Vestlandet, 2022-2025 https://www.hvl.no/en/research/prosjekt/depict/wp/
• Swe-Clarin https://sweclarin.se/
• Teckenspråkskorpus, Signbank, teckenspråkslexikon (Swedish Sign Language Corpus and Dictionary)

Avslutade projekt/nätverk:

• Edusign & Signedu, Erasmus+ KA220-HED, March 2022-August 2024 https://edusignedu.com/en/ 
• MADS project, collaborations between seven higher education institutions with a view of setting up a new joint Master programme in Applied Deaf Studies (MADS), Nov 2022-March 2024 https://signs.hw.ac.uk/projects/mads/
• Nätverket för nordiska teckenspråkskorpusar, 2022-2023    
• NIICTE, an international multidisciplinary network of higher education professionals working on inclusion and inclusive communication in tertiary education, 2023
• A Clarin Resource Family for Sign Languages, Dec 2021-May 2022, financed by CLARIN ERIC https://www.clarin.eu/resource-families
• Från tal till tecken - att lära sig Svenskt teckenspråk som andraspråk, TATE-projektet, 2017-2019
• Språkdiversitet, arbetsgruppen, Stockholms universitet
• Syntaktisk annotering av den svenska teckenspråkskorpusen (inom projektet Swe-Clarin) https://sweclarin.se/swe/centrum/stockholm

Kommande/publicerade publikationer, se DiVA

• Taktilt samtal mellan två personer med dövblindhet 
• Teckenspråkskorpus
• Teckenspråkstolkning 
• Teckenspråk som andraspråk 

I urval från Stockholms universitets publikationsdatabas

• Corpus research on signed languages in the Nordic countries

  2024. Tommi Jantunen, Johanna Mesch, Lindsay Ferrara. Nordic Journal of Linguistics

  Artikel

  This semi-systematic literature review examines signed language corpus research in the Nordic countries, with a quantitative and qualitative assessment of corpus research. The article first describes some critical components and functionalities of a signed language corpora. It then outlines the evolution of Nordic corpus research, highlighting Sweden’s pioneering role and subsequent developments in Finland and Norway. The findings suggest a progression from method-focused publications to those exploring linguistic phenomena within and across (signed) languages. Although the number of research publications is modest, there is a discernible shift towards comparative studies and applications in signed language teaching and learning.

  Läs mer om Corpus research on signed languages in the Nordic countries

• Jordan Fenlon and Julie A. Hochgesang (eds.), Signed Language Corpora. Washington, DC: Gallaudet University Press, 2022

  2024. Johanna Mesch. Journal of Linguistics

  Artikel

  Läs mer om Jordan Fenlon and Julie A. Hochgesang (eds.), Signed Language Corpora. Washington, DC: Gallaudet University Press, 2022

• Swedish Sign Language resources from a user’s perspective

  2024. Johanna Mesch (et al.). Proceedings of the LREC-COLING 2024 11th Workshop on the Representation and Processing of Sign Languages, 54-61

  Konferens

  The Swedish Sign Language Dictionary [Svenskt teckenspråkslexikon] is one of the most visited websites at Stockholm University, with four million visits each year. The dictionary is an easy-to-use resource for the community, families, relatives, students, educators, researchers and other stakeholders that can be accessed through the website, app, and mobile platforms. STS-korpus is an online interface for the Swedish Sign Language Corpus that is linked to the STS Dictionary, enhancing its utility. Other applications, like TSP Quiz and the STS transcription tool, will also be evaluated. In January 2024, we conducted a survey to explore how users utilise Swedish sign language resources in their everyday lives, studies and work, regardless of hearing status and sign language skills. The purpose is to evaluate these resources from a user’s perspective, including aspects such as user-friendliness, relevance, comprehensibility and effectiveness in aiding language learning or communication.

  Läs mer om Swedish Sign Language resources from a user’s perspective

• Content questions in sign language from theory to language description via corpus, experiments, and fieldwork

  2024. Robert Gavrilescu, Carlo Geraci, Johanna Mesch. Proceedings of the LREC-COLING 2024 11th Workshop on the Representation and Processing of Sign Languages, 298-306

  Konferens

  The theory of language structure informs us about what we should expect when we want to investigate a certain construction. However, reality is often richer than what theories predict. In this study, we start from a theoretically informed set of hypotheses about the structure of wh-questions in sign language, we test them using a sign language corpus, a designed production experiment, and structured fieldwork in three sign languages, Swedish, Greek and French Sign Languages. The results will inform us on what type of contribution each research method can provide to reach accurate language descriptions.

  Läs mer om Content questions in sign language from theory to language description via corpus, experiments, and fieldwork

• Extended Interlingual Index for the Project's Core Sign Languages and Languages covered in Work Package 9

  2024. Sam Bigeard (et al.).

  Rapport

  The purpose of the interlingual index is to link the lexical resources of the sign languages of the project. This is the final project release of the index, which covers both the core sign languages of the project as well as additional sign languages.

  Läs mer om Extended Interlingual Index for the Project's Core Sign Languages and Languages covered in Work Package 9

• Exploring latent sign language representations with isolated signs, sentences and in-the-wild data

  2024. Fredrik Malmberg (et al.). Proceedings of the LREC-COLING 2024 11th Workshop on the Representation and Processing of Sign Languages, 378-383

  Konferens

  Unsupervised representation learning offers a promising way of utilising large unannotated sign language resources found on the Internet. In this paper, a VQ-VAE model is trained to learn a codebook of motion primitives from sign language data. For training, we use isolated signs and sentences from a sign language dictionary. Three models are trained: one on isolated signs, one on sentences, and one mixed model. We test these models by comparing how well they are able to reconstruct held-out data from the dictionary, as well as an in-the-wild dataset based on sign language videos from YouTube. These data are characterized by less formal and more expressive signing than the dictionary items. Results show that the isolated sign model yields considerably higher reconstruction loss for the YouTube dataset, while the sentence model performs the best on this data. Further, an analysis of codebook usage reveals that the set of codes used by isolated signs and sentences differ significantly. In order to further understand the different character of the datasets, we carry out an analysis of the velocity profiles, which reveals that signing data in-the-wild has much higher average velocity than dictionary signs and phrases. We believe these differences also explain the large differences in reconstruction loss observed

  Läs mer om Exploring latent sign language representations with isolated signs, sentences and in-the-wild data

• Creating a multifaceted corpus of Swedish Sign Language

  2023. Johanna Mesch. Advances in Sign Language Corpus Linguistics, 242-261

  Kapitel

  This chapter discusses the preparatory work of creating a collection of corpora, together functioning as a multifaceted corpus of the same sign language, across three data subsets of signing in different modalities and on different learning levels, namely visual signing (deaf/hard-of-hearing/CODA), tactile signing (deafblind), and L2 signing (hearing second-language learners). This work, led by native signers and based on personal experiences in the research field, involved planning and adapting data collection and annotation of the Swedish Sign Language corpora over time to ensure a corpus infrastructure that is uniform across data sets, compatible with a parallel lexical database, and available as a searchable resource for the public.

  Läs mer om Creating a multifaceted corpus of Swedish Sign Language

• Meaning-making in tactile cross-signing context

  2023. Johanna Mesch, Eli Raanes. Journal of Pragmatics 205, 137-150

  Artikel

  Cross-linguistic studies of tactile sign language are still not widely performed internationally. For this study, four deafblind informants in two different tactile sign languages, Swedish Sign Language and Norwegian Sign Language, participated in the recording at a social and cultural workshop where they worked together to create a mutual understanding in their conversations. The study provides new information on how tactile and bodily signals are incorporated in dialogues where the speakers are not familiar with each other's signing. The results illuminate various tactile communicative strategies used in negotiating in cross-signing dialogues. By the selected analyzed examples, this study contributes to knowledge of how language and interaction skills are brought into the process of understanding each other, despite linguistic barriers.

  Läs mer om Meaning-making in tactile cross-signing context

• Self‐repair in hearing L2 learners’ spontaneous signing: A developmental study

  2023. Johanna Mesch, Krister Schönström. Language learning 73 (1), 136-163

  Artikel

  This study presents a corpus-based investigation of self-repairs in hearing adult L2 (M2L2, second modality and second language) learners of Swedish Sign Language (Svenskt teckenspråk, STS). This study analyses M2L2 learners’ STS conversations with a deaf signer and examines the learners’ self-repair practices and whether there are differences among learners of different proficiency levels. This provides a description of characteristics of self-repair made by M2L2 learners as well as the frequency and distribution of self-repair categories. The results show that the frequency of self-repair decreases with increased proficiency, at least after the initial stage. Furthermore, the self-initiated repair categories of the beginners are often phonological repairs, while intermediate learners tend to carry out self-repairs at the lexical and syntactic level. The results also reveal a specific type of STS repair linked to fingerspelling repairs. We discuss the effects of second modality learning as well as the relationship between monitoring and language proficiency.

  Läs mer om Self‐repair in hearing L2 learners’ spontaneous signing

• Teckenspråkslexikografi – utmaningar i en annan modalitet

  2023. Johanna Mesch (et al.). Nordiska studier i lexikografi 16, 225-240

  Konferens

  Swedish Sign Language Dictionary, first published in 2008, was updated to a new version in May 2022. This version has improved search functions and user interface. The lexical database has over 24,000 unique signs and 6,600 example sentences and is being continuously updated with new signs and examples. Each entry contains rich information in the form of video and photos demonstrating the sign, as well as in text and sign transcription describing the execution of the sign. For many signs, there is additional information, for instance, on the use of the sign in context or on the sign’s origin. The different search paths that have been developed are based on the structure of the signs and on different subject areas. Swedish Sign Language Dictionary is connected to the Swedish Sign Language Corpus, which currently contains approximately 190,000 occurrences of signs. This collaboration takes place via the STS-korpus, a web-based tool for the  presentation of signs in natural language use. The collaboration between these two language resources is also concerned with lexicographic issues.

  Läs mer om Teckenspråkslexikografi – utmaningar i en annan modalitet

• A cross-linguistic comparison of reference across five signed languages

  2022. Lindsay Ferrara (et al.). Linguistic typology

  Artikel

  Do signers of different signed languages establish and maintain referencethe same way? Here we compare how signers of five Western deaf signedlanguages coordinate fully conventionalized forms with more richly improvisedsemiotics to identify and talk about referents of varying agency. The five languages(based on a convenience sample) are Auslan, Irish Sign Language, Finnish SignLanguage, Norwegian Sign Language, and Swedish Sign Language. Using tenretellings of Frog, Where Are You? from each language, we analyze tokens ofreferring expressions with respect to: (a) activation status (new vs. maintained vs.re-introduced); (b) semiotic strategy (e.g., pointing sign, fingerspelling, enactment);and (c) animacy (human vs. animal vs. inanimate object). Statisticalanalysis reveals many similarities and some differences across the languages. Forexample, signers of each language typically used conventionalized forms toidentify new referents, and less conventional strategies to maintain and reintroducereferents. Differences were mainly observed in relation to the patterning across animacy and activation categories and in the use of fingerspelled wordsfrom ambient spoken/written languages. We suggest that doing reference in thesesigned languages involves both signed language-specific and ecology-specificstrategies. The latter may be attributed to the different social and historical trajectoriesof each language.

  Läs mer om A cross-linguistic comparison of reference across five signed languages

• Use and acquisition of mouth actions in L2 sign language learners

  2021. Johanna Mesch, Krister Schönström. Sign Language and Linguistics 4 (1)

  Artikel

  This article deals with L2 acquisition of a sign language, examining in particular the use and acquisition of non-manual mouth actions performed by L2 learners of Swedish Sign Language. Based on longitudinal data from an L2 learner corpus, we describe the distribution, frequency, and spreading patterns of mouth actions in sixteen L2 learners at two time points. The data are compared with nine signers of an L1 control group.

  The results reveal some differences in the use of mouth actions between the groups. The results are specifically related to the category of mouthing borrowed from spoken Swedish. L2 signers show an increased use of mouthing compared to L1 signers. Conversely, L1 signers exhibit an increased use of reduced mouthing compared with L2 signers. We also observe an increase of adverbial mouth gestures within the L2 group. The results are discussed in relation to previous findings, and within the framework of cross-linguistic influence.

  Läs mer om Use and acquisition of mouth actions in L2 sign language learners

• Mouthings in Swedish Sign Language

  2021. Johanna Mesch, Krister Schönström, Sebastian Embacher. Grazer Linguistische Studien 93, 107-135

  Artikel

  This paper deals with the non-manual mouth actions of Swedish Sign Language, Svenskt teckenspråk (STS). Based on data from the Swedish Sign Language Corpus and the Swedish Sign Language as L2 Corpus, we compare the use of mouthings in deaf L1 as well as hearing L2 signers. The use, distribution and frequency of mouthings are explored and described quantitatively and qualitatively. The results reveal some similarities as well as differences in the use of mouthings between the groups. Furthermore, the analysis reveals qualitative differences related to the properties of mouthings i.e. full and reduced mouthings among L1 as well as L2 learners of STS. Challenges of the analysis of mouthings will be discussed.

  Läs mer om Mouthings in Swedish Sign Language

• Conveying environmental information to deafblind people: a study of tactile sign language interpreting

  2020. Sílvia Gabarró-López, Johanna Mesch. Frontiers in Education 5

  Artikel

  Many deafblind people use tactile sign language and interpreters in their daily lives. Because of their hearing and sight status, the role of interpreters does not only involve translating the content expressed by other deaf or hearing people, but it also involves conveying environmental information (i.e., multimodal communication regarding what is happening at a given moment to be able to understand the context). This paper aims to contribute to the field of tactile sign language interpreting by describing how two Tactile Swedish Sign Language interpreters convey environmental information to two deafblind women in a particular situation, that is, a guided visit to a cathedral by a hearing Norwegian speaker. We expect to find various strategies including the use of haptic signs (i.e., a system of signs articulated on the body of the deafblind person aimed to provide environmental and interactional information). After summarizing the small amount of existing research on the issue to date, we present our data and how they were annotated. Our analysis shows that a variety of strategies are used, including Tactile Swedish Sign Language, using locative points to show locations with some type of contact with the body of deafblind individuals, depicting shapes on the palm of the hand of deafblind individuals, using objects to depict shapes, touching elements of the cathedral with the hands or with the feet such as surfaces, and walking around. Some of these strategies are more frequent than others and some strategies are also used in combination, whereas others are used in isolation. We did not observe any use of haptic signs to convey environmental information in our data, which calls for further research on which criteria apply to use this strategy in a particular situation.

  Läs mer om Conveying environmental information to deafblind people

Visa alla publikationer av Johanna Mesch vid Stockholms universitet