Work

What I do
Last updated March 7, 2024

I’m a professor in the Department of Linguistics at Gallaudet. 

Teaching

I teach both undergraduate and graduate classes at Gallaudet University in the Linguistics Department. Classes that I usually teach are:
LIN 731: Phonology 2
LIN 571: Field Methods
LIN 572: Language Documentation
LIN 573: Corpus Linguistics

Selected Publications and Presentations (by year)

2024

Desai, A., Meulder, M. D., Hochgesang, J. A., Kocab, A., & Lu, A. X. (2024). Systemic Biases in Sign Language AI Research: A Deaf-Led Call to Reevaluate Research Agendas. In arXiv [cs.CV]. arXiv. http://arxiv.org/abs/2403.02563

2023

Hochgesang, J. A., Lepic, R., & Shaw, E. (2023). W(h)ither the ASL corpus?: Considering trends in signed corpus development. In E. Wehyrmeyer (Ed.), Gaining ground in sign language corpus linguistics (pp. 287–308). John Benjamins. https://doi.org/10.1075/scl.108.11hoc

*Please note that the biographical information provided for me in this book is not accurate. This is the correct bio: Julie A. Hochgesang is a white deaf professor of Linguistics at Gallaudet University, where she also received her PhD in Linguistics in 2013. Signing since two, she is a fluent user of American Sign Language (ASL), one of her primary languages. Her PhD focused on evaluating the use of different notation systems for representing hand configurations in signed languages in the study of child language acquisition. Her research interests include language documentation (fieldwork, transcription and corpus linguistics) of signed languages, phonetics and phonology of signed languages, and making linguistics accessible to the signing and research communities. She currently manages the ASL Signbank created under the Sign Language Acquisition, Annotation, Archiving and Sharing (SLAAASh) project headed by Diane Lillo-Martin at Haskins Lab. She also consults for the Philadelphia Signs project at the University of Pennsylvania, for people working with the Deaf communities (language documentation, language advocacy, etc) and for ELAN training, and is currently a co-researcher on the Motivated Look at Indicating Verbs in ASL (MoLo) project. She serves as one of the linguistic editors for the Journal of ASL and Literature and is also on the editorial board for Sign Language Studies. She was also a co-organizer of the LREC Sign Language Workshop series from 2016-2022. She is also author of numerous articles and book chapters.

Hochgesang, J.A. (2023): Documenting the ASL communities: MoLo and O5S5 Projects. figshare. Presentation. https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.22652689.v2

Hochgesang, J.A. (2023). Sharing ASL data online FAIRly with CARE the ASL way – MoLo and O5S5 projects. figshare. Presentation. https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.24205566.v2

Becker, A. A., Hochgesang, J. A., Tamminga, M., & Fisher, J. N. (2023). Sociophonetics and signed languages. In C. Strelluf (Ed.), The Routledge handbook of sociophonetics (pp. 467–488). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003034636

2022 

Fenlon, J., & Hochgesang, J. A. (Eds.). (2022). Signed Language Corpora. Gallaudet University Press.
(So glad the book is out!)

Hochgesang, J. A. (2022, January 6). Documenting signed language use while considering our spaces as a Deaf* linguist. Invited Plenary Presentation. The 96th Annual Meeting of the Linguistic Society of America, Virtual/Washington DC. https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.17911973.v1 
https://youtu.be/LqJJsNd-Ib4

Hochgesang, J. A. (2022). Managing sign language acquisition video data: A personal journey in the organization and representation of signed data. In A. L. Berez-Kroeker, B. McDonnell, E. Koller, & L. B. Collister (Eds.), The Open Handbook of Linguistic Data Management. MIT Press Open. https://mitp-web.mit.edu/books/open-handbook-linguistic-data-management-and-archiving

Hochgesang, J.A. (2022): (A)SL Archiving FOR-FOR?. figshare. Presentation. https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.20319849.v1 

Hochgesang, Julie A., Marjorie Bates, Ana Clark, Kayla Davis, Michael Dunham, Lucas Hamilton, Sarah Kadar, et al. (2022). “Documenting the Experiences of the ASL Communities in the Time of COVID-19.” Poster presentation presented at the Theoretical Issues in Sign Language Research 14, Osaka, Japan. https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.22340830.v1.

Short video compilation of #O5S5ASL!

Hochgesang, Julie A., Ryan Lepic, Paul Dudis, Emily Shaw, and Miako Villanueva. (2022). “Motivated Look at Indicating Verbs in ASL (MoLo).” Poster presentation presented at the Theoretical Issues in Sign Language Research 14, Osaka, Japan , September 27. https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/VJP6W.

Hochgesang, J.A., Lepic, R.; Shaw, E. (2022): W(h)ither the ASL corpus?: Considering trends in signed corpus development. figshare. Preprint. https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.20394285.v1
(Preprint of forthcoming book chapter in “Gaining ground in sign language corpus linguistics” edited by Ella Wehyrmeyer)

Hou, L., Hochgesang, J., Occhino, C., & Lepic, R. (2022, January 6). Where do we go from here? Faculty placement of deaf linguists in US PhD programs. The 96th Annual Meeting of the Linguistic Society of America, Virtual/Washington, DC. https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.17912228.v1

Lillo-Martin, D., & Hochgesang, J. A. (2022). Signed languages – Unique and ordinary: A commentary on Kidd and Garcia (2022) [Review of Signed languages – Unique and ordinary: A commentary on Kidd and Garcia (2022)]. First Language, 01427237221098858. SAGE Publications Ltd. https://doi.org/10.1177/01427237221098858

2021 

Bragg, D., Caselli, N., Hochgesang, J. A., Huenerfauth, M., Katz-Hernandez, L., Koller, O., Kushalnagar, R., Vogler, C., & Ladner, R. E. (2021). The FATE Landscape of Sign Language AI Datasets: An Interdisciplinary Perspective. ACM Transactions on Accessible Computing: Special Issue of ACM Transactions on Accessible Computing (TACCESS) on AI Fairness and People with Disabilities.

Fisher, J. N., Hochgesang, J. A., Tamminga, M., & Miller, R. (2021). Uncovering the lived experiences of elderly Deaf Philadelphians. In R. Pfau, A. Göksel, & J. Hosemann (Eds.), Our Lives – Our Stories: Life Experiences of Elderly Deaf People (pp. 277–322). De Gruyter Mouton. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110701906

Hochgesang, J. A. (2021, November 4). Documenting the Experiences of ASL communities during COVID-19: An Introduction. Locus: Spin Offs: The MI Diaries as a Starting Point, Michigan State University, Zoom. https://digitalhumanities.msu.edu/dh-locus-fall-2021-spin-offs-the-mi-diaries-as-a-starting-point/. https://youtu.be/xGFlNCUMVAg

O5S5 ASL at Locus 2021

Hochgesang, J. A. (2021, October 2). Phonological concerns in using ASL Signbank to represent usage in the ASL communities. Annual Meeting on Phonology, AMP2021, Toronto, Ontario/Zoom. https://www.amp2021toronto.com/

Hochgesang, J. A. (2021, September). Ethics of working with signed language communities. Presented at AI & Sign Language Convention 2021 Developing Artificial Intelligence for Sign Language Recognition, Translation and Generation. Gallaudet University. (slides)

Hochgesang, J. A. (2021, June 14). Documenting Language Use of the ASL Communities [Invited presentation]. CREST Fest 2021, Virtual Conference. https://www.crest-network.com/fest. https://youtu.be/CJtfRQ0tsfM

CREST Fest 2021 – Dr. Julie Hochgesang

Hochgesang, J.A. (2021). Documenting the language use of the ASL communities. doi: 10.6084/m9.figshare.14377343.v1

Hochgesang, J.A., and Occhino, C. (2021, June 21). CREST Fest 2021: Hochgesang & Occhino Webinar. [Invited discussion]. CREST Fest 2021, Virtual Conference. https://www.crest-network.com/fest. https://youtu.be/-mFmD-aY968.

CREST Fest 2021 Panel – Hochgesang and Occhino

Occhino, C., Fisher, J., Hill, J., Hochgesang, J. A., Shaw, E., & Tamminga, M. (2021). Report on On-going Research: New Trends in ASL Variation Documentation. Sign Language Studies, 21(3).

2020 

Becker, A., Catt, D. H., & Hochgesang, J. A. (2020). Back and Forth between Theory and Application: Shared Phonological Coding Between ASL Signbank and ASL-LEX. In E. Efthimiou, S.-E. Fotinea, T. Hanke, J. A. Hochgesang, J. Kristoffersen, & J. Mesch (Eds.), Proceedings of the LREC2020 9th Workshop on the Representation and Processing of Sign Languages: Sign Language Resources in the Service of the Language Community, Technological Challenges and Application Perspectives (pp. 1–6). European Language Resources Association (ELRA). https://www.sign-lang.uni-hamburg.de/lrec/lrec/pubs/20039.pdf

Dudis, P. G., Hochgesang, J. A., Shaw, E., & Villanueva, M. (2020, November). Introduction to “Motivated Look at Indicating Verbs in ASL (MoLo)” Project. HDLS14, Virtual Conference. Dudis, P. G., Hochgesang, J. A., Shaw, E., & Villanueva, M. (2020, November). Introduction to “Motivated Look at Indicating Verbs in ASL (MoLo)” Project. HDLS14, Virtual Conference. DOI 10.17605/OSF.IO/H8GK4

Hochgesang, Julie A. Twitter Thread by @jahochcam: Emboxed Discourse Musings. A thread… 1/ #EmboxedDiscourse Our new normal these days as we’re Zooming means we’re living part of our lives…. (n.d.). Retrieved September 14, 2020, from https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1298028954788528128.html

Hochgesang, J. A., Becker, A., & Catt, D. (November 20-22, 2020). Relations among signs in the ASL Signbank. HDLS14, Virtual Conference. https://osf.io/4a29z

Tamminga, M., Fisher, J., & Hochgesang, J. (2020). Weak Hand Variation in Philadelphia ASL: A Pilot Study. In R. Purse & Y. White (Eds.), University of Pennsylvania Working Papers in Linguistics (Vol. 25). https://repository.upenn.edu/pwpl/vol25/iss2/15

Treviño, R. O., Hochgesang, J. A., Shaw, E. P., & Willow, N. (2020). One Side of the Coin: Development of an ASL-English Parallel Corpus by Leveraging SRT Files. In E. Efthimiou, S.-E. Fotinea, T. Hanke, J. A. Hochgesang, J. Kristoffersen, & J. Mesch (Eds.), Proceedings of the LREC2020 9th Workshop on the Representation and Processing of Sign Languages: Sign Language Resources in the Service of the Language Community, Technological Challenges and Application Perspectives (pp. 224–230). European Language Resources Association (ELRA). https://www.sign-lang.uni-hamburg.de/lrec/lrec/pubs/20038.pdf

2019

Hochgesang, J. A. (2019, December 6). Sign Language Description: A Deaf Retrospective and Application of Best Practices from Language Documentation [Opening keynote presentation]. The 8th Meeting of Signed and Spoken Language Linguistics, National Museum of Ethnology, Minpaku, Osaka, Japan. https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.13393427.v1 (Twitter thread)

Hochgesang, J. A. (2019, March). Inclusion of Deaf Linguists and Signed Language Linguistics. Invited Panel Presentation at Georgetown University Roundtable (GURT) 2019 – Linguistics and the Public Good, Georgetown University, DC

Deaf Linguists and Signed Language Linguistics – GURT 2019

Hochgesang, J. A. and A. Becker. (2019). Absence of reduplication in American Sign Language nominal plural morphology. Conference Poster presented at TISLR13, the 13th Conference of Theoretical Issues in Sign Language Research, Hamburg, Germany (September 26-28, 2019). https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.9876698.v1

Hochgesang, J. A., D. Catt, D. Chen Pichler, C. Goodwin, C. Kennedy, L Prunier, D. Simons, and D. Lillo-Martin. (2019). Sign Language Acquisition, Annotation, Archiving and Sharing: The SLAAASh Project Status Report. Conference Poster presented at TISLR13, the 13th Conference of Theoretical Issues in Sign Language Research, Hamburg, Germany (September 26-28, 2019). https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.9742529

Hochgesang, J. A., R. Treviño, J. Willow, & E. Shaw.  (2019, March). “Gallaudet University Documentation of ASL (GUDA) – Documentation IS Representation”. Presentation at Georgetown University Roundtable (GURT) 2019 – Linguistics and the Public Good, Georgetown University, DC.

GUDA at GURT (2019)

Hochgesang, J. A. & Guity, A. (2019, July). Ethical concerns of sign language work with the Deaf communities: One Deaf Iranian man’s journey from researched to researcher. Presentation at the XVIII World Congress of the World Federation of the Deaf “Sign Language Rights for All”.

Hochgesang, J A., J Willow, R Treviño, and E Shaw. (2019). Gallaudet University Documentation of ASL (GUDA): Whither a Corpus for ASL? Conference Poster presented at TISLR13, the 13th Conference of Theoretical Issues in Sign Language Research, Hamburg, Germany (September 26-28, 2019). 

2018

Fisher, J., J.A. Hochgesang, M. Tamminga. (2018). The historical and social context of the Philadelphia ASL Community. Sign Language Studies 18(3), 429-460.

Hochgesang, J.A. (2018). SLAAASh and the ASL Deaf Communities (or “so many gifs!”) In Involving the Language Community: Proceedings of the 8th Workshop on the Representation and Processing of Sign Languages. Ed by E. Efthimiou, E. Fotinea, T. Hanke, J. Hochgesang, J. Kristoffersen, & J. Mesch (Eds). 63-68. 11th International Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation, LREC 2018, Miyazaki, Japan. Paris. ELRA.

Hochgesang, J.A., O. Crasborn, D. Lillo-Martin. (2018). Building the ASL Signbank: Lemmatization Principles for ASL. Poster presented at the 8th Workshop on the Representation and Processing of Sign Languages. 11th International Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation, LREC 2018, Miyazaki, Japan. May 12, 2018. (And paper for workshop proceedings)

2017

Hamilton, H. & J.A Hochgesang. (2017, July). Is the Philadelphia American Sign Language (ASL) variety a real thing? Perceived lexical frequency and comprehension of ASL signs by Philadelphian and Non-Philadelphian ASL users. Poster presented at the workshop “Corpus-based approaches to sign language linguistics: Into the second
decade”, 9th International Corpus Linguistics Conference, University of
Birmingham, UK, July 24-28, 2017.

Hochgesang, J.A. (2017, October 9). Making sense of real data: Considering usage-based approaches during the analysis of lemmas in ASL data. Opening conference presentation for “SIGN8 International Conference for Sign Language Users”. Oct 9-12, 2017. Florianópolis, SC, Brazil, Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina.

Hochgesang, J.A. (2017, October 11). Ethics of working with signed language communities. Invited workshop lecture for “SIGN8 International Conference for Sign Language Users”. October 9-12, 2017. Florianópolis, SC, Brazil, Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina.

Hochgesang, J.A. O. Crasborn, & D. Lillo-Martin. (2017, July 24). Building the American Sign Language (ASL) SignBank on the Shoulders of Giants. Poster presented at the workshop “Corpus-based approaches to sign language linguistics: Into the second decade”, 9th International Corpus Linguistics Conference, University of Birmingham,  UK, July 24-28, 2017.

2016

Fisher, J.N., J. Hochgesang, & M. Tamminga. (2016). Examining Variation in the Absence of a ‘Main’ ASL Corpus: The Case of the Philadelphia Signs Project. Proceedings of the 7th Workshop on the Representation and Processing of Sign Languages: Corpus Mining. 75-80. LREC, Portorož, Slovenia, May 28 2016.

Hochgesang, J.A. & M. Miller. (2016). A Celebration of Dictionary of American Sign Language (1965) fifty years later. Sign Language Studies, 16 (4), 563-591.

Sanjabi, A., & A. Behmanesh, A. Guity, S. Siyavoshi, M. Watkins & J. A. Hochgesang. (2016). Zaban Eshareh Irani (ZEI) and its fingerspelling system. Sign Language Studies, 16(4), 500-534.

2015

Hochgesang, J.A. (2015). Ethics of researching signed languages: The case of Kenyan Sign Language (KSL). In A.C. Cooper & K.K. Rashid (Eds.), Signed Languages in Sub-Saharan Africa: Politics, citizenship and shared experiences of difference, 11-30. Washington, DC : Gallaudet University Press.

2014

Hochgesang, J. (2014). Using design principles to consider representation of hand in notation systems. Sign Language Studies 14(4), 488-542.

2013

Hochgesang, J.A. (2013). Is that a Y or a … ? Representation of hand configuration data in different notation systems for child acquisition of ASL. Dissertation. Gallaudet University.

2012

Fanghella, J., Geer, L., Henner J., Hochgesang, J.A., Lillo-Martin D., Gaurav, G., Mirus, G., & Pascual-Villaneuva, P. (2012). Linking an ID-gloss database of ASL with child language corpora. Proceedings of the 5th Workshop on the Representation and Processing of Sign Languages: Interactions between Corpus and Lexicon. 57-62. LREC, Instabul, May 2012.

2010

Alkoby, K., Bernath, J., Hochgesang, J, Mirus, G., Pascual, P. (2010, Sept). Construction of an ID gloss database for American Sign Language. Poster session at the Theoretical Issues of Sign Language Research 10 at Purdue University, Indiana, Sept 30-Oct 2, 2010.

Chen Pichler, D., Hochgesang, J.A., Lillo-Martin, D., & de Quadros, R. (2010). Conventions for sign and speech transcription in child bimodal bilingual corpora. Languages, Interaction and Acquisition, 1(1), 11-40.

Hochgesang, J.A., Pascual Villanueva, P., Mathur, G., Lillo-Martin, D. (2010). Building a database while considering research ethics in sign language communities. Proceedings of the 4th Workshop on the Representation and Processing of Sign Languages: Corpora and Sign Language Technologies. 112-116. LREC, Malta, May 22-23, 2010.

Hochgesang, J.A., & Whitworth, C. (2010, September). “Phonetics, Phonology and Transcription Practices in ASL” Presented at “Contributions to Corpus and Applied Linguistics” session at the Theoretical Issues of Sign Language Research 10 at Purdue University, Indiana, Sept 30-Oct 2, 2010.

2009

Chen Pichler, D. & Hochgesang, J.A.. (2009). An overview of possessives and existentials in American Sign Language. In U. Zeshan and P. Perniss (eds;) Possessive and existential constructions in sign languages. Sign Language Typology Series No. 2. Nijmegen: Ishara Press.

Hochgesang, J.A. (2009, July 25). Is there a sentence in ASL? Insights on segmenting data in ASL. Presented at the Sign Language Corpora: Linguistic Issues workshop at University College London, London, England, July 24-25, 2009. Slides.

Hochgesang, J.A. (2009, July 24). “Is that a “Y” or an “U<EE< 1FE< 2FE< 3Ee<4hE”? Preliminary observations on how hand configuration data is represented in different notation systems”. PosterSign Language Corpora: Linguistic Issues workshop at University College London, London, England, July 24-25, 2009.

2008

Hochgesang, J.A. (2008, March 14 to 6). “Us and them: Construction of identity in a protester’s ASL vlogs”. Presentation in colloquium, Deaf Political Rhetorical Colloquium: How ASL Users Construct Identities – Theirs and Others, for the annual meeting of Georgetown University Roundtable, Telling Stories: Building Bridges Among Language, Narrative, Identity, Interaction, Society, and Culture.

2006

Hochgesang (old married name – Guberman), J.A. (2006, Dec 7 and 8). Exploring the language contact situation between deaf and hearing in Kenya. Poster presented at the Theoretical Issues in Sign Language Research 9 Meeting, Florianopolis, Brazil.

Language Documentation Archives or Products

Hochgesang, J.A., O. Crasborn, and D. Lillo-Martin. (2015-2020) ASL Signbank. New Haven, CT: Haskins Lab, Yale University. https://aslsignbank.haskins.yale.edu/

Hochgesang, J.A. & K. McAuliff (2016). An initial description of the Deaf community in Haiti and Haitian Sign Language (LSH). Sign Language Studies, 16 (2), 227-294.
(Also see LSHDoP YouTube Playlist)

Examples of videos in LSHDoP data set


Figshare Collections 

The Dropbox Showcases I used to manage were discontinued January 2021. I’ve tried tracking down all the places I used Dropbox Showcase to share my content. If you find a link that doesn’t work, let me know! So I’ve switched to using Figshare Collections (not as pretty but much more reliable!). Here are all of my collections:

SLAAASh (Figshare Collection)
ASL Signbank (Figshare Collection)
DeafLing (see link here on my website)
GUDA (Figshare Collection)

Media
Mjitoleaji Productions. (2004). Kenyan Sign Language Dictionary Interactive CD-ROM. Mjitoleaji Productions: Kenya.

Mental Floss. (2017, September 7). Do sign languages have accents?. Retrieved from: facebook (Julie A. Hochgesang – narrator, producer)

Do sign languages have accents?

Here is an informal site that I started with video examples of the content I cover in my classes. http://juliehochgesang.wix.com/sillx

Manuals
Hochgesang, J.A. (Last updated June 2013) Transcription Guide to Sign Language Research, produced for students in my classes. Available here

Hochgesang, J.A. (Last updated June 2013) ELAN: A Quick Guide, produced for students in my classes and workshops (Most recent version available here)

Hochgesang, J. (2015, updated 2016) SLAAASh ID Glossing Principles and Annotation Conventions. Ms., Gallaudet University and Haskins Laboratories.

Hochgesang, Julie (2018): Quick Guide to Stokoe Notation. figshare. Paper.