The two-day workshop titled “Sign Language Grammars, Parsing Models & the Brain”, held 6–7 November 2025 at the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences in Leipzig (Germany) convened an international group of sign language researchers to explore the intersections and recent advances in theoretical linguistic analyses, parsing models, and neuroscientific research on sign languages.
With more than 60 participants from Germany, across Europe, as well as North America and Asia on site and online, the event brought together leading scholars in sign language linguistics, psychology, and neuroscience. Invited presenters included Carlo Cecchetto, David P. Corina, Karen Emmorey, Vadim Kimmelman, Rachel I. Mayberry, and Marloes Oomen.
The workshop’s core aim was to foster dialogue across theoretical and empirical traditions, asking key questions such as:
• To what extent do current grammatical frameworks capture the visuo-spatial modality of sign languages?
• How do formal grammatical approaches relate to psycholinguistic and neurolinguistic findings in sign-language processing?
• What contributions do sign-language studies offer to our general understanding of human language capacity, beyond modality-specific phenomena?
The agenda included presentations, a poster session, and two round-table discussions designed to promote exchange across disciplines. English and International Sign were the official languages of the workshop, whereas interperting was provided for all sessions.
Highlights included insightful contributions on the role of non-manual components (such as facial expressions and body posture) in grammatical theory and how they can be captured using contemporary comuter vision techniques, discussions of iconicity and visuo-spatial structure in sign languages and how these challenge or refine standard parsing models also but not only due to the simultaneous expression of linguistic information in the visuo-spatial modality, as well as explorations of how parsing models, computer vision methods, and neurocognitive approaches may accommodate the unique (i.e. modality-specific) features of sign languages.
The workshop concluded by highlighting several key directions for future research. Several participants emphasised the importance of understanding and accurately modelling simultaneity—a defining characteristic of sign languages that challenges traditional sequential approaches to linguistic structure. Discussions also underscored the growing integration of computer vision techniques across diverse areas of sign-language research, from data collection to analysis and modelling. Finally, there was broad agreement on the need for basic research to maintain its link and relevance for Deaf communities, as well as for collaborative efforts in the form of multi-centre studies to increase sample sizes and aptly capture the diversity of signing communities.
For further information about the workshop, including the full programme and the abstracts of all presenters, please visit the official website: https://sign-language-grammars-parsers-brain.github.io