Eye-Gaze in Sign Language

The use of eye direction and movement as a grammatical and communicative feature in sign languages. In American Sign Language and other sign languages, eye-gaze serves multiple linguistic functions including indicating the location of referents in signing space, marking agreement between verbs and their arguments, signalling role shifts in narrative, and conveying important prosodic information. Eye-gaze is a critical component of sign language production and comprehension, and its absence or inaccuracy in sign language animations can significantly reduce understandability and naturalness.