Title: BANZ-FS: BANZSL Fingerspelling Dataset
Primary area: datasets and benchmarks
Keywords: Sign Language, BANZSL, Fingerspelling

Abstract: Fingerspelling plays a vital role in sign languages, particularly for conveying names, technical terms, and words not found in the standard lexicon. However, evaluation of two-handed fingerspelling detection and recognition is rarely addressed in existing sign language datasets—particularly for BANZSL (British, Australian, and New Zealand Sign Language), which share a common two-handed manual alphabet. To bridge this gap, we curate a large-scale dataset, dubbed BANZ-FS, focused on BANZSL fingerspelling in both controlled and real-world environments. Our dataset is compiled from three distinct sources: (1) live sign language interpretation in news broadcasts, (2) controlled laboratory recordings, and (3) diary vlogs from online platforms and social media. This composition enables BANZ-FS to capture variations in signing tempos and fluency across diverse signers and contents. Each instance in BANZ-FS is carefully annotated with multi-level alignment: video ↔ subtitles, video ↔ fingerspelled letters, and video ↔ target lexicons. In total, BANZ-FS includes over 35,000 video-aligned fingerspelling instances. Importantly, BANZ-FS highlights the unique linguistic and visual challenges posed by two-handed fingerspelling, including handshape coarticulation, self-occlusion, intra-letter variation, and rapid inter-letter transitions. We benchmark state-of-the-art models on the key tasks, including fingerspelling detection, isolated fingerspelling recognition, and fingerspelling recognition in context. Experimental results show that BANZ-FS presents substantial challenges while offering rich opportunities for BANZSL understanding and broader sign language technology. The dataset and benchmarks are available at BANZ-FS.