Sign Language Recognition and Translation for Low-Resource Languages: Challenges and Pathways Forward

• URL: http://arxiv.org/abs/2605.12096v1
• Date: Tue, 12 May 2026 13:13:56 GMT
• Title: Sign Language Recognition and Translation for Low-Resource Languages: Challenges and Pathways Forward
• Abstract summary: Sign languages are natural, visual-gestural languages used by Deaf communities worldwide.<n>Over 300 distinct sign languages remain severely low-resource due to limited documentation, sparse datasets, and insufficient computational tools.<n>This systematic review synthesizes literature on sign language recognition and translation for under-resourced languages, using Azerbaijan Sign Language (AzSL) as a case study.
• Score: 0.0
• License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
• Abstract: Sign languages are natural, visual-gestural languages used by Deaf communities worldwide. Over 300 distinct sign languages remain severely low-resource due to limited documentation, sparse datasets, and insufficient computational tools. This systematic review synthesizes literature on sign language recognition and translation for under-resourced languages, using Azerbaijan Sign Language (AzSL) as a case study. Analysis of global initiatives extracts eight actionable lessons, including community co-design, dialectal diversity capture, and privacy-preserving pose-based representations. Turkic sign languages (Kazakh, Turkish, Azerbaijani) receive special attention, as linguistic proximity enables effective transfer learning. We propose three paradigm shifts: from architecture-centric to data-centric AI, from signer-independent to signer-adaptive systems, and from reference-based to task-specific evaluation metrics. A technical roadmap for AzSL leverages lightweight MediaPipe-based architectures, community-validated annotations, and offline-first deployment. Progress requires sustained interdisciplinary collaboration centered on Deaf communities to ensure cultural authenticity, ethical governance, and practical communication benefit.

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