The automatic recognition of sign language is an attractive prospect; the technology exists to make it possible, while the potential applications are exciting and worthwhile. To date the research emphasis has been on the capture and classification of the gestures of sign language and progress in that work is reported. However, it is suggested that there are some greater, broader research questions to be addressed before full sign language recognition is achieved. The main areas to be addressed are sign language representation (grammars) and facial expression recognition.