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Manually Coded English (MCE)
Manually Coded English (MCE) refers to a variety of systems developed to represent English manually using signs. MCE is not a single system but a category or umbrella term for communication systems that use manual signs, cuing, and/or fingerspelling to represent spoken English. These systems were created in attempts to make English more accessible to Deaf individuals, especially in educational settings, by providing visual forms of the structure and vocabulary of spoken English.
Note to students: You do not need to learn or memorize the following information (unless required by your local teacher). The point is to simply understand that a number of non-ASL communication systems have been developed that are not natural languages such as ASL.
Most culturally Deaf people do not encourage the use of MCE but its existence continues in large part due to the decisions of Hearing teachers, parents, and administrators in schools where Deaf students attend. While MCE has its good points -- skilled ASL users generally consider MCE to be boring, time consuming, and laborious (takes a lot of extra work).
Here are some different types of Manually Coded English (MCE) systems:1. Signed English
A system that uses signs from American Sign Language (ASL) in English word order supplemented with additional markers to represent English grammatical structures.
2. Signing Exact English (SEE)
A highly detailed system that attempts to represent spoken English as closely as possible, including numerous initialized signs as well as grammatical markers such as verb endings, plurals, and other inflections.
3. Seeing Essential English (SEE 1)
An earlier version of SEE that emphasizes the representation of English at the morpheme level, using signs to represent root words and their affixes.
4. Linguistics of Visual English (LOVE)
A system that uses a combination of ASL signs and additional markers to represent English grammar and syntax. It emphasizes a direct representation of English structure.
5. Cued Speech
A visual system that uses handshapes and placements near the mouth to represent the phonemes of spoken English, helping with lip-reading and distinguishing similar-looking lip movements.
6. Rochester Method
A method where every English word is fingerspelled, providing a direct representation of the English language through manual spelling.
7. Pidgin Signed English (PSE)
A contact language that blends elements of ASL and English. It uses ASL signs in English word order but does not follow English grammar strictly, making it more of a bridge between ASL and English.
8. Conceptually Accurate Signed English (CASE)
A system that uses ASL signs in English word order but focuses on conveying the meaning (concepts) accurately rather than strictly following English grammatical rules.
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