Signing Exact English

Signing Exact English (SEE-II, sometimes Signed Exact English) is a system of manual communication that strives to be an exact representation of English vocabulary and grammar. It is one of a number of such systems in use in English-speaking countries. It is related to Seeing Essential English (SEE-I), a manual sign system created in 1971, based on the morphemes of English words. SEE-II models much of its sign vocabulary from American Sign Language (ASL), but modifies the handshapes used in ASL in order to use the handshape of the first letter of the corresponding English word. The four components of signs are handshape (static or dynamic), orientation (the direction of the palm), location (where the sign is performed relative to the body), and movement (trajectory shape, trajectory size, direction of motion, and planar orientation).

Before 1970, children who were deaf had access to "oral-only" educations, where teachers and other adults did not use sign in the classroom. Around the early 1970s, sign began to be used more as an educational tool in "total communication" classrooms. ASL had only recently been recognized as a language and forms of manually coded English had just been invented. Three main reasons served as grounds for the invention of Manually Coded English, Signing Exact English (SEE), in particular. At the time, there was dissatisfaction with the levels of educational achievement of deaf children, as difficulties with syntax and morphology were impacting their writing skills. In addition, a discrepancy between hearing and deaf children in regards to knowledge of normal language development was noted. Lastly, concerns rose in regards to speech reading and the ambiguities of relying solely on speech reading. With growing concern over the low levels of literacy and other academic skills attained by the majority of deaf students, manually coded sign systems began to develop. The first manual English System (SEE-I) was developed by David Anthony, a deaf teacher, with input from other deaf educators as well as parents of deaf children. This is known today as the Morphemic Sign Systems (MSS). This system was viewed as inadequate by other members of Anthony's team and Gerilee Gustason, a deaf woman and deaf educator, along with other members of the original SEE-I team developed SEE-II. SEE-II was devised to give Deaf and hard of hearing children the same English communicative potential as their typically hearing peers. First published in 1972 by Gustasen, Pfetzing, and Zawolkow, SEE-II matches visual signs with the grammatical structure of English. Unlike ASL, which has its own unique grammar system, SEE-II is an exact visual model of spoken English and allows children with hearing loss to access grammatically correct English, just as all hearing children receive in educational settings. SEE employs English word order, the addition of affixes and tenses, the creation of new signs not represented in ASL and the use of initials with base signs to distinguish from English synonyms. SEE-II is available in books and other materials. SEE-II includes roughly 4,000 signs, 70 of which are common word endings or markers. In comparison to Signed English, SEE-II involves more advanced motoric and cognitive functions.

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