Manually Coded English

Manually coded English (MCE) is a variety of visual communication methods expressed through the hands which attempt to represent the English language. Unlike deaf sign languages which have evolved naturally in deaf communities, the different forms of MCE were artificially created, and generally follow the grammar of English.

MCE can be used with simultaneous communication – speaking and signing at the same time. This is not possible with, for example, American Sign Language, because it has a very different grammar (including word order) than English. Deaf sign languages make use of spatial relationships, facial expression, and body positioning, while MCE tends to be a linear and purely manual communication system, not to be confused with a language.

Comprehensibility of such simultaneously produced MCE has, however, been shown to be compromised in practice. While experience can improve the degree to which the information coded in English (morphologically as well as syntactically) is successfully communicated manually, there appear to be limits, and attempting to code everything (as required by the more "rigorous" manual coded like SEE) for more than very brief messages is extremely taxing on the person communicating simultaneously.

In English-speaking countries, it is common for users of Deaf sign languages to code-switch into a form of MCE when conversing with someone whose dominant language is English, or when quoting something from English. MCE is also sometimes favored by hearing people, for whom a manual version of their own language is much easier to learn than a deaf sign language.

The different forms of manually coded English were originally developed for use in the education of deaf children, as their literacy in written English has been typically low compared to their hearing peers. This educational method was popularised by Abbé Charles-Michel de l'Epee who in the 1790s developed a method using hand-signs to teach a form of the French language to deaf children. Education is still the most common setting where manually coded English is used; not only with deaf students, but also children with other kinds of speech or language difficulties.

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