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'''Manually Coded Languages''' (MCLs) are representations of spoken languages in a gestural-visual form; that is, "sign language" versions of spoken
==History==
There are many forms of Manually Coded Languages, the oldest known being the [[manual alphabet]]s used in the middle ages (and possibly earlier) in Europe, which encoded a different hand sign for each letter of the [[Latin alphabet]]. Modern MCLs can be traced to the [[Abbé de l'Épée]] in [[18th century]] France, but the real proliferation of such systems occurred in the latter half of the [[20th century]]. Many of these systems ("[[Signed English]]", "Signed German" and so on) share the approach of taking signs ("[[lexicon]]") from the deaf community [[sign language]], adding specially-created signs (often using "initialisations"), and building them into a representation of the spoken language. Thus "Signed English" in America (based on [[American Sign Language|ASL]]) has a lexicon quite different to "Signed English" in the UK (based on [[British Sign Language|BSL]]), as well as the Signed Englishes of Ireland, Australalasia and South Africa.▼
The oldest known attempts to represent a spoken language on the hands are the [[manual alphabet]]s used in [[medieval Europe]] which designated a different hand sign for each letter of the [[Latin alphabet]] (see [[manual alphabet]]). Such systems began to be used in deaf education from the [[17th century]].
A significant innovation was introduced by the [[Abbé de l'Épée]], an educator from [[18th century]] France who founded the world's first known public school for deaf students. Épée recognised that the Deaf community used their own sign language, but thought it must be primitive, and set about designing a complete visual-gestural system to represent the concepts of religion and law that he wanted to impart to his pupils. His system of ''signes méthodiques'' (known in English as "Methodical Signs") wasn't a strict representation of French, but its success laid the groundwork for modern Manually Coded Languages (especially the "signed spoken languages" — see below).
Another system that has been adapted for many languages is [[Cued Speech]], which is more of a manual supplement to [[lipreading]] than a full Manually Coded Lanugage. Cued Speech uses a limited number of handshapes and locations near the mouth to differentiate between sounds not distinguishable from on the lips.▼
The real proliferation of such systems occurred in the latter half of the [[20th century]], and by the [[1980s]], "signed spoken languages" were the dominant form of communication used by teachers and interpreters in classrooms with deaf students in many parts of the world.
The emerging [[recognition of sign languages]] in recent times has curbed the growth of Manually Coded Languages, and in many places, interpreting and educational services now favor the use of the natural sign languages of the Deaf community. A contemporary attempt to develop a MCL is [[Arabic Sign Language]].
The use of MCLs is controversial, and has been opposed since Épée's time by "[[oralism|oralists]]" who believe Deaf people should speak, lipread and use [[hearing aids]] rather than sign — and on the other side, from defenders of [[Deaf culture]] who resist attempts to supplant their community language with the language of the dominant (Hearing) culture. The Deaf community tend to find MCLs "unnatural" and "cumbersome", but elements of these systems have also had an influence on deaf sign languages (see [[Contact Sign]]).
Some MCL systems have survived by shifting their focus from deaf education to people with other kinds of commiunication needs.
==Major approaches==
There have been many different approaches to manually coding spoken languages. Some consist of [[fingerspelling]] everything, a technique sometimes known in English as the "Rochester method" after Rochester School for the Deaf in [[New York]] where it was used from [[1878]] until the [[1940s]]. While most MCLs are slower than spoken or sign languages, this method is especially so, and in modern times is generally considered not to be accessible to children. However, some [[deafblind]] people still communicate primarily using this method.
A unique system that was widespread in British deaf education from the [[1960s]] to the [[1980s]] is the [[Paget Gorman Sign System]]. Developed in Britain 1930s, it uses 37 basic signs and 21 standard hand postures to represent a large vocabulary of English words, word endings and verb tenses.
===Signed spoken languages===
▲
===Cued Speech===
▲Another popular system that has been adapted for many languages is [[Cued Speech]], which is more of a manual supplement to [[lipreading]] than a full Manually Coded
==List of manually coded languages==
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**Signed Dutch (Netherlands)
**[[Flemish language|Flemish]]: Vlamisch met Gebaren ("Signed Dutch (Belguim)")
*[[English language|English]] (see [[Manually Coded English]]): The "[[Rochester Method]]" —
**[[American English]]: American [[Signed English]]; Seeing Essential English (SEE1); [[Signing Exact English]] (SEE2); Linguistics of Visual English (LOVE); Conceptually Accurate Signed English (CASE); [[Cued Speech]] (American English)
**[[Australian English]]: Australasian [[Signed English]]; [[Cued Speech]] (Australian English)
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* [[Russian language|Russian]]: Signed Russian
* [[Spanish language|Spanish]]: Signed Spanish
* [[Swedish language|Swedish]]: [[Tecknad svenska]], ("Signed Swedish"), developed in the 1970s but now largely out of use.
* [[Telugu language|Telegu]]: [[Cued Speech]] (Telegu)
* [[Thai language|Thai]]: [[Cued Speech]] (Thai)
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