Manually coded English

Manually Coded English (MCE) is an umbrella term referring to a number of invented manual codes intended to visually represent the exact grammar and morphology of spoken English. Different codes of MCE vary in the levels of adherence to spoken English grammar, morphology, and syntax. MCE is typically used in conjunction with direct spoken English.

Manually coded English systems

Manually coded English (MCE) is the result of language planning efforts in multiple countries, especially the United States in the 1970s. Four systems were developed in attempts to represent spoken English manually; Seeing Essential English (also referred to as Morphemic Signing System (MSS) or SEE-1), Signing Exact English (SEE-2 or SEE), Linguistics of Visual English (LOVE), or Signed English (SE). System developers and educators disagree on the relative accuracy and appropriateness of these four representations. MCE is different from American Sign Language, which is a natural language with a distinct morphology, lexicon, and syntax. Rather, North American varieties of MCE borrow some lexical items of American Sign Language (although meanings and morphology may be significantly constrained or altered) while attempting to strictly follow English morphology, syntax, and word order. Deaf sign languages make use of non-sequential morphology, spatial relationships, facial expression, and body positioning, while MCE does not take advantage of Deaf sign language features which do not exist in spoken English, with a "spatially restricted, sequential structure along with a strict word order".

Use in communication

Although some research suggests that experience can improve the degree to which the information coded in English (morphologically as well as syntactically) is successfully communicated manually, especially by learners who are hearing and/or already fluent in spoken English, multiple studies have identified a number of potential concerns about the use of MCE systems in place of a natural language.