Signed Exact English: A Brief Introduction

Late deafened adults often have trouble learning ASL due to the different grammar, and the fact that ASL does not model English exactly. Luckily there is Signed Exact English, or SEE, which can be easier for the people who become deaf later in life to learn.

SEE attempts to model English exactly, and it can come very close. It includes 14 "marker" words, which help replace the nuances of English and make the language easier to understand. The 14 markers, include: the possessives 's', the -ly, -y, a past participle form, and the verb form-ing, among others.

ASL often does not include words that may be important to the late deafened adult; words like he, she, it, and other small function words may be missing, and the signs for “pretty”, and “beautiful” are often the same. This can be very confusing for someone whose native language is English, and who wants to express themselves in sign language or needs others to. Signing Exact English can be a big help, since that is exactly what many late deafened people are trying to do, and Signed English, unlike ASL allows them to do it.

Signed English has an advantage over ASL for children as well. Many deaf children have difficulty learning to read because their native language is ASL, but they are being taught to read English. When deaf people are considered as a cultural /language group the problem here becomes more apparent. Deaf children are being taught to read a language they don't speak ! Signing Exact English and using the 14 sign markers it provides can provide a better model for these children and help them to learn to read English more easily.

ASL and Signing Exact English are two different languages and should be treated as such if you are learning to sign, while SEE borrows a lot of words from ASL, they are not the same. A person who learns SEE for themselves, may also want to learn ASL in order to talk to many deaf people whose native language it is.