Cued Speech - Nature and Use

Nature and Use

Though to a hearing person, Cued Speech may look similar to signing, Cued Speech is not a sign language; nor is it a Manually Coded Sign System for a spoken language. Rather Cued Speech is a manual modality of communication for representing English at the phonological level (phonetics).

Within the United States, proponents of Cued Speech often discuss the system as an alternative to American Sign Language (ASL) and similar sign languages, although others note that it can be learned in addition to such languages. For the ASL using community, Cued Speech is a unique potential component for learning English as a second language. Within Bilingual-Bicultural models, Cued Speech does not borrow or invent signs from ASL, nor does CS attempt to change ASL syntax or grammar. Rather, CS provides an unambiguous model for language learning that leaves ASL intact.