Towards a Theory of Use for Signed English: From Birth through Adulthood

A technique such as Signed English serves two general purposes. First, it can serve as a relatively complete model of English for a child who needs to learn that language. Second, it can be used as a vehicle to communicate information between individuals. The basic premise of this theory of use is that the first purpose, a relatively complete model of English, is more important to a child in the earliest years of life and becomes less important as the child gets older, when comfortable transmission of information becomes the more important purpose. I propose, therefore, that a more complete manual system be used with the youngest child and that, when a child has demonstrated mastery in any modality, i.e., speech (sound and/or lip formation), sign, reading or writing, the system can be made leaner. A leaner manual system can be obtained by: (a) systematic deletion of words and markers that can be readily inferred from the remainder of a sentence and (b) systematic substitutions of a single sign for two or more words.