Culture: Communication Modes of the Deaf Community
ASL- American Sign Language; the visual-gestural language used by the
North American Deaf community
Signed English- a visual representation of English on the hands using some
ASL signs and many created signs
Conceptually Accurate Signed English (CASE)- a language mixing of ASL
and English grammar using ASL signs (and some Signed English signs);
commonly used by second language learners; sometimes called Contact Sign
or Pidgin Signed English (PSE)
Cued Speech- a communication method that uses hand “cues” to assist in the
lipreading process
Lipreading- the practice of using visual cues from the face and mouth to
understand spoken language
Rochester Method- a signing method that focuses on fingerspelling and
lipreading
Manual Alphabet- the signed alphabet
Fingerspelling- the use of the manual alphabet to sign words
Culture- the shared attitudes, values, goals, beliefs, and history of a group of
people
Deaf Culture- the shared attitudes, values, goals, beliefs, and history of Deaf
people as a cultural group