Cued Speech is a modality for spoken languages developed by Dr. R. Orin Cornett at Gallaudet University in 1966. Cornett recognized that distinguishing features of spoken sounds were not available to deaf children and that lipreading was not reliable. He then devised manual signals that, when delivered with the information on the mouth, reintroduce distinguishing features so that all the building blocks of English are unambiguous in a visual channel. This means that deaf children have visual access to the phoneme stream of English.

Handshapes represent consonant phonemes. Placements and movements represent vowel phonemes. Cued Speech has been adapted to more than 50 languages and dialects.

While Cued Speech is the formal name of the system that Dr. Cornett developed, it does not represent speech. The cues do not show how we speak; that is, how we form consonants and vowels using our lips, tongue, and teeth.

Since we cue the phoneme stream, we are actually conveying language information at the most basic linguistic level.

Cues for American English

Vowels

Vowels in American English are represented by placements on the face or movements made from the side placement. 

Vowel Placement Cue	Vowel Phonemes	Examples
	This placement is used when there is no vowel follwoing a placement. For example, if one were to cue, "Shhhh!" The handshape for the consonant /ʃshshʃshshʃshsh/ would be held at the side placement.	--
	/ɚûrurɚûrurɚûrur/, /iēeeiēeeiēee/	dirty
	/ɔôawɔôawɔôaw/, /ɛěehɛěehɛěeh/, /uo͞oueuo͞oueuo͞oue/	small red shoe
	/ʊo͝oooʊo͝oooʊo͝ooo/, /æăaæăaæăa/, /ɪĭiɪĭiɪĭi/	look at it
	/əəəəəəəəə/, /ʌŭuhʌŭuhʌŭuh/	above
	/oʊōohoʊōohoʊōoh/, /ɑäahɑäahɑäah/	gross sock

Diphthongs

Consonants

Consonant phonemes are represented by the shape of the hand. One handshape can represent several phonemes as along as those phonemes look different on the mouth. In this way, the distinguishing features (of the hand in combination with the mouth) make every phoneme of English visually clear and unambiguous. 

Handshape Cue	Consonant Phonemes	Examples
	/ppppppppp/, /ddddddddd/, /ʒzhzhʒzhzhʒzhzh/	pirates dig treasure
	/kkkkkkkkk/, /vvvvvvvvv/, /ðt͟htHðt͟htHðt͟htH/, /zzzzzzzzz/	cows visit the zoo
	/rrrrrrrrr/, /sssssssss/, /hhhhhhhhh/	rattlesnakes hiss
	/ʍhwhwʍhwhwʍhwhw/, /bbbbbbbbb/, /nnnnnnnnn/	whales bite nails
	/ttttttttt/, /mmmmmmmmm/, /fffffffff/,	too many fish
	/ʃshshʃshshʃshsh/, /lllllllll/, /wwwwwwwww/	sheep love wool
	/ggggggggg/, /ʤjjʤjjʤjj/, /θththθththθthth/	gorilla jewel thief
	/jyyjyyjyy/, /ŋngngŋngngŋngng/, /ʧchchʧchchʧchch/	young children

Other terms to know:

• cued language - a language that is cued
• cued English/cued Spanish/cued Hebrew - a specific language that is cued
• spoken language - a language that is spoken (e.g., uses speech)
• signed language - a language that is signed
• written language - a language composed of orthographic symbols