Understanding the differences between BSL and SSE is crucial as they contribute to both the diversity of deaf and hard-of-hearing people in the UK and to the continuing campaign for BSL to gain legal status as a language.
Firstly, SSE does not require a separate qualification. It is not itself a language, but a communication system where individual signs are synchronised with spoken and colloquial English patterns.
BSL As A Visual-Gestural Language
In contrast, BSL is a visual-gestural language with a syntax and grammar that differs structurally from English and can be taught at four nationally-recognised levels of qualification. The highest level – Level 4 – is split in two parts, one of which focuses specifically on interpreting skills. (Levels 1, 2 and 3 do not teach BSL interpreting skills.)
The issues surrounding SSE are complex. Some deaf people whose first or preferred language is BSL resent SSE because of the way it overlooks the cultural values that BSL promotes. They point out that lip-reading and listening – which are incorporated in SSE –are not components of BSL, and that any lip shapes that might appear do so only as part of a BSL facial expression, not as an attempt at pronunciation.
SSE and Mainstream Preconceptions
They have good reason for this resentment. SSE also happens to meet external preconceptions of what constitutes a formal sign language, possibly due to the on-going misguided assumption that sign only exists to help deaf people to speak.
Yet, for decades, deaf people attending deaf schools, or deaf support units within mainstream schools, have been educated in SSE – a residue of what used to be called the Total Communication Method because of its combination of sign, gesture, lip-reading, written notes and the spoken word. Often, when they leave school, this results in them either
- using SSE as their main communication method
- alternating between BSL and SSE, depending on the company they keep
- using the occasional sign or gesture to aid spoken pronunciation
Many continue to use it as a means of gaining access to a higher level of English. In such cases, it reflects their view of English as their first language. It is this that deaf campaigners believe complicates the BSL cause, and prolongs efforts to preserve the language’s purity.
BSL interpreters also develop an ability to use elements of SSE for those who require it as a matter of course. It should be stressed that this is not widely advertised, however, as again some feel this risks placing SSE in the same league as BSL. Instead, it is provided at the personal discretion of the deaf client.
