While at first glance, French Sign Language (LSF)and French Spoken Code (LFPC) appear to be the same, they are in fact quite different.

WHAT IS THE LSF? 

As we discussed in our previous article, French sign language is a language in its own right, mainly used on French territory (hence its name) by the deaf community. 

This one has its own grammar: the order of words is different from the oral French language.

On the other hand, it is composed of 4 signs: the iconic signs, dactylo logical, inspired by the French language (first letter + mime), and invented for particular words. 

The meaning of the signs depends on the shape of the gesture, the orientation of the hand, the position where the gesture is made at the level of the body, the movement of the hand but also of the shoulders and chest, and the expression of the face and the lip reading.

The LSF finds its origins in antiquity, before being developed in the Middle Ages by monks taking vows of silence.

It was actually applied and normalized in 1770 when Abbé Charles-Michel de l'Épée opened the first free school for the deaf in France.

There are more than a hundred sign languages, divided into different families according to their origin (French, British, Japanese, German, Arabic and isolated families).

WHAT IS THE LFPC? 

The French Spoken Composed Language or Cued Speech is a language: a communication tool that makes it possible to communicate between hearing and deaf or hearing impaired. 

It differs in the fact that it is not a complete language, but rather a code, allowing it to specify of the lip reading and to differentiate the lip duplicates.

Indeed, some phonemes (in other words sounds) are not detectable by the simple reading on the lips, this is particularly the case of sounds/b/, /m/ and/p/ which form the same labial movement, or the/k/, /gu/ and/r/ which are invisible. 

As a result, this language is commonly used to enable deaf children to learn and communicate in the oral and written French language. Indeed, thanks to it they can assimilate to the movements of the lips the sounds they cannot hear, and so recognize the words.

With lip-reading, only 30% of the message would be understood, but with LFPC we reach 95%.

In order to avoid confusion, the words are coded using only one hand, using the signs set up by the LFPC. Vowels are expressed by the position of the hand on the face, and consonants by the position of the fingers. 

However, to simplify the alphabet, there are only 5 positions on the face and 8 movements (see image).

Thus, different syllables can be coded in the same way. We must therefore use lip reading and the word as a whole to understand them.

Words are sectioned syllables by syllable using signs.

The LFPC is adapted from the Cued Speech invented by the American doctor R. Orin Cornett in 1966, to allow young Deaf people to learn the written and oral language more easily, before arriving in France ten years later. 

It was later adapted into 66 languages and dialects such as French, Chinese, Russian, Thai, Yoruba and six varieties of English.

It is suitable for all types of deafness but it is sometimes difficult to find interpreters.

To master it, you must also be able to speak and code at the same time.

What are the main differences?

His learning is quite fast and takes a dozen hours. However, it also requires regular training to assimilate it to use it fluently. 

Sign language, on the other hand, requires 12 levels of 30 hours to be mastered.

If both use signs, the LSF signs represent ideas, words and letters while the LFPC signs represent phonemes. It is also noted that the LSF can be done all around the upper part of the body, while the signs of LFPC are only in the face.

At OUispeak, we offer various interpretation solutions, including French sign language.

To learn more about our interpretation solutions, click here