Plains Indian Sign Language

Last updated
Plains Indian Sign Language
Plains Sign Talk
Plains Sign Language
First Nation Sign Language
Hand Talk
Sun Sign.jpg
Native toCanada, Mexico, USA
RegionCentral Canada and United States including the Great Plains and the Rocky Mountains region; northern Mexico
EthnicityVarious indigenous peoples of North America
Dialects
Petroglyphs & pictographs [3]
Official status
Recognised minority
language in
Recognised as official in courts, education and legislative assembly of Ontario. [4]
Language codes
ISO 639-3 psd
Glottolog plai1235
ELP Plains Indian Sign Language
Sign Languages of Turtle Island.svg
Map of the various sign languages spoken across Turtle Island, excluding Francosign languages. Plains Sign Language is labelled in red as Hand Talk
Extracts of the films taken during the 1930 Conference on PISL conservation, showing General Hugh L. Scott and signers from various tribes [5]
A 1900 newspaper illustration claiming to showcase several of the signs of Plains Indian Sign Language Plains Indian Sign Language - dec 28 1900.jpg
A 1900 newspaper illustration claiming to showcase several of the signs of Plains Indian Sign Language

Plains Indian Sign Language (PISL), also known as Hand Talk, Plains Sign Talk, [6] [7] Plains Sign Language, or First Nation Sign Language, [4] is an endangered [8] sign language common to the majority of Indigenous nations of North America, notably those of the Great Plains, Northeast Woodlands, and the Great Basin. It was, and continues to be, spoken across what is now central Canada, the central and western United States and northern Mexico. [9] This language was used historically as a lingua franca, notably for international relations, trade, and diplomacy; it is still used for story-telling, oratory, various ceremonies, and by deaf people for ordinary daily use. [10]

Contents

In 1885, it was estimated that there were over 110,000 "sign-talking Indians", including Blackfoot, Cheyenne, Sioux, Kiowa, and Arapaho. As a result of the European colonization of the Americas, most notably including American boarding and Canadian residential schools, the number of sign talkers has declined sharply. [11] However, growing interest and preservation work on the language has increased its use and visibility in the 21st century. [9] Historically, some have likened its more formal register, used by men, to Church Latin in function. [12] It is primarily used today by Elders and D/deaf citizens of Indigenous nations. [8]

Some D/deaf Indigenous children attend schools for the deaf and learn American Sign Language (ASL) having already acquired Plains Sign Language. [10] A group studied in 1998 were able to understand each other, though this was likely through the use of International Sign. [10] Jeffrey E. Davis, a leading linguist in documentation efforts, [8] hypothesizes that this contact, combined with potential contact with Martha's Vineyard Sign Language (another potential antecedent to ASL) may suggest that ASL descends in part from Plains Sign Language. [13] : 24–27 

Etymology

While there are many names for the language, Hand Talk is the preferred term in Indigenous communities. [14] The term is a calque of the language's own name for itself. [15] Other names for the language are used, like Plains Sign Talk and Plains Indian Sign Language (the latter favored exclusively in the United States), but these are erroneous as Hand Talk extends beyond the Great Plains into the Northeast Woodlands, the Great Basin, and beyond. Indeed, as McKay-Cody writes (2019), Hand Talk itself should be considered a family of closely related languages. [1]

Whilst the name "Hand Talk" is a direct translation from the language itself, each nation has their own word or name for Hand Talk in their respective oral languages:

History

Hand Talk's history is intimately associated with both ancient and recent petroglyphs of the continent, [3] however, little is known to academia about Plains Sign Talk's historical antecedents. The earliest records of contact between Europeans and Indigenous peoples of the Gulf Coast region in what is now Texas and northern Mexico note a fully-formed sign language already in use by the time of the Europeans' arrival there. [30] These records include the accounts of Cabeza de Vaca in 1527 and Coronado in 1541.

Signing may have started in the south of North America, perhaps in northern Mexico or Texas, and only spread into the Plains in recent times, though this suspicion may be an artifact of European observation. It is known that there is a complex of Maya sign languages called Meemul Chʼaabʼal or Meemul Tziij in the Kʼicheʼ language, [31] but it is unknown to what extent Meemul Tziij has affected Hand Talk.

The Northwest is home to Plateau Sign Language, which is either a single language or a family of sign languages spoken by the local nations. It is also unknown how associated Plateau Sign Language is with Hand Talk, but it is probable that they are related. Although it is still spoken, especially by the Ktunaxa, the Plateau nations historically shifted to using Chinook Jargon instead. [32]

In recent years, the Oneida Nation has taken steps to revive their sign language. Historically, the nations of the Northeast Woodlands, like the Haudenosaunee, spoke a variant of Hand Talk. [1] The Oneida Sign Language Project officially began in 2016, and more signs are being added to this day. [33] [34] [35]

Geography

Sign language use has been documented across speakers of at least 37 spoken languages in twelve families, [36] spread across an area of over 2.6 million square kilometres (1 million square miles). [10] [13] In recent history, it was highly developed among the Crow, Cheyenne, Arapaho and Kiowa, among others, and remains strong among the Crow, Cheyenne and Arapaho.

The various nations with attested use, divided by language family, are:

Melanie R. McKay-Cody, a Cherokee Deaf woman and Hand Talk speaker/researcher, motions that "Plains" Sign Language is actually a family of inter-related languages extending beyond the Great Plains. She breaks down the regional languages as: Northeast Hand Talk (including Oneida Sign Language), Plains Sign Language, Great Basin Sign Language (spoken, for example, by the Ute), and Southwest Hand Talk. She also notes a West Coast language spoken by the Chumash, and she advances the idea that Inuit Sign Language has some relation to this complex of manual North American Indigenous languages. Unmentioned is Coast Salish Sign Language. [2] Within each of these languages, she explains that nations will themselves have specific dialects, such as the Blackfoot. [1] [37]

Southwest Hand Talk is spoken by the Navajo, Hopi, Apache, and Pueblo peoples. However, amongst the Navajo and Keres people, there are two unrelated sign languages also spoken: Keresan Sign Language and, by a Navajo clan with a large number of deaf members, Navajo Family Sign. [38] [39] Likewise, Plateau Sign Language may or may not be related to Hand Talk.

Writing

Hand Talk's writing system is picture-writing in the form of petroglyphs, pictographs, and hieroglyphs. [3] [40] [41] [42] It is one of the few sign languages with a written form. As McKay-Cody writes (2019) of petroglyphic rock writing: "Although not necessarily linear, the pieces are pictographic narratives." [43] Cherokee-Greek author Thomas King dispels the myth that "all literature in the Americas [was only] oral" in his book The Truth About Stories, a Native Narrative. "In fact, pictographic systems (petroglyphs, pictographs, and hieroglyphics) were used by a great many [nations] to commemorate events and to record stories." [44]

Rock writing served a variety of purposes, from narratives to marking territory to locator signs akin to modern-day road signage, the latter of which would be to indicate water sources, trails through canyons, and flash-flood zone warnings. [45] As Hand Talk is a visual-spatial language, its writing is similarly non-linear and visual. [46] In a study on writing in Ute Country (Núuchi Tuvupu), [47] McKay-Cody points out that since the Hand Talk spoken in the Great Basin positions the past to the left and future to the right (as opposed to American Sign Language which positions the past and future as behind and in front of the signer, respectively), rock writing of the region often similarly represent narratives chronologically from left-to-right. [48] In contrast, Plains and Uto-Aztecan nations sign, and thus read and write, the past and future from right-to-left, such as the Lakota winter counts. [49] Elevation, size, and direction of individual petroglyphs also encode semantics such as temporal, spatial, and other concepts. [50] [51]

The logographic picture writing of Hand Talk blurs the lines between art and writing. Many signs were written in the way they were signed. For example, the word for "hungry" involves an upward-facing flat hand cutting across one's stomach. Written, its glyph is of a human with a line through their stomach. [52] However, deviating from the "standard" glyph, stylistic versions could also be drawn that are still readable to a Hand Talk speaker. [53]

Hand Talk was not isolated to petroglyphic rock writing. Anishinaabe wiigwaasabakoon and Lakota winter counts are examples of writings on birch bark scrolls and buffalo hides, respectively. It is unknown what relation, if any, Mi'kmaw hieroglyphs have with Hand Talk. During the era of colonization, Plains Sign Language was also written on paper. For example, a letter from the parents of an interned Kiowa student, Belo Cozad, was sent to Carlisle Indian School in Pennsylvania in 1890 from his parents. [54]

Phonology

Mallery PISL handshapes a-l.png
Mallery PISL handshapes m-y.png
Garrick Mallery's original 1880 handshape glossary [55]

La Mont West, working under the guidance of Alfred Kroeber and Charles F. Voegelin, was an early pioneer in not only the phonological analysis of Plains Sign Language but sign language phonology in general. In his unpublished dissertation, he developed a notation system and analysed Plains Sign Language as having eighty-two phonemes, which he called kinemes, each being able to be broken down further in terms of features. He analyzed signs as morphologically complex that others such as William Stokoe would analyze as monomorphemic, and many of his findings were later rediscovered. [56] His study of Plains Sign Language was taking place at the same time as Stokoe's seminal studies of ASL phonology. [13] : 85 

West analyzed Plains Sign Language as having non-isolable phonemes classified as handshapes, directions, referents, motions or motion-patterns, and dynamics. Four of these parallel the now widely recognized sign language parameters handshape, orientation, location, and movement, which arose out of Stokoe's and other researchers’ later work on a variety of sign languages. The fifth, dynamic, is unique to West's analysis, though it may be present in other sign languages as well. West argued that this analysis avoids the issue of having signs consisting of a single phoneme be composed of multiple morphemes: [57] : 5  [13] : 134–135  [58]

A phoneme cannot occur in isolation, although a morpheme may consist of only one phoneme. [57] : 6 

Dynamics

There are twelve dynamic phonemes, working similarly to suprasegmentals like stress or tone in that while every sign must be made with some speed or force, only certain ones are marked. Dynamics can either change the way another phoneme, like a handshape or motion, is realized, or modify the entire package or sub-package. [57] : 5, 15 

Phoneme-level dynamics

Motion dynamic
By default, the movement in a motion takes place at the elbow. A motion may be articulated at the wrist instead, in which case it is said to have an additional phoneme combined with it called the motion dynamic. If wrist movement is done in addition to another movement, the motion dynamic has been combined with a long extent dynamic. [57] : 37 
Stress

There are two phonemic stresses, tense and lax, as well as the default unmarked stress. When combined with a handshape, these correspond respectively to over- and underextension of the hand’s extended parts compared to the basic handshape.

With motions, they characterize the motion as either strong and fast or weak and slow. A motion can also combine with two stress dynamics, with one specifying the tension of a motion as either tense or light, and the other the speed. When no stress dynamic is present, motions default to an intermediate force and speed, and tension is irrelevant. [57] : 42 

Extent

The long and short phonemic extents represent lengths in a variety of contexts. With a referent, they specify that the hand is held far from or close to the referent, relative to the default distance.

With a motion, they specify the length of the motion as long or short, with the default length being mid-length. [57] : 42  Lengthening a motion moves the articulation from the elbow to the shoulder. [57] : 37 

They may also combine with a stress dynamic or another extent dynamic, in which case they exaggerate them.
Rounding or diphthongizing

This non-phonemic dynamic serves two purposes. It is used with the unrounded handshapes to generate the rounded handshapes, like how voicing can generate voiced consonants from unvoiced ones.

It can also be used to diphthongize any two directions to form a compromise direction midway between them, which West compared to doubly articulated consonants. He noted that while doubly articulated consonants are usually described as separate phonemes, the number of diphthongized pairs of directions in Plains Sign Language is too great to grant them all phonemic status. [57] : 39 

Package-level dynamics

Hand-specifiers
By default, a sign can be made with either hand, though the right hand is more common. However, a sign can also be specified as being left-handed, made symmetrically with both hands, made in parallel with both hands, or made in parallel with both hands alternating. [57] : 39 
Package-repeaters
A package can be repeated either exactly, progressively (starting where the last iteration ended), or erratically (with different, random directions each time). [57] : 40 

Phonotactics

The smallest executable unit under West's analysis is called the package, which he compared to the spoken syllable. A package must have exactly one nucleus, a handshape and a direction, notated PO. A sub-package is defined as a single, non-diphthongized direction and its associated non-direction phonemes. [57] : 70 

There are almost no restrictions on the co-occurrence of members of different phonemic classes within a package, especially between handshapes, directions, motion-classes, and dynamics. Since some referents are quite rare, it is difficult to tell whether there are limits to their combinatorial privileges. [57] : 18 

Clusters of multiple phonemes of the same class within a package are, in contrast, heavily restricted. Handshapes rarely cluster, referents never do, and clustering between dynamics is limited by sub-class and extremely infrequent. Motion-patterns can only form clusters of two, where one of the motion-patterns must be oscillation/vibration. [57] : 42  The phonemic class with the most combinatorial privilege is the direction; any two directions may be clustered using the diphthongizing dynamic. [57] : 18 

Phonological processes

The possible forms of signs are heavily constrained. [59] : 71  Most signs are one-handed, including all function signs, [60] : 11  and these one-handed signs can be divided into static signs or those with movement. Two-handed signs are limited to signs where both hands are still, where one hand stays still and the other moves, or where both hands move. When both hands move, they move together in either parallel or intersecting motion. [60] : 2–3  [13] : 96  The prevalence of one-handed signs in auxiliary sign languages like Plains Sign Language may be typological, as primary sign languages tend to prefer two-handed signs. [61]

These constraints parallel the Symmetry and Dominance Conditions later found in ASL. The Symmetry Condition requires that two-handed signs in which both hands move must be symmetrical in motion, while the Dominance Condition says that in two-handed signs involving two different handshapes, the passive hand is limited to certain movements and handshapes. [13] : 96  Preliminary analysis has shown that Plains Sign Language seems to adhere to these conditions, and also favours unmarked handshapes. [13] : 139–140 

West describes extensive allophony, the conditioning environments of which can be highly specific. [57] : 43 

Prosody

Users of Plains Sign Language show extensive prosodic structure, which West divided into syllable-like packages and sub-packages, word-like individual signs, sentence-like phrases, and paragraph-like utterances. Except for the package and in stark contrast to most deaf sign languages, where signs often flow freely into each other, the boundaries of each of these prosodic units are consistently marked with one of three junctures:

Paragraph-final juncture
The hands are crossed or folded over the lower stomach if standing, or in the lap if sitting.
Phrase-final juncture

The hands move partway towards the paragraph-final juncture position but recoil before reaching it.

Two variants have the hands clasped near the chest or, if sitting, the palms lightly touched to the thighs, though this variant is rarer. Either of the two variants can be made emphatic, in which case a strong and audible clap or slap is made instead. The emphatic variants are more common in the northern Plains dialects of Saskatchewan and northern Alberta.

Sign-final juncture
The hands recoil slightly toward the chest or shoulder, or alternatively, a slight pause is made. The pause variant may be a marker of casual conversation as opposed to what speakers described as a more elegant register.

The paragraph-final juncture exclusively marks the beginnings and ends of complete utterances, each having approximately the length and content of a paragraph. It may be dropped at the beginning of an utterance.

The paragraph- and phrase-final junctures can be used interchangeably between signs. The paragraph-final juncture is more frequently used to separate list items and complete, sentence-like ideas, while the phrase-final juncture is preferred after incomplete ideas or dangling clauses and is more likely to appear everywhere else.

Any signs not separated by either the paragraph- or phrase-final juncture are near-universally separated by the sign-final juncture, as well as packages within an open compound, where multiple signs are used as a unit to refer to some idea or thing. Paragraph- and phrase-final junctures are extremely rare within open compounds. The largest units not separated by a juncture at all are unit signs, which can be a single package, a package and a handshape or terminal referent, a repeated package, or a closed compound, where multiple signs form a new sign. [57] : 53–56 

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 McKay-Cody (2019), p. 29.
  2. 1 2 "Recognize Indigenous Sign Languages – Reconnaître les Langues des Signes Autochtones" (PDF). BC Hummingbird Society for the Deaf (BCHSD). 9 March 2019. Retrieved 9 March 2022.
  3. 1 2 3 McKay-Cody, Melanie R. (2019). Memory Comes Before Knowledge – North American Indigenous Deaf: Socio-Cultural Study of Rock/Picture Writing, Community, Sign Languages, and Kinship (Doctor of Philosophy thesis). Norman, Oklahoma: University of Oklahoma.
  4. 1 2 Recognition of Sign Language as an Official Language Act (Bill 273). Legislative Assembly of Ontario. 2007.
  5. ↑ "Indian Sign Language Council of 1930". 9 June 2012 – via www.youtube.com.
  6. ↑ "Language of the Month: Plains Indian Sign Language". The National Museum of Language. Retrieved 15 March 2025.{{cite web}}: |first1= missing |last1= (help)
  7. ↑ "Tribal Member Hopes to Revive Native Sign Language". Citizen Potawatomi Nation. Citizen Potawatomi Nation. Retrieved 15 March 2025.
  8. 1 2 3 Davis, Jeffery E. (2016). "Sign Language, Indigenous". In Gertz, Genie; Boudreault, Patrick (eds.). The SAGE Deaf Studies Encyclopedia. Vol. 1. SAGE Publications. pp. 783–786. ISBN   9781483346489.
  9. 1 2 Hilleary, Cecily (April 3, 2017). "Native American Hand Talkers Fight to Keep Sign Language Alive". Voice of America . Retrieved May 25, 2023.
  10. 1 2 3 4 McKay-Cody, Melanie Raylene (1998). "Plains Indian Sign Language: A comparative study of alternative and primary signers". In Carroll, Cathryn (ed.). Deaf Studies V: Toward 2000—Unity and Diversity. Washington DC: Gallaudet University Press. ISBN   1893891097.
  11. ↑ McKay-Cody (2019), p. 3.
  12. ↑ Neisser, Arden (1983). The Other Side of Silence. Gallaudet University Press. pp. 91–92. ISBN   9780930323646.
  13. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Davis, Jeffrey E. (2010), Hand talk: Sign language among American Indian nations, Cambridge UK: Cambridge University Press, ISBN   9780521690300
  14. ↑ McKay-Cody (2019), p. 27.
  15. ↑ McKay-Cody (2019), p. 31.
  16. ↑ Cowell, Andrew; Moss, Sr., Alonzo; C'Hair, William; C'Hair, Wayne (2012). Dictionary of the Arapaho Language (PDF). Ethete, Wyoming, USA: Northern Arapaho Tribe. p. 181. Retrieved 26 March 2025.
  17. ↑ "sign". Blackfoot Dictionary. Algonquian Dictionaries Project. Retrieved 26 March 2025.
  18. ↑ "e". Cheyenne Dictionary. Chief Dull Knife College. Retrieved 26 March 2025.
  19. ↑ "sign". Plains Cree Dictionary. Algonquian Dictionaries Project. Retrieved 26 March 2025.
  20. ↑ "language". Skiri Pawnee Dictionary. Institute for Indigenous Knowledge. Retrieved 26 March 2025.
  21. ↑ Chafe, Wallace. English–Seneca Dictionary (PDF). Onöndowa'ga:' Gawë:nö' (Seneca Language) Department. p. 149.
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  23. ↑ "sign language". Crow Language Consortium. Retrieved 26 March 2025.
  24. ↑ "language". Dakota Online Dictionary. Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate Dakotah Language Institute. Retrieved 25 March 2025.
  25. ↑ "sign language". Ho-Chunk Dictionary Online. Ho-Chunk Nation. Retrieved 25 March 2025.
  26. ↑ "sign". Assiniboine Dictionary. Institute for Indigenous Knowledge. Retrieved 26 March 2025.
  27. ↑ "sign language". The Stoney Dictionary. Stoney Education Authority. Retrieved 26 March 2025.
  28. ↑ "sign language". Comanche Dictionary. Comanche Language and Cultural Preservation Committee. Retrieved 26 March 2025.
  29. ↑ "wanawmanik(i)". Ute Dictionary Online. Ute Mountain Ute. Retrieved 25 March 2025.
  30. ↑ Wurtzburg, Susan; Campbell, Lyle (1995). "North American Indian Sign Language: Evidence of Its Existence before European Contact". International Journal of American Linguistics . 61 (2): 153–167. doi:10.1086/466249. ISSN   0020-7071. JSTOR   1265726. S2CID   144965865.
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  33. ↑ Oen, Carlos (13 September 2018). "Fighting to Save Indigenous Sign Languages". The Tyee. Retrieved 15 March 2025.
  34. ↑ Albert, Ashley (15 April 2018). "Oneida sign language created to connect deaf community with their culture". CBC. Retrieved 15 March 2025.
  35. ↑ "Oneida Sign Language". Oneida Language and Cultural Centre. Oneida Nation. Retrieved 15 March 2025.
  36. ↑ Davis, Jeffrey E. (2006). "A historical linguistic account of sign language among North American Indians". In Lucas, Ceil (ed.). Multilingualism and Sign Languages: From the Great Plains to Australia. Sociolinguistics in Deaf Communities. Vol. 12. Washington DC: Gallaudet University Press. pp. 3–35.
  37. ↑ "Language". Blackfoot Crossing Historical Park. Retrieved October 5, 2015.
  38. ↑ Supalla, Samuel J. (1992). The Book of Name Signs. DawnSignPress. p. 22. ISBN   9780915035304.
  39. ↑ Davis, Jeffrey; Supalla, Samuel (1995). "A Sociolinguistic Description of Sign Language Use in a Navajo Family". In Lucas, Ceil (ed.). Sociolinguistics in Deaf Communities. Vol. 1. Gallaudet University Press. pp. 77–106. ISBN   9781563680366.
  40. ↑ King, Thomas (2008). The Truth About Stories: A Native Narrative. Minneapolis: Univ. of Minnesota Press. p. 98. ISBN   978-0816646272.
  41. ↑ Martineau, LaVan (1973). The Rocks Begin to Speak. Las Vegas: KC Publications. ISBN   9780916122300.
  42. ↑ Patterson-Rudolph, Carol (1993). Petroglyphs & Pueblo Myths of the Rio Grande. Albuquerque: Avanu Publishing. ISBN   978-0936755137.
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  44. ↑ King, Thomas (2003). The Truth About Stories, a Native Narrative. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. p. 98. ISBN   978-0816646272.
  45. ↑ McKay-Cody (2019), p. 105.
  46. ↑ McKay-Cody (2019), p. 104.
  47. ↑ O’Meara, Sean; Hopkins, Maren P.; Spears, Michael C.; Ferguson, T. J. Ute Ethnographic and Ethnobotanical Research in the Bonita Peak Mining District (PDF). Anthropological Research, LLC (Report). Ignacio, Colorado, USA: Southern Ute Indian Tribe. p. 47. Retrieved 25 March 2025.
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  49. ↑ McKay-Cody (2019), p. 139.
  50. ↑ McKay-Cody (2019), p. 116.
  51. ↑ McKay-Cody (2019), p. 121.
  52. ↑ McKay-Cody (2019), p. 129.
  53. ↑ McKay-Cody (2019), p. 167.
  54. ↑ "Who put Native American sign language in the US mail?". OUPblog. Oxford University Press. May 9, 2018.
  55. ↑ Mallery 1881.
  56. ↑ Hulst, Harry van der (2022). "The (early) history of sign language phonology". In Dresher, B. Elan; Hulst, Harry van der (eds.). The Oxford History of Phonology. Oxford University Press. pp. 783–786. ISBN   9781483346489.
  57. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 West, La Mont (1960). The Sign Language, An Analysis (PhD thesis). Vol. I. Indiana University. ProQuest   301872594.
  58. ↑ Tree, Erich Fox (2009). "Meemul Tziij: An Indigenous Sign Language Complex of Mesoamerica". Sign Language Studies. 9 (3): 347. ISSN   0302-1475. JSTOR   26190558.
  59. ↑ Voegelin, C. F. (1958). "Sign Language Analysis, on One Level or Two?". International Journal of American Linguistics. 24 (1): 71–77. doi:10.1086/464434. ISSN   0020-7071. JSTOR   1264173. S2CID   143152073.
  60. 1 2 Kroeber, A. L. (1958). "Sign Language Inquiry". International Journal of American Linguistics. 24 (1): 1–19. doi:10.1086/464429. ISSN   0020-7071. JSTOR   1264168. S2CID   144797783.
  61. ↑ Etxepare, Ricardo; Irurtzun, Aritz (2021-05-10). "Gravettian hand stencils as sign language formatives". Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. 376 (1824). doi:10.1098/rstb.2020.0205. ISSN   0962-8436. PMC   8059529 . PMID   33745310.

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