Sign Language Among North American Indians 16

Sign Language Among North American Indians 16

When the Indians were asked whether, if they (the deaf-mutes) were to

come to the Ute country they would be scalped, the answer was given,

"Nothing would be done to you; but we would be friends," as follows:

 

The palm of the right hand was brushed toward the right over that of

the left (_nothing_), and the right hand made to grasp the palm of

the left, thumbs extended over and lying upon the back of the opposing

hand.

 

This was readily understood by the deaf-mutes.

 

Deaf-mute sign of milking a cow and drinking the milk was fully and

quickly understood.

 

The narrative of a boy going to an apple-tree, hunting for ripe fruit

and filling his pockets, being surprised by the owner and hit upon the

head with a stone, was much appreciated by the Indians and completely

understood.

 

A deaf-mute asked Alejandro how long it took him to come to Washington

from his country. He replied by placing the index and second finger of

the right hand astride the extended forefinger (others closed) of the

left; then elevating the fingers of the left hand (except thumb and

forefinger) back forward (_three_); then extending the fingers of both

hands and bringing them to a point, thumbs resting on palmar sides and

extended, placing the hands in front of the body, the tips opposite

the opposing wrist, and about four inches apart; then, revolving them

in imitation of _wheels_, he elevated the extended forefinger of

the left hand (_one_); then placing the extended flat hands, thumbs

touching, the backs sloping downward towards the respective right

and left sides, like the roof of a house; then repeating the sign of

wheels as in the preceding, after which the left hand was extended

before the body, fingers toward the right, horizontal, palm down and

slightly arched, the right wrist held under it, the fingers extending

upward beyond it, and quickly and repeatedly snapped upward (_smoke_);

the last three signs being _covered--wagon--smoke_, i.e., _cars_; then

elevating four fingers of the left hand (_four_).

 

_Translation_.--Traveled three days on horseback, one in a wagon, and

four in the cars.

 

The deaf-mutes understood all but the sign for wheel, which they make

as a large circle, with _one_ hand.

 

Another example: A deaf-mute pretended to hunt something; found birds,

took his bow and arrows and killed several.

 

This was fully understood.

 

A narrative given by Alejandro was also understood by the deaf-mutes,

to the effect that he made search for deer, shot one with a gun,

killed and skinned it, and packed it up.

 

It will be observed that many of the above signs admitted of and were

expressed by pantomime, yet that was not the case with all that were

made. President GALLAUDET made also some remarks in gesture which were

understood by the Indians, yet were not strictly pantomimic.

 

The opinion of all present at the test was that two intelligent mimes

would seldom fail of mutual understanding, their attention being

exclusively directed to the __EXPRESSION__ of thoughts by the means of

comprehension and reply equally possessed by both, without the mental

confusion of conventional sounds only intelligible to one.

 

A large collection has been made of natural deaf-mute signs, and also

of those more conventional, which have been collated with those of the

several tribes of Indians. Many of them show marked similarity, not

only in principle but often in detail.

 

* * * * *

 

The result of the studies so far as prosecuted is that what is

called _the_ sign language of Indians is not, properly speaking, one

language, but that it and the gesture systems of deaf-mutes and of

all peoples constitute together one language--the gesture speech of

mankind--of which each system is a dialect.

 

 

 

_TO WHAT EXTENT PREVALENT AS A SYSTEM._

 

The assertion has been made by many writers, and is currently repeated

by Indian traders and some Army officers, that all the tribes of North

America have long had and still use a _common_ and _identical_

sign language, in which they can communicate freely without oral

assistance. Although this remarkable statement is at variance with

some of the principles of the formation and use of signs set forth

by Dr. E.B. TYLOR, whose admirable chapters on gesture speech in his

_Researches into the Early History of Mankind_ have in a great degree

prompted the present inquiries, that eminent authority did not see fit

to discredit it. He repeats the report as he received it, in the words

that "the same signs serve as a medium of converse from Hudson Bay to

the Gulf of Mexico." Its truth or falsity can only be established by

careful comparison of lists or vocabularies of signs taken under test

conditions at widely different times and places. For this purpose

lists have been collated by the writer, taken in different parts of

the country at several dates, from the last century to the last month,

comprising together several thousand signs, many of them, however,

being mere variants or synonyms for the same object or quality, some

being repetitions of others and some of small value from uncertainty

in description or authority, or both.

 

 

ONCE PROBABLY UNIVERSAL IN NORTH AMERICA.

 

The conclusion reached from the researches made is to the effect

that before the changes wrought by the Columbian discovery the use of

gesture illustrated the remark of Quintilian upon the same subject

(l. xi, c. 3) that "_In tanta per omnes gentes nationesque linguæ

diversitate hic mihi omnium hominum communis sermo videatur._"

 

Quotations may be taken from some old authorities referring to widely

separated regions. The Indians of Tampa Bay, identified with the

Timucua, met by Cabeça de Vaca in 1528, were active in the use of

signs, and in his journeying for eight subsequent years, probably

through Texas and Mexico, he remarks that he passed through many

dissimilar tongues, but that he questioned and received the answers

of the Indians by signs "just as if they spoke our language and we

theirs." Michaëlius, writing in 1628, says of the Algonkins on or near

the Hudson River: "For purposes of trading as much was done by signs

with the thumb and fingers as by speaking." In Bossu's _Travels

through that part of North America formerly called Louisiana_,

_London_, 1771 (Forster's translation), an account is given of

Monsieur de Belle-Isle some years previously captured by the Atak-apa,

who remained with them two years and "conversed in their pantomimes

with them." He was rescued by Governor Bienville and was sufficiently

expert in the sign language to interpret between Bienville and the

tribe. In Bushmann's _Spuren_, p. 424, there is a reference to the

"Accocessaws on the west side of the Colorado, two hundred miles

southwest of Nacogdoches," who use thumb signs which they understand:

"_Theilen sich aber auch durch Daum-Zeichen mit, die sie alle

verstehen._"

 

Omitting many authorities, and for brevity allowing a break in the

continuity of time, reference may be made to the statement in Major

Long's expedition of 1819, concerning the Arapahos, Kaiowas, Ietans,

and Cheyennes, to the effect that, being ignorant of each other's

languages, many of them when they met would communicate by means

of signs, and would thus maintain a conversation without the least

difficulty or interruption. A list of the tribes reported upon by

Prince Maximilian von Wied-Neuweid, in 1832-'34, appears elsewhere

in this paper. In Frémont's expedition of 1844 special and repeated

allusion is made to the expertness of the Pai-Utes in signs, which is

contradictory to the statement above made by correspondents. The same

is mentioned regarding a band of Shoshonis met near the summit of the

Sierra Nevada, and one of "Diggers," probably Chemehuevas, encountered

on a tributary of the Rio Virgen.

 

Ruxton, in his _Adventures in Mexico and the Rocky Mountains_, _New

York_, 1848, p. 278, sums up his experience with regard to the Western

tribes so well as to require quotation: "The language of signs is

so perfectly understood in the Western country, and the Indians

themselves are such admirable pantomimists, that, after a little use,

no difficulty whatever exists in carrying on a conversation by such

a channel; and there are few mountain men who are at a loss in

thoroughly understanding and making themselves intelligible by signs

alone, although they neither speak nor understand a word of the Indian

tongue."

 

Passing to the correspondents of the writer from remote parts of

North America, it is important to notice that Mr. J.W. Powell, Indian

superintendent, reports the use of sign language among the Kutine,

and Mr. James Lenihan, Indian agent, among the Selish, both tribes

of British Columbia. The Very Rev. Edward Jacker, while contributing

information upon the present use of gesture language among the Ojibwas

of Lake Superior, mentions that it has fallen into comparative neglect

because for three generations they had not been in contact with

tribes of a different speech. Dr. Francis H. Atkins, acting assistant

surgeon, United States Army, in forwarding a contribution of signs

of the Mescalero Apaches remarks: "I think it probable that they have

used sign language rather less than many other Indians. They do not

seem to use it to any extent at home, and abroad the only tribes they

were likely to come into contact with were the Navajos, the Lipans

of old Mexico, and the Comanches. Probably the last have been almost

alone their visiting neighbors. They have also seen the Pueblos

a little, these appearing to be, like the Phoenicians of old, the

traders of this region." He also alludes to the effect of the Spanish,

or rather _lingua Mexicana_, upon all the Southern tribes and, indeed,

upon those as far north as the Utes, by which recourse to signs is now

rendered less necessary.

 

Before leaving this particular topic it is proper to admit that, while

there is not only recorded testimony to the past use of gesture

signs by several tribes of the Iroquoian and Algonkian families, but

evidence that it still remains, it is, however, noticeable that these

families when met by their first visitors do not appear to have often

impressed the latter with their reliance upon gesture language to the

same extent as has always been reported of the tribes now and formerly

found farther inland. An explanation may be suggested from the

fact that among those families there were more people dwelling near

together in communities speaking the same language, though with

dialectic peculiarities, than became known later in the farther West,

and not being nomadic their intercourse with strange tribes was less

individual and conversational. Some of the tribes, in especial the

Iroquois proper, were in a comparatively advanced social condition. A

Mohawk or Seneca would probably have repeated the arrogance of the old

Romans, whom in other respects they resembled, and compelled persons

of inferior tribes to learn his language if they desired to converse

with him, instead of resorting to the compromise of gesture

speech, which he had practiced before the prowess and policy of the

confederated Five Nations had gained supremacy and which was still

used for special purposes between the members of his own tribe. The

studies thus far pursued lead to the conclusion that at the time of

the discovery of North America all its inhabitants practiced sign

language, though with different degrees of expertness, and that

while under changed circumstances it was disused by some, others, in

especial those who after the acquisition of horses became nomads of the Great Plains, retained and cultivated it to the high development now attained, from which it will surely and speedily decay.