Sign Language Among North American Indians 7

Sign Language Among North American Indians 7

The value of these digital arrangements is, however, shown by their

use among the modern Italians, to whom they have directly descended.

From many illustrations of this fact the following is selected. Fig.

61 is copied from Austin's _Chironomia_ as his graphic execution of

the gesture described by Quintilian: "The fore finger of the right

hand joining the middle of its nail to the extremity of its own thumb,

and moderately extending the rest of the fingers, is graceful in

_approving_." Fig. 62 is taken from De Jorio's plates and descriptions

of the gestures among modern Neapolitans, with the same idea of

approbation--"good." Both of these may be compared with Fig. 63, a

common sign among the North American Indians to express affirmation

and approbation. With the knowledge of these details it is possible to

believe the story of Macrobius that Cicero used to vie with Roscius,

the celebrated actor, as to which of them could express a sentiment

in the greater variety of ways, the one by gesture and the other by

speech, with the apparent result of victory to the actor who was so

satisfied with the superiority of his art that he wrote a book on the

subject.

 

[Illustration: Fig. 62.]

 

Gestures were treated of with still more distinction as connected

with pantomimic dances and representations. Æschylus appears to

have brought theatrical gesture to a high degree of perfection, but

Telestes, a dancer employed by him, introduced the dumb show, a dance

without marked dancing steps, and subordinated to motions of the

hands, arms, and body, which is dramatic pantomime. He was so great

an artist, says Athenæus, that when he represented the _Seven before

Thebes_ he rendered every circumstance manifest by his gestures alone.

From Greece, or rather from Egypt, the art was brought to Rome, and

in the reign of Augustus was the great delight of that Emperor and his

friend Mæcenas. Bathyllus, of Alexandria, was the first to introduce

it to the Roman public, but he had a dangerous rival in Pylades. The

latter was magnificent, pathetic, and affecting, while Bathyllus

was gay and sportive. All Rome was split into factions about their

respective merits. Athenæus speaks of a distinguished performer of his

own time (he died A.D. 194) named Memphis, whom he calls the "dancing

philosopher," because he showed what the Pythagorean philosophy could

do by exhibiting in silence everything with stronger evidence than

they could who professed to teach the arts of language. In the

reign of Nero, a celebrated pantomimist who had heard that the cynic

philosopher Demetrius spoke of the art with contempt, prevailed upon

him to witness his performance, with the result that the cynic, more

and more astonished, at last cried out aloud, "Man, I not only see,

but I hear what you do, for to me you appear to speak with your

hands!"

 

[Illustration: Fig. 63.]

 

Lucian, who narrates this in his work _De Saltatione_, gives another

tribute to the talent of, perhaps, the same performer. A barbarian

prince of Pontus (the story is told elsewhere of Tyridates, King of

Armenia), having come to Rome to do homage to the Emperor Nero, and

been taken to see the pantomimes, was asked on his departure by

the Emperor what present he would have as a mark of his favor. The

barbarian begged that he might have the principal pantomimist, and

upon being asked why he made such an odd request, replied that he had

many neighbors who spoke such various and discordant languages that he

found it difficult to obtain any interpreter who could understand

them or explain his commands; but if he had the dancer he could by his

assistance easily make himself intelligible to all.

 

While the general effect of these pantomimes is often mentioned, there

remain but few detailed descriptions of them. Apuleius, however,

in the tenth book of his _Metamorphosis_ or "Golden Ass," gives

sufficient details of the performance of the Judgment of Paris to

show that it strongly resembled the best form of ballet opera known

in modern times. These exhibitions were so greatly in favor that,

according to Ammianus Marcellinus, there were in Rome in the year 190

six thousand persons devoted to the art, and that when a famine raged

they were all kept in the city, though besides all the strangers all

the philosophers were forced to leave. Their popularity continued

until the sixth century, and it is evident from a decree of

Charlemagne that they were not lost, or at least, had been revived in

his time. Those of us who have enjoyed the performance of the original

Ravel troupe will admit that the art still survives, though not with

the magnificence or perfection, especially with reference to serious

subjects, which it exhibited in the age of imperial Rome.

 

Early and prominent among the post-classic works upon gesture is that

of the venerable Bede (who flourished A.D. 672-735) _De Loquelâ per

Gestum Digitorum, sive de Indigitatione_. So much discussion had

indeed been carried on in reference to the use of signs for the

desideratum of a universal mode of communication, which also was

designed to be occult and mystic, that Rabelais, in the beginning of

the sixteenth century, who, however satirical, never spent his force

upon matters of little importance, devotes much attention to it. He

makes his English philosopher, Thaumast "The Wonderful" declare, "I

will dispute by signs only, without speaking, for the matters are so

abstruse, hard, and arduous, that words proceeding from the mouth of

man will never be sufficient for unfolding of them to my liking."

 

The earliest contributions of practical value connected with the

subject were made by George Dalgarno, of Aberdeen, in two works, one

published in London, 1661, entitled _Ars Signorum, vulgo character

universalis et lingua philosophica_, and the other printed at Oxford,

1680, entitled, _Didascalocophus, or the Deaf and Dumb Man's

Tutor_. He spent his life in obscurity, and his works, though he was

incidentally mentioned by Leibnitz under the name of "M. Dalgarus,"

passed into oblivion. Yet he undoubtedly was the precursor of Bishop

Wilkins in his _Essay toward a Real Character and a Philosophical

Language_, published in London, 1668, though indeed the first idea was

far older, it having been, as reported by Piso, the wish of Galen that

some way might be found out to represent things by such peculiar signs

and names as should express their natures. Dalgarno's ideas respecting

the education of the dumb were also of the highest value, and though

they were too refined and enlightened to be appreciated at the period

when he wrote, they probably were used by Dr. Wallis if not by Sicard.

Some of his thoughts should be quoted: "As I think the eye to be as

docile as the ear; so neither see I any reason but the hand might be

made as tractable an organ as the tongue; and as soon brought to form,

if not fair, at least legible characters, as the tongue to imitate

and echo back articulate sounds." A paragraph prophetic of the late

success in educating blind deaf-mutes is as follows: "The soul can

exert her powers by the ministry of any of the senses: and, therefore,

when she is deprived of her principal secretaries, the eye and the

ear, then she must be contented with the service of her lackeys and

scullions, the other senses; which are no less true and faithful

to their mistress than the eye and the ear; but not so quick for

dispatch."

 

In his division of the modes of "expressing the inward emotions by

outward and sensible signs" he relegates to physiology cases "when

the internal passions are expressed by such external signs as have a

natural connection, by way of cause and effect, with the passion

they discover, as laughing, weeping, frowning, &c., and this way of

interpretation being common to the brute with man belongs to natural

philosophy. And because this goes not far enough to serve the rational

soul, therefore, man has invented Sematology." This he divides into

Pneumatology, interpretation by sounds conveyed through the ear;

Schematology, by figures to the eye, and Haptology, by mutual

contact, skin to skin. Schematology is itself divided into Typology or

Grammatology, and Cheirology or Dactylology. The latter embraces

"the transient motions of the fingers, which of all other ways of

interpretation comes nearest to that of the tongue."

 

As a phase in the practice of gestures in lieu of speech must be

mentioned the code of the Cistercian monks, who were vowed to silence

except in religious exercises. That they might literally observe their

vows they were obliged to invent a system of communication by signs, a

list of which is given by Leibnitz, but does not show much ingenuity.

 

A curious description of the speech of the early inhabitants of

the world, given by Swedenborg in his _Arcana Coelestia_, published

1749-1756, may be compared with the present exhibitions of deaf-mutes

in institutions for their instruction. He says it was not articulate

like the vocal speech of our time, but was tacit, being produced not

by external respiration, but by internal. They were able to express

their meaning by slight motions of the lips and corresponding changes

of the face.

 

[Illustration: Fig. 64.--Group from an ancient Greek vase.]

 

Austin's comprehensive work, _Chironomia, or a Treatise on Rhetorical

Delivery, London_, 1806, is a repertory of information for all writers

on gesture, who have not always given credit to it, as well as on all

branches of oratory. This has been freely used by the present writer,

as has also the volume by the canon Andrea de Jorio, _La Mimica degli

Antichi investigata nel Gestire Napoletano, Napoli_, 1832. The canon's

chief object was to interpret the gestures of the ancients as shown

in their works of art and described in their writings, by the modern

gesticulations of the Neapolitans, and he has proved that the general

system of gesture once prevailing in ancient Italy is substantially

the same as now observed. With an understanding of the existing

language of gesture the scenes on the most ancient Greek vases

and reliefs obtain a new and interesting significance and form a

connecting link between the present and prehistoric times. Two of

De Jorio's plates are here reproduced, Figs. 64 and 67, with such

explanation and further illustration as is required for the present

subject.

 

The spirited figures upon the ancient vase, Fig. 64, are red upon a

black ground and are described in the published account in French of

the collection of Sir John Coghill, Bart., of which the following is a

free translation:

 

Dionysos or Bacchus is represented with a strong beard, his head girt

with the credemnon, clothed in a long folded tunic, above which is an

ample cloak, and holding a thyrsus. Under the form of a satyr, Comus,

or the genius of the table, plays on the double flute and tries to

excite to the dance two nymphs, the companions of Bacchus--Galené,

Tranquility, and Eudia, Serenity. The first of them is dressed in

a tunic, above which is a fawn skin, holding a tympanum or classic

drum on which she is about to strike, while her companion marks the

time by a snapping of the fingers, which custom the author of the

catalogue wisely states is still kept up in Italy in the dance of the

tarantella. The composition is said to express allegorically that pure

and serene pleasures are benefits derived from the god of wine.This is a fair example of the critical acumen of art-commentators.

The gestures of the two nymphs are interesting, but on very slight

examination it appears that those of Galené have nothing to do with

beat of drum, nor have those of Eudia any connection with music,

though it is not so clear what is the true subject under discussion.

Aided, however, by the light of the modern sign language of Naples,

there seems to be by no means serenity prevailing, but a quarrel

between the ladies, on a special subject which is not necessarily

pure. The nymph at the reader's left fixes her eyes upon her companion

with her index in the same direction, clearly indicating, _thou._ That

the address is reproachful is shown from her countenance, but with

greater certainty from her attitude and the corresponding one of her

companion, who raises both her hands in surprise accompanied with

negation. The latter is expressed by the right hand raised toward

the shoulder, with the palm opposed to the person to whom response is

made. This is the rejection of the idea presented, and is expressed by

some of our Indians, as shown in Fig. 65. A sign of the Dakota tribe

of Indians with the same signification is given in Fig. 270, page 441,

_infra_. At the same time the upper part of the nymph's body is drawn

backward as far as the preservation of equilibrium permits. So a

reproach or accusation is made on the one part, and denied, whether

truthfully or not, on the other. Its subject also may be ascertained.

The left hand of Eudia is not mute; it is held towards her rival with

the balls of the index and thumb united, the modern Neapolitan sign

for _love_, which is drawn more clearly in Fig. 66. It is called the

kissing of the thumb and finger, and there is ample authority to show

that among the ancient classics it was a sign of marriage. St. Jerome,

quoted by Vincenzo Requena, says: "_Nam et ipsa digitorum conjunctio,

et quasi molli osculo se complectans et foederans, maritum pingit et conjugem_;"