Sign Language Among North American Indians 9

Sign Language Among North American Indians 9

tumultum

Composuit vultu, dextraque silentia fecit.

 

This rivalry of Punch would, in London, have occasioned measureless

ridicule and disgust. The difference in what is vaguely styled

temperament does not wholly explain the contrast between the two

peoples, for the performance was creditable both to the readiness of

the King in an emergency and to the aptness of his people, the main

distinction being that in Italy there was in 1821, and still is, a

recognized and cultivated language of signs long disused in Great

Britain. In seeking to account for this it will be remembered that the

Italians have a more direct descent from the people who, as has been

above shown, in classic times so long and lovingly cultivated gesture

as a system. They have also had more generally before their eyes the

artistic relics in which gestures have been preserved.

 

It is a curious fact that some English writers, notably Addison

(_Spectator_, 407), have contended that it does not suit the genius

of that nation to use gestures even in public speaking, against which

doctrine Austin vigorously remonstrates. He says: "There may possibly

be nations whose livelier feelings incline them more to gesticulation

than is common among us, as there are also countries in which plants

of excellent use to man grow spontaneously; these, by care and

culture, are found to thrive also in colder countries."

 

It is in general to be remarked that as the number of dialects in any

district decreases so will the gestures, though doubtless there is

also weight in the fact not merely that a language has been reduced to

and modified by writing, but that people who are accustomed generally

to read and write, as are the English and Germans, will after a time

think and talk as they write, and without the accompaniments still

persistent among Hindus, Arabs, and the less literate of European

nations.

 

The fact that in the comparatively small island of Sicily gesture

language has been maintained until the present time in a perfection

not observed elsewhere in Europe must be considered in connection with

the above remark on England's insularity, and it must also be admitted

that several languages have prevailed in the latter, still leaving

dialects. This apparent similarity of conditions renders the contrast

as regards use of gestures more remarkable, yet there are some reasons

for their persistence in Sicily which apply with greater force than

to Great Britain. The explanation, through mere tradition, is that the

common usage of signs dates from the time of Dionysius, the tyrant of

Syracuse, who prohibited meetings and conversation among his subjects,

under the direst penalties, so that they adopted that expedient to

hold communication. It would be more useful to consider the peculiar

history of the island. The Sicanians being its aborigines it was

colonized by Greeks, who, as the Romans asserted, were still more apt

at gesture than themselves. This colonization was also by separate

bands of adventurers from several different states of Greece, so that

they started with dialects and did not unite in a common or national

organization, the separate cities and their territories being governed

by oligarchies or tyrants frequently at war with each other, until,

in the fifth century B.C., the Carthaginians began to contribute a new

admixture of language and blood, followed by Roman, Vandal, Gothic,

Herulian, Arab, and Norman subjugation. Thus some of the conditions

above suggested have existed in this case, but, whatever the

explanation, the accounts given by travelers of the extent to which

the language of signs has been used even during the present generation

are so marvelous as to deserve quotation. The one selected is from

the pen of Alexandre Dumas, who, it is to be hoped, did not carry his

genius for romance into a professedly sober account of travel:

 

"In the intervals of the acts of the opera I saw lively conversations

carried on between the orchestra and the boxes. Arami, in particular,

recognized a friend whom he had not seen for three years, and who

related to him, by means of his eyes and his hands, what, to judge by

the eager gestures of my companion, must have been matters of great

interest. The conversation ended, I asked him if I might know without

impropriety what was the intelligence which had seemed to interest

him so deeply. 'O, yes,' he replied, 'that person is one of my good

friends, who has been away from Palermo for three years, and he has

been telling me that he was married at Naples; then traveled with

his wife in Austria and in France; there his wife gave birth to a

daughter, whom he had the misfortune to lose; he arrived by steamboat

yesterday, but his wife had suffered so much from sea-sickness that

she kept her bed, and he came alone to the play.' 'My dear friend,'

said I to Arami, 'if you would have me believe you, you must grant

me a favor.' 'What is it?' said he. 'It is, that you do not leave me

during the evening, so that I may be sure you give no instructions to

your friend, and when we join him, that you ask him to repeat aloud

what he said to you by signs.' 'That I will,' said Arami. The curtain

then rose; the second act of Norma was played; the curtain falling,

and the actors being recalled, as usual, we went to the side-room,

where we met the traveler. 'My dear friend,' said Arami, 'I did not

perfectly comprehend what you wanted to tell me; be so good as to

repeat it.' The traveler repeated the story word for word, and without

varying a syllable from the translation, which Arami had made of his

signs; it was marvelous indeed.

 

"Six weeks after this, I saw a second example of this faculty of mute

communication. This was at Naples. I was walking with a young man

of Syracuse. We passed by a sentinel. The soldier and my companion

exchanged two or three grimaces, which at another time I should not

even have noticed, but the instances I had before seen led me to give

attention. 'Poor fellow,' sighed my companion. 'What did he say to

you?' I asked. 'Well,' said he, 'I thought that I recognized him as

a Sicilian, and I learned from him, as we passed, from what place he

came; he said he was from Syracuse, and that he knew me well. Then

I asked him how he liked the Neapolitan service; he said he did not

like it at all, and if his officers did not treat him better he should

certainly finish by deserting. I then signified to him that if he ever

should be reduced to that extremity, he might rely upon me, and that

I would aid him all in my power. The poor fellow thanked me with all

his heart, and I have no doubt that one day or other I shall see him

come.' Three days after, I was at the quarters of my Syracusan friend,

when he was told that a man asked to see him who would not give his

name; he went out and left me nearly ten minutes. 'Well,' said he,

on returning, 'just as I said.' 'What?' said I. 'That the poor fellow

would desert.'"

 

After this there is an excuse for believing the tradition that the

revolt called "the Sicilian Vespers," in 1282, was arranged throughout

the island without the use of a syllable, and even the day and hour

for the massacre of the obnoxious foreigners fixed upon by signs only.

Indeed, the popular story goes so far as to assert that all this was

done by facial __EXPRESSION__, without even manual signs.

 

 

NEAPOLITAN SIGNS.

 

It is fortunately possible to produce some illustrations of the modern

Neapolitan sign language traced from the plates of De Jorio, with

translations, somewhat condensed, of his descriptions and remarks.

 

[Illustration: Fig. 76.--Neapolitan public letter-writer and clients.]

 

[Illustration: Fig. 77.]

 

In Fig. 76 an ambulant secretary or public writer is seated at his

little table, on which are the meager tools of his trade. He wears

spectacles in token that he has read and written much, and has one

seat at his side to accommodate his customers. On this is seated a

married woman who asks him to write a letter to her absent husband.

The secretary, not being told what to write about, without surprise,

but somewhat amused, raises his left hand with the ends of the thumb

and finger joined, the other fingers naturally open, a common sign for

_inquiry_. "What shall the letter be about?" The wife, not being ready

of speech, to rid herself of the embarrassment, resorts to the mimic

art, and, without opening her mouth, tells with simple gestures all

that is in her mind. Bringing her right hand to her heart, with a

corresponding glance of the eyes she shows that the theme is to be

_love_. For emphasis also she curves the whole upper part of her body

towards him, to exhibit the intensity of her passion. To complete the

mimic story, she makes with her left hand the sign of _asking_ for

something, which has been above described (see page 291). The letter,

then, is to assure her husband of her love and to beg him to return it

with corresponding affection. The other woman, perhaps her sister, who

has understood the whole direction, regards the request as silly and

fruitless and is much disgusted. Being on her feet, she takes a step

toward the wife, who she thinks is unadvised, and raises her left hand

with a sign of disapprobation. This position of the hand is described

in full as open, raised high, and oscillated from right to left.

Several of the Indian signs have the same idea of oscillation of

the hand raised, often near the head, to express _folly, fool_. She

clearly says, "What a thing to ask! what a fool you are!" and at the

same time makes with the right hand the sign of _money_. This is made

by the extremities of the thumb and index rapidly rubbed against each

other, and is shown more clearly in Fig. 77. It is taken from the

handling and counting of coin. This may be compared with an Indian

sign, see Fig. 115, page 344.

 

So the sister is clearly disapproving with her left hand and with her

right giving good counsel, as if to say, in the combination, "What a

fool you are to ask for his love; you had better ask him to send you

some money."

 

* * * * *

 

[Illustration: Fig. 78.--Neapolitan hot-corn vender.]

 

[Illustration: Fig. 79.]

 

[Illustration: Fig. 80.]

 

In Naples, as in American cities, boiled ears of green corn are vended

with much outcry. Fig. 78 shows a boy who is attracted by the local

cry "_Pollanchelle tenerelle!_" and seeing the sweet golden ears still

boiling in the kettle from which steams forth fragrance, has an ardent

desire to taste the same, but is without a _soldo_. He tries begging.

His right open hand is advanced toward the desired object with the

sign of _asking_ or _begging_, and he also raises his left forefinger

to indicate the number one--"Pretty girl, please only give me one!"

The pretty girl is by no means cajoled, and while her left hand holds

the ladle ready to use if he dares to touch her merchandise, she

replies by gesture "_Te voglio dà no cuorno!_" freely translated,

"I'll give you one _in a horn!_" This gesture is drawn, with clearer

outline in Fig. 79, and has many significations, according to the

subject-matter and context, and also as applied to different parts of

the body. Applied to the head it has allusion, descending from high

antiquity, to a marital misfortune which was probably common in

prehistoric times as well as the present. It is also often used as an

amulet against the _jettatura_ or evil eye, and misfortune in general,

and directed toward another person is a prayerful wish for his or her

preservation from evil. This use is ancient, as is shown on medals

and statues, and is supposed by some to refer to the horns of animals

slaughtered in sacrifice. The position of the fingers, Fig. 80, is

also given as one of Quintilian's oratorical gestures by the words

"_Duo quoque medii sub pollicem veniunt_," and is said by him to be

vehement and connected with reproach or argument. In the present case,

as a response to an impertinent or disagreeable petition, it simply

means, "instead of giving what you ask, I will give you nothing but what is vile and useless, as horns are."