Sign Language Among North American Indians Compared With That Among Other Peoples Part 8

The perversity in attaching through preconceived views a wrong significance to signs is ill.u.s.trated by an anecdote found in several versions and in several languages, but repeated as a veritable Scotch legend by Duncan Anderson, esq., Princ.i.p.al of the Glasgow Inst.i.tution for the Deaf and Dumb, when he visited Was.h.i.+ngton in 1853.

King James I. of England, desiring to play a trick upon the Spanish amba.s.sador, a man of great erudition, but who had a crotchet in his head upon sign language, informed him that there was a distinguished professor of that science in the university at Aberdeen. The amba.s.sador set out for that place, preceded by a letter from the King with instructions to make the best of him. There was in the town one Geordy, a butcher, blind of one eye, a fellow of much wit and drollery. Geordy is told to play the part of a professor, with the warning not to speak a word; is gowned, wigged, and placed in a chair of state, when the amba.s.sador is shown in and they are left alone together. Presently the n.o.bleman came out greatly pleased with the experiment, claiming that his theory was demonstrated. He said: "When I entered the room I raised one finger to signify there is one G.o.d. He replied by raising two fingers to signify that this Being rules over two worlds, the material and the spiritual. Then I raised three fingers, to say there are three persons in the G.o.dhead. He then closed his fingers, evidently to say these three are one." After this explanation on the part of the n.o.bleman the professors sent for the butcher and asked him what took place in the recitation room. He appeared very angry and said: "When the crazy man entered the room where I was he raised one finger, as much as to say I had but one eye, and I raised two fingers to signify that I could see out of my one eye as well as he could out of both of his. When he raised three fingers, as much as to say there were but three eyes between us, I doubled up my fist, and if he had not gone out of that room in a hurry I would have knocked him down."

The readiness with which a significance may be found in signs when none whatever exists is also shown in the great contest narrated by Rabelais between Panurge and the English philosopher, Thaumast, commencing as follows:

"Everybody then taking heed in great silence, the Englishman lifted his two hands separately, clinching the ends of his fingers in the form that at Chion they call the fowl's tail. Then he struck them, together by the nails four times. Then he opened them and struck one flat upon the other with a clash once; after which, joining them as above, he struck twice, and four times afterwards, on opening them.

Then he placed them, joined and extended the one above the other, seeming to pray G.o.d devoutly.

"Panurge suddenly moved his right hand in the air, placed the right-hand thumb at the right-hand nostril, holding the four fingers stretched out and arrayed in parallel lines with the point of the nose; shutting the left eye entirely, and winking with the right, making a profound depression with eyebrow and eyelid. Next he raised aloft the left with a strong clinching and extension of the four fingers and elevation of the thumb, and held it in line directly corresponding with the position of the right, the distance between the two being a cubit and a half. This done, in the like manner he lowered towards the ground both hands, and finally held them in the midst as if aiming straight at the Englishman's nose."

And so on at great length. The whole performance of Panurge was to save the credit of Pantagruel by making fantastic and mystic motions in pretended disputation with the signs given by Thaumast in good faith. Yet the latter confessed himself conquered, and declared that he had derived inestimable information from the purposely meaningless gestures. The satire upon the diverse interpretations of the gestures of Naz-de-cabre (_Pantagruel_, Book III, chap. xx) is to the same effect, showing it to have been a favorite theme with Rabelais.

ABBREVIATIONS.

A lesson was learned by the writer as to the abbreviation of signs, and the possibility of discovering the original meaning of those most obscure, from the attempts of a Cheyenne to convey the idea of _old man_. He held his right hand forward, bent at elbow, fingers and thumb closed sidewise. This not conveying any sense, he found a long stick, bent his back, and supported his frame in a tottering step by the stick held, as was before only imagined. Here at once was decrepit age dependent on a staff. The principle of abbreviation or reduction may be ill.u.s.trated by supposing a person, under circ.u.mstances forbidding the use of the voice, seeking to call attention to a particular bird on a tree, and failing to do so by mere indication. Descriptive signs are resorted to, perhaps suggesting the bill and wings of the bird, its manner of clinging to the twig with its feet, its size by seeming to hold it between the hands, its color by pointing to objects of the same hue; perhaps by the action of shooting into a tree, picking up the supposed fallen game, and plucking feathers. These are continued until understood, and if one sign or combination of signs proves to be successful it will be repeated on the next occasion by both persons engaged, and after becoming familiar between them and others will be more and more abbreviated. Conventionality in signs largely consists in the form of abbreviation which is agreed upon. When the signs of the Indians have from ideographic form thus become demotic, they may be called conventional, but still not arbitrary. In them, as in all his actions, man had at the first a definite meaning or purpose, together with method in their subsequent changes or modifications.

Colonel Dodge gives a clear account of the manner in which an established sign is abbreviated in practice, as follows: "There are an almost infinite number and variety of abbreviations. For instance, to tell a man to 'talk,' the most common formal sign is made thus: Hold the right hand in front of, the back near, the mouth, end of thumb and index-finger joined into an 'O,' the outer fingers closed on the palm; throw the hand forward sharply by a quick motion of the wrist, and at the same time flip forward the index-finger. This may be done once or several times.

"The formal sign to 'cease' or 'stop doing' anything is made by bringing the two hands open and held vertically in front of the body, one behind the other, then quickly pa.s.s one upward, the other downward, simulating somewhat the motion of the limbs of a pair of scissors, meaning 'cut it off.' The latter sign is made in conversation in a variety of ways, but habitually with one hand only.

"The formal sign to 'stop talking' is first to make the formal sign for 'talk,' then the formal sign for 'cut;' but this is commonly abbreviated by first making the formal sign for 'talk' with the right hand, and then immediately pa.s.sing the same hand, open, fingers extended, downward across and in front of the mouth, 'talk, cut.'

"But though the Plains Indian, if asked for the sign to 'stop talking,' will properly give the sign either in its extended or abbreviated form as above, he in conversation abbreviates it so much further that the sign loses almost all resemblance to its former self.

Whatever the position of the hand, a turn of the wrist, a flip of the forefinger, and a turn, of the wrist back to its original position is fully equivalent to the elaborate signs."

It may be added that nearly every sign which to be intelligibly described and as exhibited in full requires the use of both hands, is outlined, with one hand only, by skillful Indians gesturing between themselves, so as to be clearly understood between them. Two Indians, whose blankets are closely held to their bodies by the left hand, which is necessarily rendered unavailable for gesture, will severally thrust the right from beneath the protecting folds and converse freely. The same is true when one hand of each holds the bridle of a horse.

The Italian signs are also made in such abbreviated forms as to be little more than hinted at, requiring a perfect knowledge of the full and original form before the slight and often furtive suggestion of it can be understood. Deaf-mutes continually seek by tacit agreement to shorten their signs more and more. While the original of each may be preserved in root or stem, it is only known to the proficient, as the root or stem of a plant enables botanists, but no others, to distinguish it. Thus the natural character of signs, the universal significance which is their peculiarly distinctive feature, may and often does become lost. From the operation of the principle of independent and individual abbreviation inherent in all sign language, without any other cause, that of the Indians must in one or two generations have become diverse, even if it had in fact originated from one tribe in which all conceptions and executions were absolute.

_ARE SIGNS CONVENTIONAL OR INSTINCTIVE?_

There has been much discussion on the question whether gesture signs were originally invented, in the strict sense of that term, or whether they result from a natural connection between them and the ideas represented by them, that is whether they are conventional or instinctive. Cardinal Wiseman (_Essays_, III, 537) thinks that they are of both characters; but referring particularly to the Italian signs and the proper mode of discovering their meaning, observes that they are used primarily with words and from the usual accompaniment of certain phrases. "For these the gestures become subst.i.tutes, and then by a.s.sociation express all their meaning, even when used alone."

This would be the process only where systematic gestures had never prevailed or had been so disused as to be forgotten, and were adopted after elaborate oral phrases and traditional oral expressions had become common. In other parts of this paper it is suggested that conventionality chiefly consists in abbreviation, and that signs are originally self-interpreting, independent of words, and therefore in a certain sense instinctive.

Another form of the above query, having the same intent, is whether signs are arbitrary or natural. The answer will depend upon what the observer considers to be natural to himself. A common sign among both deaf-mutes and Indians for _woman_ consists in designating the arrangement of the hair, but such a represented arrangement of hair familiar to the gesturer as had never been seen by the person addressed would not seem "natural" to the latter. It would be cla.s.sed as arbitrary, and could not be understood without context or explanation, indeed without translation such as is required from foreign oral speech. Signs most naturally, that is, appropriately, expressing a conception of the thing signified, are first adopted and afterwards modified by circ.u.mstances of environment, so as to appear, without full understanding, conventional and arbitrary, yet they are as truly "natural" as the signs for hearing, seeing, eating, and drinking, which continue all over the world as they were first formed because there is no change in those operations.

_CLa.s.sES OF DIVERSITIES IN SIGNS._

While there is not sufficient evidence that any exhibition of sign language in any tribe is a dialect derived or corrupted from an ascertained language in any other tribe, it still is convenient to consider the different forms appearing in different tribes as several dialects (in the usual mode of using that term) of a common language.

Every sign talker necessarily has, to some extent, a dialect of his own. No one can use sign language without original invention and without modification of the inventions of others; and all such new inventions and modifications have a tendency to spread and influence the production of other variations. The diversities thus occasioned are more distinct than that mere individuality of style or expression which may be likened to the differing chirography of men who write, although such individual characteristics also const.i.tute an important element of confusion to the inexperienced observer. In differing handwriting there is always an attempt or desire to represent an alphabet which is essentially determinate, but no such fixedness or limited condition of form restricts gesture speech.

Those variations and diversities of form and connected significance specially calling for notice may be: 1st. In the nature of synonyms.

2d. Substantially the same form with such different signification as not to be synonymous. 3d. Difference in significance produced by such slight variation in form as to be, to a careless observer, _symmorphic_.

SYNONYMS.

In this division are placed signs of differing forms which are used in senses so nearly the same as to have only a slight shade of distinction, or sometimes to be practically interchangeable. The comprehensive and metaphorical character of signs renders more of them interchangeable than is the case with words; still, like words, some signs with essential resemblance of meaning have partial and subordinate differences made by etymology or usage. Doubtless signs are purposely selected as delineating the most striking outlines of an object, or the most characteristic features of an action; but different individuals, and likewise different bodies of people, would not always agree in the selection of those outlines and features.

Taking the ill.u.s.tration of the attempt to invent a sign for _bird_, before used, any one of a dozen, signs might have been agreed upon with equal appropriateness, and, in fact, a number have been so selected by several individuals and tribes, each one, therefore, being a synonym of the other. Another example of this is in the signs for _deer_, designated by various modes of expressing fleetness, by his gait when not in rapid motion, by the shape of his horns, by the color of his tail, and sometimes by combinations of several of those characteristics. Each of these signs may be indefinitely abbreviated, and therefore create indefinite diversity. Another ill.u.s.tration, in which an a.s.sociation of ideas is apparent, is in the upward raising of the index in front of and above the head, which means _above_ (sometimes containing the religious conception of _heaven, great spirit_, &c.), and also _now, to-day_. Not unfrequently these several signs to express the same ideas are used interchangeably by the same people, and some one of the duplicates or triplicates may have been noticed by separate observers to the exclusion of the others. On the other hand, they might all have been noticed, but each one among different bodies. Thus confusing reports would be received, which might either be erroneous in deducing the prevalence of particular signs or the opposite. Sometimes the synonym may be recognized as an imported sign, used with another tribe known to affect it. Sometimes the diverse signs to express the same thing are only different trials at reaching the intelligence of the person addressed. An account is given by Lieut. Heber M. Creel, Seventh Cavalry, U.S.A., of an old Cheyenne squaw, who made about twenty successive and original signs to a recruit of the Fourth Cavalry to let him know that she wanted to obtain out of a wagon a piece of cloth belonging to her, to wipe out an oven preparatory to baking bread. Thus by tradition, importation, recent invention, or from all these causes together, several signs entirely distinct are produced for the same object or action.

This cla.s.s is not intended to embrace the cases common both to sign and oral language where the same sign has several meanings, according to the expression, whether facial or vocal, and the general manner accompanying its delivery. The sign given, for "stop talking" on page 339 may be used in simple acquiescence, "very well," "all right!" or for comprehension, "I understand;" or in impatience, "you have talked enough!" which may be carried further to express actual anger in the violent "shut up!" But all these grades of thought accompany the idea of a cessation of talk. In like manner an acquaintance of the writer asking the same favor (a permission to go through their camp) of two chiefs, was answered by both with the sign generally used for repletion after eating, viz., the index and thumb turned toward the body, pa.s.sed up from the abdomen to the throat; but in the one case, being made with a gentle motion and pleasant look, it meant, "I am satisfied," and granted the request; in the other, made violently, with the accompaniment of a truculent frown, it read, "I have had enough of that!" But these two meanings might also have been expressed by different intonations of the English word "enough." The cla.s.s of signs now in view is better exemplified by the French word _souris_, which is spelled and p.r.o.nounced precisely the same with the two wholly distinct and independent significations of _smile_ and _mouse_. From many examples may be selected the Omaha sign for _think, guess_, which is precisely the same as that of the Absaroka, Shoshoni and Banak for _brave_, see page 414. The context alone, both of the sign and the word, determines in what one of its senses it is at the time used, but it is not discriminated merely by a difference in expression.

It would have been very remarkable if precisely the same sign were not used by different or even the same persons or bodies of people with wholly distinct significations. The graphic forms for objects and ideas are much more likely to be coincident than sound is for similar expressions, yet in all oral languages the same precise sound is used for utterly diverse meanings. The first conception of many different objects must have been the same. It has been found; indeed, that the h.o.m.ophony of words and the h.o.m.omorphy of ideographic pictures is noticeable in opposite significations, the conceptions arising from the opposition itself. The differentiation in portraiture or accent is a subsequent and remedial step not taken until after the confusion has been observed and become inconvenient. Such confusion and contradiction would only be eliminated if sign language were absolutely perfect as well as absolutely universal.

SYMMORPHS.

In this cla.s.s are included those signs conveying different ideas, and really different in form of execution as well as in conception, yet in which the difference in form is so slight as practically to require attention and discrimination. An example from oral speech may be found in the English word "desert," which, as p.r.o.nounced "des'-ert" or "desert'," and in a slightly changed form, "dessert," has such widely varying significations. These distinctions relating to signs require graphic ill.u.s.tration.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 112.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 113.]

The sign made by the Dakota, Hidatsa, and several other tribes, for _tree_ is made by holding the right hand before the body, back forward, fingers and thumb separated, then pus.h.i.+ng it slightly upward, Fig. 112. That for _gra.s.s_ is the same made near the ground; that for _grow_ is made like _gra.s.s_, though instead of holding the back of the hand near the ground the hand is pushed upward in an interrupted manner, Fig. 113. For _smoke_, the hand (with the back down, fingers pointing upward as in _grow_) is thrown upward several times from the same place instead of continuing the whole motion upward. Frequently the fingers are thrown forward from under the thumb with each successive upward motion. For _fire_, the hand is employed as in the gesture for _smoke_, but the motion is frequently more waving, and in other cases made higher from the ground.

The sign for _rain_, made by the Shoshoni, Apache, and other Indians, is by holding the hand (or hands) at the height of and before the shoulder, fingers pendent, palm down, then pus.h.i.+ng it downward a short distance, Fig. 114. That for _heat_ is the same, with the difference that the hand is held above the head and thrust downward toward the forehead; that for _to weep_ is made by holding the hand as in _rain_, and the gesture made from the eye downward over the cheek, back of the fingers nearly touching the face.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 114.]

The common sign for _sun_ is made by bringing the tips of the thumb and index together so as to form a circle; remaining fingers closed.

The hand is then held toward the sky, Fig. 115. The motion with the same circular position of index and thumb is for _want_, by bringing the hand backward toward the mouth, in a curve forming a short arch between the origin and termination of the gesture.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 115.]

For _drink_ the gesture by several tribes is the same as for _want_, with the slight difference in the position of the last three fingers, which are not so tightly clinched, forming somewhat the shape of a cup; and that for _money_ is made by holding out the hand with the same arrangement of fingers in front of the hips, at a distance of about twelve or fifteen inches.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 116.]

Another sign for _sun_, made by the Cheyennes, is by placing the tips of the partly separated thumb and index of one hand against those of the other, approximating a circle, and holding them toward the sky, Fig. 116, and that for _various things_, observed among the Brule Sioux with the same position of the hands, is made by placing the circle horizontal, and moving it interruptedly toward the right side, each movement forming a short arch. Compare also the sign for _village_, described on page 386.

The Arikara sign for _soldier_ is by placing the clinched hands together before the breast, thumbs touching, then drawing them horizontally outward toward their respective sides, Fig. 117. That for _done_, made by the Hidatsa, is shown below in this paper, see Fig.

334, page 528. That for _much_ (_Cheyenne_ I, _Comanche_ III), see Fig. 274, page 447, is to be correlated with the above.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 117.]

The sign for _to be told_ or _talked to_, and for the reception of speech, by the tribes generally, is made by placing the flat right hand, palm upward, about fifteen inches in front of the right side of the face or breast, fingers pointing to the left, then drawing the hand toward the bottom of the chin, and is ill.u.s.trated in Fig. 71, page 291. The Comanche sign for _give_ or _asking_ is shown in Fig.

301, page 480 (_Comanche_ III), and is made by bringing the hand toward the body but a short distance, and the motion repeated, the tips of the fingers indicating the outline of a circle.

The tribal sign for _Kaiowa_, ill.u.s.trated in its place among the TRIBAL SIGNS, is made by holding the hand with extended and separated fingers and thumb near the side of the head, back outward, and giving it a rotary motion. This gesture is made in front of the face by many tribes. The generic sign for _deer_, made by the Dakota and some others, is by holding the hand motionless at the side of the head, with extended and separated thumb and fingers, representing the branched antlers. That for _fool_, reported from the same Indians, is the same as above described for _Kaiowa_, which it also signifies, though frequently only one or two fingers are used.

The tribal sign both for the _Sahaptin_ or _Nez Perces_ and for _Caddo_ (see TRIBAL SIGNS) is made by pa.s.sing the extended index, pointing under the nose from right to left. When the second finger is not tightly closed it strongly resembles the sign often made for _lie, falsehood_, by pa.s.sing the extended index and second fingers separated toward the left, over the mouth.

The tribal sign for Cheyenne (see TRIBAL SIGNS) differs from the sign for _spotted_ only in the finger (or hand) in the latter being alternately pa.s.sed across the upper and lower sides of the left forearm.