![]() ![]() She is pushing for PISL to be incorporated into mainstream education of the deaf. McKay-Cody is the first deaf researcher to specialize in North American Hand Talk and today works with tribes to help them preserve their signed languages. "Hand Talk is endangered and dying quickly,” said Melanie McKay-Cody, who identifies herself as Cherokee Deaf and is an expert in anthropological linguistics. Research has shown that Hand Talk is still being used by a small number of deaf and hearing descendants of the Plains Indian cultures. Native Deaf children were sent to deaf residential schools, where they were taught to use American Sign Language (ASL). Photo portrait of Chiricahua Apache youths four months after arriving at the Carlisle Indian Industrial School in Carlisle, Pennsylvania.Ĭhildren were removed from their families and sent to government-run boarding schools, where they were forbidden to speak their own languages or practice their own spiritual beliefs. That changed when the federal government instituted a policy designed to “civilize” tribal people. Hand Talk was also the first language of deaf Natives.īy the late 1800s, tens of thousands of Native Americans still used Hand Talk. They still used sign language to an extent, but not like it was used out here.” ![]() “They were mostly woodland tribes, living in permanent villages and were familiar with each other’s languages. “There were fewer linguistic groups east of the Mississippi River,” said Garritson. Though universal in North America, Hand Talk was more prominent among the nomadic Plains Nations. While each tribe had its own dialect, tribes were able to communicate easily. It was that easy to use and easy to understand.” “He documented that the Comanches made themselves so well-understood with the use of sign talk that there was almost no need for an interpreter. “Coronado, as he documented in his journals in 1540, was in Texas and met the Comanche,” said Garritson. ![]() It was observed among Florida tribes by 16th Century Spanish colonizers. Scholars dispute exactly when, in their 30,000-year history in North America, tribes developed sign language. When speakers of one language met those of another, whether in trade, councils or conflict, they communicated in the lingua franca of Hand Talk. Prior to contact with Europeans, North American Native peoples were not a unified culture, but hundreds of different cultures and tribes, each with its own political organization, belief system and language. This map shows location of tribes, cultural areas and language groups prior to European contact. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |