View source for Plains Indian Sign Language

{{Short description|Endangered language of the Plains peoples}}
{{Distinguish|Indo-Pakistani Sign Language}}
{{Infobox language
| name             = {{PAGENAMEBASE}}
| altname          = Plains Sign Talk<br/>Plains Sign Language<br/>First Nation Sign Language
| nativename       = '''Hand Talk'''
| states           = Canada, Mexico, USA
| region           = Central Canada and United States including the [[Great Plains]] and the [[Rocky Mountains]] region; northern Mexico
| ethnicity        = Various [[Indigenous peoples of the Americas|indigenous peoples of North America]]
| speakers         = ?
| date             = 
| ref              = 
| familycolor      = Sign
| family           = [[Language isolate]]
| dia1             = Great Basin{{sfnp|McKay-Cody|2019|p=29}}
| dia2             = Northeast{{sfnp|McKay-Cody|2019|p=29}} ([[Oneida Sign Language|OSL]])
| dia3             = Plains{{sfnp|McKay-Cody|2019|p=29}}
| dia4             = ''Southeast''{{sfnp|McKay-Cody|2019|p=29}}
| dia5             = Southwest{{sfnp|McKay-Cody|2019|p=29}}
| dia6             = ? California Coast{{sfnp|McKay-Cody|2019|p=29}}
| dia7             = ? Coast Salish<ref name="BCHSD">{{cite web |title=Recognize Indigenous Sign Languages – Reconnaître les Langues des Signes Autochtones |url=https://www.ourcommons.ca/Content/Committee/421/CHPC/Brief/BR10366021/br-external/BCHummingbirdSocietyOfTheDeaf-e.pdf |publisher=BC Hummingbird Society for the Deaf (BCHSD) |access-date=9 March 2022 |date=9 March 2019}}</ref>
| dia8             = ? [[Plateau Sign Language|Plateau]]
| script           = [[Petroglyph]]s & [[pictogram|pictographs]]<ref name="Glyphs">{{cite thesis  |last=McKay-Cody |first=Melanie R. |date=2019 |title=Memory Comes Before Knowledge – North American Indigenous Deaf: Socio-Cultural Study of Rock/Picture Writing, Community, Sign Languages, and Kinship |degree= Doctor of Philosophy|location= [[Norman, Oklahoma]]|publisher= [[University of Oklahoma]]}}</ref>
| minority         = Recognised as official in courts, education and legislative assembly of Ontario.<ref name=Ontario/>
| iso3             = psd
| glotto           = plai1235
| glottorefname    = Plains Indian Sign Language
| map              = Sign Languages of Turtle Island.svg
| mapcaption       = Map of the various sign languages spoken across [[Turtle Island]], excluding [[Francosign languages|Francosign]] languages. Plains Sign Language is labelled in red as Hand Talk
| image            = Sun Sign.jpg
}}
[[File:Indian Sign Language Council (1930).webm|thumb|thumbtime=64|Extracts of the films taken during the 1930 Conference on PISL conservation, showing General [[Hugh L. Scott]] and signers from various tribes<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bfT2a5SGDFA|title=Indian Sign Language Council of 1930|date=9 June 2012 |via=www.youtube.com}}</ref>]]
[[File:Plains Indian Sign Language - dec 28 1900.jpg|thumb|A 1900 newspaper illustration claiming to showcase several of the signs of Plains Indian Sign Language]]

'''Plains Indian Sign Language''' ('''PISL'''), also known as '''Hand Talk''', '''Plains Sign Talk''',<ref>{{cite web |first1=Webster |title=Language of the Month: Plains Indian Sign Language |url=https://languagemuseum.org/language-of-the-month-plains-indian-sign-language/ |website=The National Museum of Language |access-date=15 March 2025}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Tribal Member Hopes to Revive Native Sign Language |url=https://www.potawatomi.org/blog/2024/01/12/tribal-member-hopes-to-revive-native-sign-language/ |website=Citizen Potawatomi Nation |publisher=Citizen Potawatomi Nation |access-date=15 March 2025}}</ref> '''Plains Sign Language''', or '''First Nation Sign Language''',<ref name=Ontario>{{cite act|article-type=Bill|article=273|date=2007|url=https://www.ola.org/en/legislative-business/bills/parliament-38/session-2/bill-213|title=Recognition of Sign Language as an Official Language Act|legislature=[[Legislative Assembly of Ontario]]}}</ref> is an [[Endangered language|endangered]]<ref name="Davis 2016">{{cite encyclopedia|last=Davis|first=Jeffery E.|editor1-last=Gertz|editor1-first=Genie|editor2-last=Boudreault|editor2-first=Patrick|encyclopedia=The SAGE Deaf Studies Encyclopedia|title=Sign Language, Indigenous|date=2016|publisher=[[Sage Publishing|SAGE Publications]]|volume=1|pages=783{{endash}}786|isbn=9781483346489}}</ref> [[sign language]] common to the majority of [[Indigenous peoples of the Americas|Indigenous nations]] of North America, notably those of the [[Plains Indians|Great Plains]], [[Indigenous peoples of the Northeastern Woodlands|Northeast Woodlands]], and the [[Indigenous peoples of the Great Basin|Great Basin]]. It was, and continues to be, used across what is now central Canada, the central and western United States and northern Mexico.<ref name="VOA">{{Cite web|first=Cecily|last=Hilleary|url=https://www.voanews.com/a/native-american-hand-talker-fight-to-keep-signed-language-alive/3794333.html|title=Native American Hand Talkers Fight to Keep Sign Language Alive|website=[[Voice of America]]|access-date=May 25, 2023|date=April 3, 2017}}</ref> This language was used historically as a [[lingua franca]], notably for international relations, trade, and diplomacy; it is still used for story-telling, oratory, various ceremonies, and by deaf people for ordinary daily use.<ref name="McKay-Cody 1998">{{Cite book |last= McKay-Cody |first= Melanie Raylene |chapter= Plains Indian Sign Language: A comparative study of alternative and primary signers |date= 1998 |editor-last= Carroll |editor-first= Cathryn |title= Deaf Studies V: Toward 2000{{em dash}}Unity and Diversity |publisher= [[Gallaudet University Press]] |publication-place= Washington DC |isbn= 1893891097}}</ref>

In 1885, it was estimated that there were over 110,000 "sign-talking Indians", including [[Blackfoot Confederacy|Blackfoot]], [[Cheyenne]], [[Sioux]], [[Kiowa]],  and [[Arapaho]]. As a result of the [[European colonization of the Americas]], most notably including [[American Indian boarding schools|American boarding]] and [[Canadian Indian residential school system|Canadian residential schools]], the number of sign talkers has declined sharply.{{sfnp|McKay-Cody|2019|p=3}} However, growing interest and preservation work on the language has increased its use and visibility in the 21st century.<ref name="VOA" /> Historically, some have likened its more formal [[Register (sociolinguistics)|register]], used by men, to [[Ecclesiastical Latin|Church Latin]] in function.<ref name="Neisser 1983">{{Cite book|last=Neisser|first=Arden|date=1983|title=The Other Side of Silence|pages=91{{endash}}92|publisher=Gallaudet University Press|isbn=9780930323646}}</ref> It is primarily used today by [[North American Indigenous elder|Elders]] and Deaf [[Indigenous peoples of the Americas|citizens of Indigenous nations]].<ref name="Davis 2016" />

Some [[Deaf culture|deaf]] Indigenous children attend [[schools for the deaf]] and learn [[American Sign Language]] (ASL) having already acquired Plains Sign Language.<ref name="McKay-Cody 1998" /> A group studied in 1998 were able to understand each other, though this was likely through the use of [[International Sign]].<ref name="McKay-Cody 1998" /> Jeffrey E. Davis, a leading linguist in documentation efforts,<ref name="Davis 2016" /> hypothesizes that this contact, combined with potential contact with [[Martha's Vineyard Sign Language]] (another potential antecedent to ASL) may suggest that ASL descends in part from Plains Sign Language.<ref name="Davis,2010">{{Citation |last = Davis |first = Jeffrey E. |date = 2010 |title = Hand talk: Sign language among American Indian nations |publisher = [[Cambridge University Press]] |publication-place = Cambridge UK| isbn = 9780521690300}}</ref>{{rp|pages=24{{endash}}27}}

== Etymology ==
While there are many names for the language, '''Hand Talk''' is the preferred term in Indigenous communities.{{sfnp|McKay-Cody|2019|p=27}} The term is a [[calque]] of the language's own name for itself.{{sfnp|McKay-Cody|2019|p=31}} Other names for the language are used, like '''Plains Sign Talk''' and '''Plains Indian Sign Language''' (the latter favored exclusively in the United States), but these are erroneous as Hand Talk extends beyond the [[Great Plains]] into the [[Indigenous peoples of the Northeastern Woodlands|Northeast Woodlands]], the [[Great Basin]], and beyond. Indeed, as McKay-Cody writes (2019), Hand Talk itself should be considered a family of closely related languages.{{sfnp|McKay-Cody|2019|p=29}}

Whilst the name "Hand Talk" is a direct translation from the language itself, each nation has their own word or name for Hand Talk in their respective oral languages:

{{columns-list|colwidth=16em|
*'''[[Algonquian languages]]:'''
** [[Arapaho language|Arapaho]]: '''Bee3osohoot''' / '''Bee3sohoet'''<ref>{{cite book |last1=Cowell |first1=Andrew |last2=Moss, Sr. |first2=Alonzo |last3=C'Hair |first3=William |last4=C'Hair |first4=Wayne |title=Dictionary of the Arapaho Language |date=2012 |publisher=Northern Arapaho Tribe |location=Ethete, Wyoming, USA |page=181 |url=https://homewitharapaho.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/arapaho-dictionary1.pdf |access-date=26 March 2025}}</ref>
** [[Blackfoot language|Blackfoot]]: '''A'psstówahsin'''<ref>{{cite web |title=sign |url=https://dictionary.blackfoot.atlas-ling.ca/#!/results |website=Blackfoot Dictionary |publisher=Algonquian Dictionaries Project |access-date=26 March 2025}}</ref>
** [[Cheyenne language|Cheyenne]]: '''Évȯhónestȯtse'''<ref>{{cite web |title=e |url=https://www.cheyennelanguage.org/dictionary/lexicon.php?letter=2 |website=Cheyenne Dictionary |publisher=Chief Dull Knife College |access-date=26 March 2025}}</ref>
** [[Plains Cree language|Plains Cree]]: '''isiniskêstâkêwin''' ('''ᐃᓯᓂᐢᑫᐢᑖᑫᐃᐧᐣ''')<ref>{{cite web |title=sign |url=https://dictionary.plainscree.atlas-ling.ca/#/results |website=Plains Cree Dictionary |publisher=Algonquian Dictionaries Project |access-date=26 March 2025}}</ref>

* '''[[Caddoan languages]]:'''
** [[Pawnee language|Pawnee]]: '''Ikstaaruhuraawaahʾuʾ'''<ref>{{cite web |title=language |url=https://indigenousknowledge.indiana.edu/resources/dictsearch/lib/testengltoxsrchNP.php?host=zia&pass=&hasfont=0&srchlang=English&srchstring=language&database=skiri&srchtype=OR&sortlang=English&sndformat=mp3&maxhits=200&find=Run_Search |website=Skiri Pawnee Dictionary |publisher=Institute for Indigenous Knowledge |access-date=26 March 2025}}</ref>

* '''[[Iroquoian languages]]:'''
** [[Seneca language|Seneca]]: '''Gayeöni:h'''<ref>{{cite book |last1=Chafe |first1=Wallace |title=English–Seneca Dictionary |publisher=Onöndowa'ga:' Gawë:nö' (Seneca Language) Department |page=149 |url=https://senecalanguage.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/SENECA-DICTIONARY-FINAL.pdf}}</ref>

* '''[[Na-Dene languages]]:'''
** [[Navajo language|Navajo]]: '''Yideez'''<ref>{{cite book |last1=Wall |first1=Leon |last2=Morgan |first2=William |title=Navajo–English Dictionary |date=1958 |page=63 |url=https://digscholarship.unco.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1000&context=navajo |access-date=26 March 2025}}</ref>

*'''[[Siouan languages]]:'''
** [[Crow language|Crow]]: '''Baapáattuua'''<ref>{{cite web |title=sign language |url=https://dictionary.crowlanguage.org/#/E/sign%20language |website=Crow Language Consortium |access-date=26 March 2025}}</ref>
** [[Dakota language|Dakota]]: '''Wikiyutapi'''<ref>{{cite web |title=language |url=https://dictionary.swodli.com/index.html |website=Dakota Online Dictionary |publisher=Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate Dakotah Language Institute |access-date=25 March 2025}}</ref>
** [[Ho-Chunk language|Ho-Chunk]]: '''Nąąp hoit’e'''<ref>{{cite web |title=sign language |url=https://dictionary.hochunk.org/#/E/sign%20language |website=Ho-Chunk Dictionary Online |publisher=Ho-Chunk Nation |access-date=25 March 2025}}</ref>
** [[Lakota language|Lakota]]: '''Wíyutȟapi'''
** [[Assiniboine language|Nakoda]]: '''Wíyutabi'''<ref>{{cite web |title=sign |url=https://indigenousknowledge.indiana.edu/resources/dictsearch/lib/testengltoxsrchNP.php?host=zia&pass=&hasfont=0&srchlang=English&srchstring=sign&database=assin&srchtype=OR&sortlang=English&sndformat=mp3&maxhits=200&find=Run_Search |website=Assiniboine Dictionary |publisher=Institute for Indigenous Knowledge |access-date=26 March 2025}}</ref>
** [[Stoney language|Stoney]]: '''Wowîhâ Îabi'''<ref>{{cite web |title=sign language |url=https://dictionary.stoneynakoda.org/#/E/sign%20language |website=The Stoney Dictionary |publisher=Stoney Education Authority |access-date=26 March 2025}}</ref>

*'''[[Uto-Aztecan languages]]:'''
** [[Comanche language|Comanche]]: '''Mootekwaʔpʉ̠''' / '''Moʔotekwapʉ̠'''<ref>{{cite web |title=sign language |url=https://www.webonary.org/comanche?s=sign&search=Search&key=en&semantic_domain=&search_options_set=1&match_whole_words=1 |website=Comanche Dictionary |publisher=Comanche Language and Cultural Preservation Committee |access-date=26 March 2025}}</ref>
** [[Ute dialect|Ute]]: '''Wanawmanik'''<ref>{{cite web |title=wanawmanik(i) |url=https://dictionary.utelanguage.org/#/L/wanawmanik(i) |website=Ute Dictionary Online |publisher=Ute Mountain Ute |access-date=25 March 2025}}</ref>
}}

== History ==
Hand Talk's history is intimately associated with both ancient and recent [[petroglyph]]s of the continent,<ref name="Glyphs"/> however, little is known to academia about Plains Sign Talk's historical antecedents. The earliest records of contact between Europeans and Indigenous peoples of the Gulf Coast region in what is now Texas and northern Mexico note a fully-formed sign language already in use by the time of the Europeans' arrival there.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Wurtzburg |first1=Susan |last2=Campbell |first2=Lyle |author2-link=Lyle Campbell |date=1995 |title=North American Indian Sign Language: Evidence of Its Existence before European Contact |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/1265726 |journal=[[International Journal of American Linguistics]] |volume=61 |issue=2 |pages=153–167 |doi=10.1086/466249 |jstor=1265726 |s2cid=144965865 |issn=0020-7071|url-access=subscription }}</ref> These records include the accounts of [[Cabeza de Vaca]] in 1527 and [[Francisco Vásquez de Coronado|Coronado]] in 1541.

Signing may have started in the south of North America, perhaps in northern Mexico or Texas, and only spread into the Plains in recent times, though this suspicion may be an artifact of European observation. It is known that there is a complex of [[Mayan Sign Language|Maya sign languages]] called ''Meemul Chʼaabʼal'' or ''Meemul Tziij'' in the [[Kʼicheʼ language]],<ref>{{cite web |last1=Valdata |first1=Patricia |title=Emerging Scholars: Navigating North and South for Native Knowledge |url=https://www.diverseeducation.com/home/article/15081534/emerging-scholars-navigating-north-and-south-for-native-knowledge |website=Diverse: Issues In Higher Education |access-date=15 March 2025}}</ref> but it is unknown to what extent Meemul Tziij has affected Hand Talk.

The Northwest is home to [[Plateau Sign Language]], which is either a single language or a family of sign languages spoken by the [[Indigenous peoples of the Northwest Plateau|local nations]]. It is also unknown how associated Plateau Sign Language is with Hand Talk, but it is probable that they are related. Although it is still spoken, especially by the [[Ktunaxa]], the Plateau nations historically shifted to using [[Chinook Jargon]] instead.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Flynn |first=Darin |date=August 16, 2017 |title=Indigenous sign languages in Canada |url=https://www.ucalgary.ca/people/darin-flynn/indigenous-sign-languages-in-Canada |access-date=March 14, 2025 |website=[[University of Calgary]]}}</ref>  

In recent years, the [[Oneida people|Oneida Nation]] has taken steps to revive their sign language. Historically, the nations of the Northeast Woodlands, like the [[Haudenosaunee]], spoke a variant of Hand Talk.{{sfnp|McKay-Cody|2019|p=29}} The [[Oneida Sign Language]] Project officially began in 2016, and more signs are being added to this day.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Oen |first1=Carlos |title=Fighting to Save Indigenous Sign Languages |url=https://thetyee.ca/News/2018/09/13/Fighting-Save-Indigenous-Sign-Languages/ |access-date=15 March 2025 |publisher=The Tyee |date=13 September 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Albert |first1=Ashley |title=Oneida sign language created to connect deaf community with their culture |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/london/oneida-sign-language-culture-deaf-1.4605295 |access-date=15 March 2025 |agency=CBC |date=15 April 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Oneida Sign Language |url=https://oneidalanguage.ca/learn-our-language/speak-oneidalanguage-now/oneida-sign-language/ |website=Oneida Language and Cultural Centre |publisher=Oneida Nation |access-date=15 March 2025}}</ref>

==Geography==
Sign language use has been documented across speakers of at least 37 spoken languages in twelve families,<ref name="Davis 2006">{{Cite book |last=Davis |first=Jeffrey E. |date=2006 |title=Multilingualism and Sign Languages: From the Great Plains to Australia |editor-last=Lucas |editor-first=Ceil| editor-link=Ceil Lucas| volume=12 |series=Sociolinguistics in Deaf Communities |chapter=A historical linguistic account of sign language among North American Indians| pages=3{{endash}}35 |location=Washington DC |publisher=[[Gallaudet University Press]]}}</ref> spread across an area of over 2.6 million square kilometres (1 million square miles).<ref name="McKay-Cody 1998" /><ref name="Davis,2010" /> In recent history, it was highly developed among the [[Crow people|Crow]], [[Cheyenne people|Cheyenne]], [[Arapaho people|Arapaho]] and [[Kiowa people|Kiowa]], among others, and remains strong among the Crow, Cheyenne and Arapaho.

The various nations with attested use, divided by language family, are:
*[[Algonquian languages|Algonquian]]: Anishinaabe, Arapaho, Blackfoot, Cheyenne, Cree, Gros Ventre
*[[Athabaskan languages|Athabaskan]]: Apache (Mescalero, Lipan, Jicarilla, and Kiowa Apache), Beaver, Navajo, Sarcee
*[[Caddoan languages|Caddoan]]: Arikara, Pawnee, Wichita
*[[Coahuiltecan languages|Coahuiltecan]]: [[Atakapa]], [[Coahuilteco]], [[Karankawa]], [[Tonkawa]]
*[[Iroquoian languages|Iroquoian]]: Haudenosaunee, Wendat 
*[[Numic languages|Numic]]: Comanche, Paiute, Shoshone, Ute
*[[Plateau Penutian languages|Penutian]]: [[Cayuse people|Cayuse]]
**[[Sahaptian languages|Sahaptian]]: Nez Perce, Palus, Sahaptin, Umatilla
*[[Piman languages|Piman]]: Pima, Papago, and continuing into northern Mexico
*[[Pueblo peoples|Puebloan]]: [[Hopi language|Hopi]], [[Keres language|Keresan]], [[Zuni language|Zuni]]
**[[Tanoan languages|Tanoan]]: [[Kiowa people|Kiowa]], [[Taos Pueblo|Taos]]
*[[Salish languages|Salishan]]: Coeur d'Alene, Flathead, Kalispel, Sanpoil, Spokane 
*[[Siouan languages|Siouan]]: Dakota, Crow, Hidatsa, Lakota, Mandan, Nakoda, Nakota, Omaha, Osage, Oto, Ponca
*[[Yuman languages|Yuman]]: Maricopa

Melanie R. McKay-Cody, a [[Cherokee]] Deaf woman and Hand Talk speaker/researcher, motions that "Plains" Sign Language is actually a family of inter-related languages extending beyond the [[Great Plains]]. She breaks down the regional languages as: Northeast Hand Talk (including [[Oneida Sign Language]]), Plains Sign Language, Great Basin Sign Language (spoken, for example, by the [[Ute people|Ute]]), and Southwest Hand Talk. She also notes a West Coast language spoken by the [[Chumash people|Chumash]], and she advances the idea that [[Inuit Sign Language]] has some relation to this complex of manual North American Indigenous languages. Unmentioned is Coast Salish Sign Language.<ref name="BCHSD"/> Within each of these languages, she explains that nations will themselves have specific dialects, such as the [[Blackfoot Confederacy|Blackfoot]].{{sfnp|McKay-Cody|2019|p=29}}<ref name=Blackfoot>{{cite web|url=http://www.blackfootcrossing.ca/language.html|title=Language|publisher=Blackfoot Crossing Historical Park|access-date=October 5, 2015}}</ref>

Southwest Hand Talk is spoken by the [[Navajo]], [[Hopi]], [[Apache]], and [[Pueblo peoples]]. However, amongst the Navajo and [[Keres people]], there are two unrelated sign languages also spoken: [[Keresan Sign Language]] and, by a Navajo clan with a large number of deaf members, [[Navajo Family Sign]].<ref name=Supalla>{{cite book | last = Supalla | first = Samuel J. | author-link = Samuel James Supalla | date = 1992 | title = The Book of Name Signs | page = 22 | isbn = 9780915035304 | publisher = DawnSignPress}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Davis |first1=Jeffrey |last2=Supalla |first2=Samuel |author2-link=Samuel James Supalla |date=1995 |chapter=A Sociolinguistic Description of Sign Language Use in a Navajo Family |editor-last=Lucas |editor-first=Ceil |editor-link=Ceil Lucas |title=Sociolinguistics in Deaf Communities |volume=1 |publisher=[[Gallaudet University Press]] |pages=77–106  |isbn=9781563680366}}</ref> Likewise, [[Plateau Sign Language]] may or may not be related to Hand Talk.

==Writing==
Hand Talk's writing system is picture-writing in the form of [[petroglyph]]s, [[pictograph]]s, and hieroglyphs.<ref name="Glyphs"/><ref>{{cite book |last1=King |first1=Thomas |title=The Truth About Stories: A Native Narrative |date=2008 |publisher=Univ. of Minnesota Press |location=Minneapolis |isbn=978-0816646272 |page=98}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Martineau |first1=LaVan |title=The Rocks Begin to Speak |date=1973 |publisher=KC Publications |location=Las Vegas |isbn=9780916122300}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Patterson-Rudolph |first1=Carol |title=Petroglyphs & Pueblo Myths of the Rio Grande |date=1993 |publisher=Avanu Publishing |location=Albuquerque |isbn=978-0936755137}}</ref> It is one of the few sign languages with a [[Sign language#Written forms|written form]]. As McKay-Cody writes (2019) of petroglyphic rock writing: "Although not necessarily linear, the pieces are pictographic narratives."{{sfnp|McKay-Cody|2019|p=25}} Cherokee-Greek author Thomas King dispels the myth that "all literature in the Americas [was only] oral" in his book ''The Truth About Stories, a Native Narrative''. "In fact, pictographic systems (petroglyphs, pictographs, and hieroglyphics) were used by a great many [nations] to commemorate events and to record stories."<ref>{{cite book |last1=King |first1=Thomas |title=The Truth About Stories, a Native Narrative |date=2003 |publisher=University of Minnesota Press |location=Minneapolis |isbn=978-0816646272 |page=98}}</ref>

Rock writing served a variety of purposes, from narratives to marking territory to locator signs akin to modern-day [[traffic signs|road signage]], the latter of which would be to indicate water sources, trails through canyons, and flash-flood zone warnings.{{sfnp|McKay-Cody|2019|p=105}} As Hand Talk is a visual-spatial language, its writing is similarly non-linear and visual.{{sfnp|McKay-Cody|2019|p=104}} In a study on writing in [[Ute people|Ute]] [[List of traditional territories of the Indigenous peoples of North America|Country]] (Núuchi Tuvupu),<ref>{{cite report |last1=O’Meara |first1=Sean |last2=Hopkins |first2=Maren P. |last3=Spears |first3=Michael C. |last4=Ferguson |first4=T. J. |title=Ute Ethnographic and Ethnobotanical Research in the Bonita Peak Mining District |url=https://www.southernute-nsn.gov/wp-content/uploads/sites/15/2021/07/Ute-Ethnographic-and-Ethnobotanical-Research-in-the-Bonita-Peak-Mining-District_FINAL_4-30-2021.pdf |publisher=Southern Ute Indian Tribe |work= Anthropological Research, LLC |location=Ignacio, Colorado, USA |page=47 |access-date=25 March 2025}}</ref> McKay-Cody points out that since the Hand Talk spoken in the Great Basin positions the past to the left and future to the right (as opposed to [[American Sign Language]] which positions the past and future as behind and in front of the signer, respectively), rock writing of the region often similarly represent narratives chronologically from left-to-right.{{sfnp|McKay-Cody|2019|p=115}} In contrast, [[Plains Indians|Plains]] and [[Uto-Aztecan languages|Uto-Aztecan]] nations sign, and thus read and write, the past and future from right-to-left, such as the Lakota [[winter counts]].{{sfnp|McKay-Cody|2019|p=139}} Elevation, size, and direction of individual petroglyphs also encode semantics such as temporal, spatial, and other concepts.{{sfnp|McKay-Cody|2019|p=116}}{{sfnp|McKay-Cody|2019|p=121}}

The [[logogram|logographic]] picture writing of Hand Talk blurs the lines between art and writing. Many signs were written in the way they were signed. For example, the word for "hungry" involves an upward-facing flat hand cutting across one's stomach. Written, its glyph is of a human with a line through their stomach.{{sfnp|McKay-Cody|2019|p=129}} However, deviating from the "standard" glyph, stylistic versions could also be drawn that are still readable to a Hand Talk speaker.{{sfnp|McKay-Cody|2019|p=167}}

Hand Talk was not isolated to petroglyphic rock writing. [[Anishinaabe]] [[wiigwaasabak|wiigwaasabakoon]] and Lakota [[Winter count|winter counts]] are examples of writings on birch bark scrolls and buffalo hides, respectively. It is unknown what relation, if any, [[Mi'kmaw hieroglyphs]] have with Hand Talk. During the era of colonization, Plains Sign Language was also written on paper. For example, a letter from the parents of an interned Kiowa student, Belo Cozad, was sent to [[Carlisle Indian School]] in Pennsylvania in 1890 from his parents.<ref name="blog.oup.com">{{cite web|url=https://blog.oup.com/2018/05/native-american-sign-language-us-mail/|title=Who put Native American sign language in the US mail?|website=OUPblog|publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]|date=May 9, 2018}}</ref>

==Phonology==
{{See also|American Sign Language phonology}}
{{multiple image
| align = right
| direction = 
| image1 = Mallery PISL handshapes a-l.png
| alt1 = Types of hand positions in sign language. Positions A through L. A: Fist, palm outward, horizontal. B: Fist, back outward, oblique upward. C: Clinched, with thumb extended against forefinger, upright, edge outward. D: Clinched, ball of thumb against middle of forefinger, oblique, upward, palm down. E: Hooked, thumb against end of forefinger, upright, edge outward. F: Hooked, thumb against side of forefinger, oblique, palm outward. G: Fingers resting against ball of thumb, back upward. H: Arched, thumb horizontal against end of forefinger, back upward. I: Closed, except forefinger crooked against end of thumb, upright, palm outward. J: Forefinger straight, upright, others closed, edge outward. K: Forefinger obliquely extended upward, others closed, edge outward. L: Thumb vertical, forefinger horizontal, others closed, edge outward.
| image2 = Mallery PISL handshapes m-y.png
| alt2 = Types of hand positions in sign language. Positions M through Y. M: Forefinger horizontal, fingers and thumb closed, palm outward. N: First and second fingers straight upward and separated, remaining fingers and thumb closed, palm outward. 0: Thumb, first and second fingers separated, straight upward, remaining fingers curved edge outward. P: Fingers and thumb partially curved upward and separated, knuckles outward. Q: Fingers and thumb, separated, slightly curved, downward. R: Fingers and thumb extended straight, separated, upward. S: Hand and fingers upright, joined, back outward. T: Hand and fingers upright, joined, palm outward. U: Fingers collected to a point, thumb resting in middle. V: Arched, joined, thumb resting near end of forefinger, downward. X: Hand horizontal, flat, palm upward. W: Hand horizontal, flat, palm downward. Y: Naturally relaxed, normal; used when hand simply follows arm with no intentional disposition.
| footer = [[Garrick Mallery]]'s original 1880 handshape glossary{{sfn|Mallery|1881}}
}}
[[La Mont West]], working under the guidance of [[Alfred Kroeber]] and [[Charles F. Voegelin]], was an early pioneer in not only the [[Phonology|phonological]] analysis of Plains Sign Language but [[American Sign Language phonology|sign language phonology]] in general. In his unpublished dissertation, he developed a notation system and analysed Plains Sign Language as having eighty-two [[phoneme]]s, which he called ''kinemes'', each being able to be broken down further in terms of [[Distinctive feature|features]]. He analyzed signs as [[Morphology (linguistics)|morphologically complex]] that others such as [[William Stokoe]] would analyze as [[Morpheme|monomorphemic]], and many of his findings were later rediscovered.<ref name="Hulst 2022">{{cite book|last=Hulst|first=Harry van der|author-link=Harry van der Hulst|date=2022|chapter=The (early) history of sign language phonology|editor1-last=Dresher|editor1-first=B. Elan|editor2-last=Hulst|editor2-first=Harry van der|title=The Oxford History of Phonology|publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]|pages=783{{ndash}}786|isbn=9781483346489}}</ref> His study of Plains Sign Language was taking place at the same time as Stokoe's seminal studies of [[American Sign Language phonology|ASL phonology]].<ref name="Davis,2010" />{{rp|page=85}}

West analyzed Plains Sign Language as having non-isolable phonemes classified as ''handshapes'', ''directions'', ''referents'', ''motions'' or ''motion-patterns'', and ''dynamics''. Four of these parallel the now widely recognized sign language parameters [[handshape]], [[orientation (sign language)|orientation]], [[location (sign language)|location]], and [[movement (sign language)|movement]], which arose out of Stokoe's and other researchers’ later work on a variety of sign languages. The fifth, dynamic, is unique to West's analysis, though it may be present in other sign languages as well. West argued that this analysis avoids the issue of having signs consisting of a single phoneme be composed of multiple morphemes:<ref name="West 1960">{{cite thesis|last=West|first=La Mont|author-link=La Mont West|date=1960|title=The Sign Language, An Analysis|url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/301872594|url-access=subscription|id={{ProQuest|301872594}}|publisher=[[Indiana University]]|degree=PhD|volume=I}}</ref>{{rp|page=5}}<ref name="Davis,2010" />{{rp|pages=134{{ndash}}135}}<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Tree |first=Erich Fox |date=2009 |title=Meemul Tziij: An Indigenous Sign Language Complex of Mesoamerica |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/26190558 |journal=Sign Language Studies |volume=9 |issue=3 |issn=0302-1475 |page=347|jstor=26190558 }}</ref>

*Direction—paralleling [[vowel]]s, there are eight distinctive directions, including the “directions” of either touching or being parallel to the referent. It can be combined with handshape to designate pointing or facing; with the referent, where it surfaces as placement; or with movement (i.e. motion dynamics), where it specifies the direction of movement.
*Handshape—paralleling [[consonant]]s, nine basic handshapes can be rounded or unrounded to form a total of 18 distinct handshapes.
*[[Referent]]—numbering 40, these account for the greater phonemic inventory of Plains Sign Language compared to most [[spoken language]]s. This can be a part of the hand, head, leg, body, or an external referent.
*Motion-patterns—there are four motion-patterns consisting of the shape of any movement.<ref name="West 1960" />{{rp|pages=10{{ndash}}16}}

A phoneme cannot occur in isolation, although a morpheme may consist of only one phoneme.<ref name="West 1960" />{{rp|page=6}}

===Dynamics===
There are twelve dynamic phonemes, working similarly to [[suprasegmental]]s like stress or [[tone (linguistics)|tone]] in that while every sign must be made with some speed or force, only certain ones are [[marked]]. Dynamics can either change the way another phoneme, like a handshape or motion, is [[Realization (linguistics)|realized]], or modify the entire [[#Phonotactics|package]] or sub-package.<ref name="West 1960" />{{rp|pages=5,15}}

====Phoneme-level dynamics====
{{glossary}}
{{term |1=Motion dynamic}}
{{defn |1=By default, the movement in a motion takes place at the elbow. A motion may be [[Articulatory gestures|articulated]] at the wrist instead, in which case it is said to have an additional phoneme combined with it called the motion dynamic. If wrist movement is done in addition to another movement, the motion dynamic has been combined with a long extent dynamic.<ref name="West 1960" />{{rp|page=37}} }}
{{term |1=Stress}}
{{defn |1=<p>There are two phonemic [[stress (linguistics)|stress]]es, [[Tenseness|tense and lax]], as well as the default unmarked stress. When combined with a handshape, these correspond respectively to [[Extension (anatomy)|over- and underextension]] of the hand’s extended parts compared to the basic handshape.</p>
<p>With motions, they characterize the motion as either strong and fast or weak and slow. A motion can also combine with two stress dynamics, with one specifying the tension of a motion as either tense or light, and the other the speed. When no stress dynamic is present, motions default to an intermediate force and speed, and tension is irrelevant.<ref name="West 1960" />{{rp|page=42}}</p>}}
{{term |1=Extent}}
{{defn |1=<p>The long and short phonemic extents represent [[length (phonetics)|length]]s in a variety of contexts. With a referent, they specify that the hand is held far from or close to the referent, relative to the default distance.</p>
<p>With a motion, they specify the length of the motion as long or short, with the default length being mid-length.<ref name="West 1960" />{{rp|page=42}} Lengthening a motion moves the articulation from the elbow to the shoulder.<ref name="West 1960" />{{rp|page=37}}</p>}}
{{defn |1=They may also combine with a stress dynamic or another extent dynamic, in which case they exaggerate them.}}
{{term |1=Rounding or diphthongizing}}
{{defn |1=<p>This non-phonemic dynamic serves two purposes. It is used with the unrounded handshapes to generate the rounded handshapes, like how [[voicing (phonetics)|voicing]] can generate voiced consonants from [[unvoiced]] ones.</p>
<p>It can also be used to [[diphthong]]ize any two directions to form a compromise direction midway between them, which West compared to [[doubly articulated consonants]]. He noted that while doubly articulated consonants are usually described as separate phonemes, the number of diphthongized pairs of directions in Plains Sign Language is too great to grant them all phonemic status.<ref name="West 1960" />{{rp|page=39}}</p>}}
{{glossary end}}

====Package-level dynamics====
{{glossary}}
{{term |1=Hand-specifiers}}
{{defn |1=By default, a sign can be made with either hand, though the right hand is more common. However, a sign can also be specified as being left-handed, made symmetrically with both hands, made in parallel with both hands, or made in parallel with both hands alternating.<ref name="West 1960" />{{rp|page=39}} }}
{{term |1=Package-repeaters}}
{{defn |1=A package can be repeated either exactly, progressively (starting where the last iteration ended), or erratically (with different, random directions each time).<ref name="West 1960" />{{rp|page=40}} }}
{{glossary end}}

===Phonotactics===
The smallest executable unit under West's analysis is called the ''package'', which he compared to the spoken [[syllable]]. A package must have exactly one [[nucleus (syllable)|nucleus]], a handshape and a direction, notated PO. A sub-package is defined as a single, non-diphthongized direction and its associated non-direction phonemes.<ref name="West 1960" />{{rp|page=70}}

There are almost no restrictions on the co-occurrence of members of different phonemic classes within a package, especially between handshapes, directions, motion-classes, and dynamics. Since some referents are quite rare, it is difficult to tell whether there are limits to their combinatorial privileges.<ref name="West 1960" />{{rp|page=18}}

[[Consonant cluster|Clusters]] of multiple phonemes of the same class within a package are, in contrast, heavily restricted. Handshapes rarely cluster, referents never do, and clustering between dynamics is limited by sub-class and extremely infrequent. Motion-patterns can only form clusters of two, where one of the motion-patterns must be oscillation/vibration.<ref name="West 1960" />{{rp|page=42}} The phonemic class with the most combinatorial privilege is the direction; any two directions may be clustered using the [[diphthong]]izing dynamic.<ref name="West 1960" />{{rp|page=18}}

===Phonological processes===
The possible forms of signs are heavily constrained.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Voegelin |first=C. F. |date=1958 |title=Sign Language Analysis, on One Level or Two? |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/1264173 |journal=International Journal of American Linguistics |volume=24 |issue=1 |pages=71–77 |doi=10.1086/464434 |jstor=1264173 |s2cid=143152073 |issn=0020-7071|url-access=subscription }}</ref>{{rp|page=71}} Most signs are one-handed, including all [[Function word|function]] signs,<ref name="Kroeber, 1958">{{Cite journal |last=Kroeber |first=A. L. |date=1958 |title=Sign Language Inquiry |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/1264168 |journal=International Journal of American Linguistics |volume=24 |issue=1 |pages=1–19 |doi=10.1086/464429 |jstor=1264168 |s2cid=144797783 |issn=0020-7071|url-access=subscription }}</ref>{{rp|page=11}} and these one-handed signs can be divided into static signs or those with movement. Two-handed signs are limited to signs where both hands are still, where one hand stays still and the other moves, or where both hands move. When both hands move, they move together in either parallel or intersecting motion.<ref name="Kroeber, 1958" />{{rp|pages=2{{ndash}}3}}<ref name="Davis,2010" />{{rp|page=96}} The prevalence of one-handed signs in [[auxiliary sign language]]s like Plains Sign Language may be [[Linguistic typology|typological]], as [[primary sign language]]s tend to prefer two-handed signs.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Etxepare |first1=Ricardo |last2=Irurtzun |first2=Aritz |date=2021-05-10 |title=Gravettian hand stencils as sign language formatives |journal=Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences |language=en |volume=376 |issue=1824 |doi=10.1098/rstb.2020.0205 |issn=0962-8436 |pmc=8059529 |pmid=33745310}}</ref>

These constraints parallel the [[American Sign Language phonology#Phonotactics|Symmetry and Dominance Conditions]] later found in ASL. The Symmetry Condition requires that two-handed signs in which both hands move must be symmetrical in motion, while the Dominance Condition says that in two-handed signs involving two different handshapes, the passive hand is limited to certain movements and handshapes.<ref name="Davis,2010" />{{rp|page=96}} Preliminary analysis has shown that Plains Sign Language seems to adhere to these conditions, and also favours [[unmarked]] handshapes.<ref name="Davis,2010" />{{rp|pages=139{{ndash}}140}}

West describes extensive [[Allophone|allophony]], the [[Phonetic environment|conditioning environments]] of which can be highly specific.<ref name="West 1960" />{{rp|page=43}}

===Prosody===
Users of Plains Sign Language show extensive [[prosodic]] structure, which West divided into syllable-like packages and sub-packages, [[word]]-like individual signs, [[sentence (linguistics)|sentence]]-like phrases, and paragraph-like [[utterance]]s. Except for the [[#Phonotactics|package]] and in stark contrast to most [[deaf sign languages]], where signs often flow freely into each other, the boundaries of each of these [[prosodic unit]]s are consistently marked with one of three [[juncture]]s:

{{glossary}}
{{term |1=Paragraph-final juncture}}
{{defn |1=The hands are crossed or folded over the lower stomach if standing, or in the lap if sitting.}}
{{term |1=Phrase-final juncture}}
{{defn |1=<p>The hands move partway towards the paragraph-final juncture position but recoil before reaching it.</p>
<p>Two variants have the hands clasped near the chest or, if sitting, the palms lightly touched to the thighs, though this variant is rarer. Either of the two variants can be made emphatic, in which case a strong and audible clap or slap is made instead. The emphatic variants are more common in the northern Plains [[dialect]]s of [[Saskatchewan]] and northern [[Alberta]].</p>}}
{{term |1=Sign-final juncture}}
{{defn |1=The hands recoil slightly toward the chest or shoulder, or alternatively, a slight pause is made. The pause variant may be a marker of casual conversation as opposed to what speakers described as a more elegant [[register (sociolinguistics)|register]].}}
{{glossary end}}

The paragraph-final juncture exclusively marks the beginnings and ends of complete utterances, each having approximately the length and content of a paragraph. It may be [[Elision|dropped]] at the beginning of an utterance.

The paragraph- and phrase-final junctures can be used [[Free variation|interchangeably]] between signs. The paragraph-final juncture is more frequently used to separate list items and complete, sentence-like ideas, while the phrase-final juncture is preferred after incomplete ideas or [[Dangling modifier|dangling clauses]] and is more likely to appear everywhere else.

Any signs not separated by either the paragraph- or phrase-final juncture are [[Productivity (linguistics)|near-universally]] separated by the sign-final juncture, as well as packages within an open [[compound (linguistics)|compound]], where multiple signs are used as a unit to refer to some idea or thing. Paragraph- and phrase-final junctures are extremely rare within open compounds. The largest units not separated by a juncture at all are unit signs, which can be a single package, a package and a handshape or terminal referent, a repeated package, or a closed compound, where multiple signs form a new sign.<ref name="West 1960" />{{rp|pages=53{{endash}}56}}

==See also==
*[[Plateau Sign Language]]
*[[Oneida Sign Language]]
*[[American Sign Language]]
*[[Indigenous peoples of the Americas]]
*[[Indigenous peoples of the Northeastern Woodlands]]
*[[Indigenous peoples of the Great Basin]]

==References==

{{Reflist|2}}

{{refbegin|indent=yes}}
* {{cite book
 |last=Mallery |first=Garrick
 |year=1881
 |chapter=Sign Language Among North American Indians Compared with That Among Other Peoples and Deaf-Mutes
 |pages=263–552
 |title=First Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 1879-1880
 |publisher=Government Printing Office
 |location=Washington
 |chapter-url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/85295#page/397/mode/1up
}}
{{refend}}

==Further reading==
* {{cite book
 |last=Clark |first=William Philo
 |year=1885
 |title=The Indian Sign Language
 |url={{google books URL|qdVCq3JWTZQC}}
 |via=[[Google Books]]
}}

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