Aboriginal Sign Languages of The Americas and Australia: Volume 1; North America Classic Comparative PerspectivesThomas Albert Sebeok, D. Umiker-Sebeok 1. THE SEMIOTIC CHARACTER OF ABORIGINAL SIGN LANGUAGES In our culture, language, especially in its spoken manifestation, is the much vaunted hallmark of humanity, the diagnostic trait of man that has made possible the creation of a civilization unknown to any other terrestrial organism. Through our inheritance of a /aculte du langage, culture is in a sense bred inta man. And yet, language is viewed as a force wh ich can destroy us through its potential for objectification and classification. According to popular mythology, the naming of the animals of Eden, while giving Adam and Eve a certain power over nature, also destroyed the prelinguistic harmony between them and the rest of the natural world and contributed to their eventual expulsion from paradise. Later, the post-Babel development of diverse language families isolated man from man as weIl as from nature (Steiner 1975). Language, in other words, as the central force animating human culture, is both our salvation and damnation. Our constant war with words (Shands 1971) is waged on both internal and external battlegrounds. This culturally determined ambivalence toward language is particularly appar ent when we encounter humans or hominoid animals who, for one reason or another, must rely upon gestural forms of communication. |
Contents
Introduction to the Study of Sign Language among the North | 1 |
Sign Language | 19 |
The Indian Sign Language in Indian Education | 27 |
Copyright | |
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Aboriginal Sign Languages of The Americas and Australia: Volume 1; North ... D. Umiker-Sebeok No preview available - 2012 |
Common terms and phrases
aboriginal sign languages Absaroka Apache Apache II Arapaho Arikara back of hand back outward backward Ballard brought Burton chest Cheyenne circle clinched Comanche Comanche III curved Dakota Dakota IV Dakota VI Deaf-mute natural elevated expressed extended forefinger extended index eyes fingers and thumb fingers closed fingers extended fingers pointing fist flexed front of body gesture hand closed hand forward hand held hand horizontal hand in front hand outward Hasenstab head Hold the left imitate index-finger Indians indicate Kaiowa left breast left hand Mallery Mandan and Hidatsa middle finger motion mouth move the hand movement obliquely Ojibwa Omaha Oto and Missouri palm downward palm upward pantomimic pass Place the hands pointing forward pointing upward position right index right side Sahaptin second fingers semiotic Shoshoni and Banak shoulder slightly spoken language thumb and forefinger tips touching tribes United States Army upright ward Wichita Wichita II Wied wrist Wyandot