Module 13: Revitalizing Languages

Sign Language Needs Revitalization Too!

Aidan Gibbs

                When most of us think about American Indian languages, we often think about spoken languages like Navajo, Lakota, or others. Personally, unaware of the history of non-spoken languages, I often unconsciously think of signed language as a relatively modern communication form, that might only recently have become well used and regulated. It was surprising, then, to realize that American Indian languages do not only include spoken languages, but also signed languages, and that these signed languages, like many American Indian languages, are at risk of becoming dormant or extinct. American Indian signed language users are no less concerned about the future of their languages, and revitalizing them comes with its own set of unique issues.

                One formerly common sign language in North America is Plains Indian Sign Language (PISL), briefly discussed in one of our course modules. Today, only about 100 users are thought to be alive, but it was once used by many different cultures and groups across the plains of North America, all the way from Texas to Canada (Davis 544). So many groups used varieties of it because, in addition to being a first language for the deaf, it was the lingua franca of the plains, a way for all people to communicate without needing to speak the same languages (Hilleary). According to Brenda Farnell, PISL likely became prevalent because it is natural for humans who cannot communicate vocally to resort to gestures, which then could become standardized. Additionally, no Plains Indian group became dominant enough for their language to take hold in a lingua franca role, so PISL became the de facto method (Farnell).

PISL is at least hundreds of years old, with other American Indian sign languages being documented by the Spanish almost from the beginning of colonization (Hilleary). Unfortunately, like other spoken American Indian languages, PISL was heavily damaged by government boarding schools and policies meant to destroy them (Davis 544). One might conclude it is lucky PISL exists today at all. According to Jeffrey Davis, “PISL has survived due to the pivotal role it has played for many generations, spanning a range of linguistic communities…” (546). Still, we are left in the present with a few handfuls of people capable of using PISL.

Like spoken language, signed language contains a variety of knowledge about human experience, the world, and the ways humans communicate, so losing PISL, or any signed language, would be a major loss to the cultural heritage of humanity. Keeping a sign language from disappearing can be both easier and more difficult than spoken languages in different aspects. They can be easier to teach, in that gestures are easier to learn than pronunciations, which we have learned in this course can be difficult to hear for second language learners (Farnell). However, just like spoken languages, sign languages struggle to find meaningful use when dominant communication forms like English or American Sign Language are much more prevalent. They can also be difficult to record, as the best dictionary often comes in the form of videos of the gestures, which has only become easy to do in the modern era. A retired army general, Hugh Scott, tried to create a movie dictionary of PISL in 1930 by organizing and recording a meeting of many PISL users from different tribes. His footage was only discovered many years later, and he died before completing the project (Hilleary). While signed languages can be easier to learn, they can also be more difficult to record and find use.

Today, PISL can find use both with the hearing impaired, but also with the larger Plains Indian community. Hearing impaired community members have been a great resource for revitalization, as they have remembered the language longer than hearing members have. Hearing members, like Ron Garritson, have also been able to recall and find interest in PISL based on experience with hearing impaired relatives from the past who used it (Hilleary). For the Plains Indian community as a whole, PISL is now mainly being used for storytelling (Farnell). The website PISLresearch.com contains many videos of traditional stories being told with PISL. PISL use can accompany spoken language in these cases. In this way, PISL can hopefully maintain use into the future.

               

Works Cited

Davis, Jeffrey. 2016. The Linguistic Vitality of American Indian Sign Language: Endangered, yet Not Vanished. Sign Language Studies. 16. 4. 536-562.

Farnell, Brenda. 2006. Plains Indian Sign Language. Journal for the anthropological study of human movement. 14. 2. 106-107.

Hilleary, Cecily. 2017. Native American Hand Talkers Fight to Keep Sign Language Alive. Voice of America News. https://www.voanews.com/a/native-american-hand-talker-fight-to-keep-signed-language-alive/3794333.html. Accessed April 18, 2017.