Centuries before the development of American Sign Language, Native American Sign Language, also known as Hand Talk, was developed. It contains four essential elements: hand location, hand movement, hand shape, and hand orientation:
1. Hand Location: This pertains to the positioning of a sign in space. The sign’s meaning is altered if positioned in a different area, such as in front of one’s face as opposed to in front of the chest.
2. Hand Movement: This involves how one's hands move when forming a sign. As an example, in Hand Talk, the signs “afternoon” and “mid-day” are produced in the same way. The only variation is that mid-day is stationary, and afternoon shifts from above the head to the side of one's head in an arching motion.
3. Handshape: Each sign forms a unique shape in the hand, referred to as a handshape. The handshapes of signs are essential factors. To illustrate, the signs for “yes” and “I know” are identical in most respects with the exception of the handshape; in “yes” the hand forms the characteristic J shape, and in “I-know” the hand makes the L shape.
4. Orientation: This refers to palm position which is evident within the Hand Talk words “above” and “add.” Both signs involve using the left-hand to create a base, from which the right-hand rises, and both have similar locations, movements, and handshapes. However, when signing “above,” the non-dominant hand is positioned palm down, and with “add” the non-dominant hand is palm up.
Hand Talk’s Impact on American Sign Language
No one individual can take recognition for creating American Sign Language. Its heritage goes straight back to the early Nineteenth century, when varieties of signs developed in New England’s Deaf local communities. And throughout the latter portion of that century, Hand Talk influenced the formation of ASL, but historians generally ignore this fact.
Hand Talk has regional versions that exist all over North America. These include a northeastern version that ranges over the present-day New England, upper Midwest, and Mid-Atlantic states. Experts consider this version of Hand Talk substantially influenced the development of American Sign Language. This influence came about in the Nineteenth century through the signing of Native American children that attended the American School for the Deaf in Hartford, Connecticut. A web based video titled “The Hidden History of “Hand Talk” presents convincing data for Hand Talk’s influence on ASL and US culture.
Even so, despite its once-large quantity of users and powerful influence on American Sign Language, Hand Talk is at a decline. This particular outcome is due to the widespread depopulation and Americanization of Indigenous North Americans over the past Two hundred years. For example, in 1885, approximately 110,000 Blackfoot, Cheyenne, Sioux, Kiowa, Arapaho, and other tribal peoples used Native American Sign Language or Hand Talk. Although by the 1960s, only a portion of this number remained. And in the Twenty-first century, few active Hand Talk users remained.
Such as the other native languages of North America, Native American Sign Language is endangered. But while the volume of fluent signers may be minimal, the language is still being used to varying degrees by a few individuals of Siouan and Algonquian tribes.
Additionally, activists like Deaf Cherokee researcher Dr. Melanie McKay-Cody of Arizona are working diligently to help keep North American Hand Talk alive. Dr. McKay-Cody works with tribal groups to help them maintain their signed languages. She additionally encourages for Hand Talk to be integrated into the mainstream education of Deaf and Hard of hearing students. It is anticipated that this kind of efforts will help Hand Talk to live on. In this manner, forthcoming generations can continue to utilize and enjoy the language and appreciate the rich cultural tradition from which it originated.
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