Every one talking with another person who speaks a different language
will, in his effort to make himself understood, quite surely make some use
of signs. Often the signs so used will seem naturally to express the
desired idea. Once, a Tonkaway Indian in trying to tell me that all white
men were untruthful, put the first two fingers of his right hand, slightly
separated, near his mouth and then moved the hand downward and outward, at
the same time slightly spreading the fingers. By this he meant to say that
white men had two tongues, or were liars. They say one thing and mean
another.
While it is natural for all people to use signs to convey meaning, the use
of signs will be most frequent where it is a common thing for several
people speaking different languages to come into contact. While all
American Indians use some gestures, the Plains Indians, who were
constantly meeting other tribes, necessarily made much use of them. In
fact, a remarkable sign language had grown up among them, whereby Sioux,
Crows, Assinaboines, Pani, Arapahoes, Cheyennes, Kiowas, could readily
converse upon any subject.
It is not probable that the sign language was invented by any one tribe.
Many writers have claimed that it was made by the Kiowas. Rather, it grew
up of itself among the tribes because gesturing is natural to peoples
everywhere.
Deaf-mutes left to themselves always use signs. These signs are of two
kinds. They either picture or copy some idea, thing, or action, or they
point out something. It is interesting to find that the gestures made by
deaf-mutes and Indians are often the same. So true is this, that
deaf-mutes and Indians quite readily understand each other’s signs.
Parties of Indians in Washington for business are sometimes taken to the
Deaf-Mute College to see if the two—Indians and deaf-mutes—can understand
each other. While they cannot understand every sign, they easily get at
each other’s meaning. One time a professor from a deaf-mute school, who
knew little of Indians and nothing at all of Indian languages, had no
difficulty while traveling through Indian country in understanding and in
making himself understood by means of signs.
[Illustration.]