Sign Language from Another People, Another Time
We probably have a lot of wrong information in our heads about how American Indians actually lived from the movies and TV. One thing that stands out of you watch a "western" is usually when an Indian shows up in a scene, he or she communicates to the other characters in a form of sign language and there is always an "Indian guide" or trapper who understands what was said and lets us in on it.
Of course now that we are trying to be more culturally sensitive, we recognize that old time western movies got it wrong a lot about Native American life as it really was. In this effort not to use such stereotypes, its easy also to think that the sign language scenes we remembered were also just made up for the sake of the movie to make Indians look exotic and a little scary.
It might be surprising to find out that some of the ways that Indians are portrayed in the movies has some basis in fact and that is true about how they communicated long before they had to talk to European peoples. Each Native American tribe that dwelt where our states now are had a very unique culture and language that were as distinct as the Germans are from the Chinese. Because the distances between where the tribes lived were relatively far off, the languages of the Native American tribes were distinct and often not understood between the tribes.
If you studied Native American history in school, you also know that the tribes of North American were "nomadic" meaning they moved their place of habitat based on the weather, how much food could be found, disease or perhaps the abundance of enemies in one locale. So even though the tribes were separate cultures, they did come across each other on the plains from time to time. But contrary to the movies, many times these meetings were friendly and mutually supportive because both tribes had similar challenges in making their way in a sometimes hostile environment.
So in order to do some basic communications to get around the language barriers, a Native American sign language was developed so each tribe could speak to the other tribes when there was need for cooperation or negotiation. So when tribal leadership met to discuss territory issues or to learn from one another, this Native American sign language was about more than just saying hello. Being able to help one other was a vital way that all of the Native American tribes survived and prospered.
People who study history and language have determined that this Native American sign language was not just kept in reserve for when the tribes came across each other. It was refined and used quite a bit within tribal life to communicate important information when speaking was not possible such as when hunting for food or when spying on an enemy.
Looking back and imagining how Native Americans used sign language is interesting and fun. And it's instructive that their sign language grew naturally in their culture as part of a need to learn to live in harmony with neighbors and to cooperate with others so the tribes prospered and got though hard times by working together.
And it's helpful also to learn about other cultures because so often you will make a friend who is from that culture and knowing a little bit about their history makes you a more informed citizen and a better friend as well.
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