The hidden history of “Hand Talk”

The hidden history of an ancient language.
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Centuries before we had American Sign Language, Native sign languages, broadly known as “Hand Talk,” were thriving across North America. Hand Talk would be influential in the formation of American Sign Language. But it has largely been written out of history.
One of these Hand Talk variations, Plains Indian Sign Language, was used so widely across the Great Plains that it became a lingua franca - a universal language used by both deaf and hearing people to communicate among tribes that didn’t share a common spoken language. At one point, tens of thousands of indigenous people used Plains Indian Sign Language, or PISL, for everything from trade to hunting, conflict, storytelling, and rituals.
But by the late 1800s, the federal government had implemented a policy that would change the course of indigenous history forever: a violent boarding school program designed to forcibly assimilate indigenous children into white American culture - a dark history that we’re still learning more about to this day.
Because of a forced “English-only” policy, the boarding school era is one of the main reasons we lost so many Native signers - along with the eventual dominance of ASL in schools for the deaf.
Today, there are just a handful of fluent PISL signers left in the US. In the piece above we hear from two of these signers who have dedicated their lives to studying and revitalizing the language. They show us PISL in action, and help us explore how this ancient language holds centuries of indigenous history.
Note: The headline on this piece has been updated.
Previous headline: Before American Sign Language, we had "Hand Talk"
Read more from Melanie McKay-Cody on the history of Plains Indian Sign Language: shareok.org/ha...
Check out Lanny Real Bird’s videos: / @lannyrealbird9015
Much of the footage of the 1930 Indian Sign Language Council isn’t online, but check out some of it here: commons.wikime...
Here are some original books we reference on sign talk: archive.org/de...
archive.org/de...
The Smithsonian holds lots of photos and archives on Plains Indian Sign Language like this: www.si.edu/obj...
Sarah Klotz on how Native American boarding schools like Carlisle contributed to the loss of PISL: constell8cr.com.... She references archives that shows how students continued to use sign language like this one from the Carlisle Indian School Digital Resource Center: carlisleindian...
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[@Vox]

Here's a bit of history we couldn't fit into the piece: During the late-1800s, the push to assimilate indigenous people into white America paralleled another movement: the push to assimilate deaf people into "speaking" culture. It was called "oralism." Proponents - like Alexander Graham Bell (www.gallaudet.edu/history-through-deaf-eyes/online-exhibition/language-and-identity/the-influence-of-alexander-graham-bell/) - deemed sign language "uncivilized," and pushed for lip reading and spoken, English education. By 1880 they even passed an international resolution that banned sign language education. Though this resolution mostly affected white schools - it wasn't until almost 100 years later that ASL would be recognized as a fully formed language. But as we reported in the piece, there was no big renaissance of Plains Indian Sign Language at that time. Native hearing students were forced to speak English in boarding schools, and Native deaf students, in many cases, were forced to replace PISL with ASL. -Ranjani

[@lyrablack8621]

Thanks!

[@edwinjohn4472]

I have a question. Why didn't they have a spoken language to begin with? Also, how is it that there were so many different groups of people living so distant from each other, but still they had a single universal sign language?

[@lindaj5492]

Oralism has also been pushed in the UK. It seems to me to be a form of cultural imperialism, removing choice from parents and their children.

[@wolflegion_]

@@edwinjohn4472 they had spoken languages, just far more varied making it an ineffective way of communicating with other tribes. As to why communication between tribes is easier with a sign based language? Because a lot of it is based on intuitive visual representations of the meaning. A very basic example, I can’t speak Chinese, but pointing at myself will mean “me” to both me and a Chinese person. Once they have a few basic intuitive signs, it’s easier to keep expanding sign language then to learn each other’s spoken language.

[@incoherentlogic228]

Thank you for making a video about this, and for including mention of residential schools. Don’t mince words, though. Residential schools were genocide. No qualifiers. Cultural genocide is genocide. And we’re finding child graves at these schools now, too.

[@TheMedicatedArtist]

It’s amazing how the tribes used sign language to overcome language barriers. It seems incredibly innovative for the time, especially since most signs are self-explanatory.

[@kimfrankwatson4688]

I think it also signifies how often they would interact with each other, to have the language be sustained.

[@davidonfim2381]

Once you know what they are, many of the signs make sense. That's very different from them being "self-explanatory".

I’d say it STILL feels innovative! I haven’t seen anything alike in all those fantasy and science fiction works in the mainstream out there, and they nowadays feature some carefully thought out constructed-languages and fictional cultures. PISL is truly fascinating!

[@sagichdirdochnicht4653]

@@davidonfim2381 If you ever encountered a deaf person, you'd know that many signs are selfe explanatory. Maybe not the signs individually, but more often then not, you will be able do understand very, very basic questions / sentences. On the other Hand, you can not "speak" ASL, neither can I. However you'd be surprised if you ever met a deaf person, how much they understand, when you actually try. No, you will not use anything remotely standardized, but they'll figure it out. Another Test.... Talk to people that don't understand your language. It's not perfect. But surprisingly, everyone who trys to shop for something in vaccation will be able to get the Items, because the Shopkeepers will be able to somewhat figure out what you want and vise versa. Nope, you will not be able to have discussions about recent politics, philosophy or science. Those Topics are to complex to talk about in an unknown language. But you should be able to ask anyone upon this world how they feel, where the next Toilet is, or what Time of Day it is.

[@lizc6393]

@ Have you read "Click, Whistle, Pulse" by any chance?

[@usenglishwithnativeenglish3820]

I'm an enrolled member of the Northern Cheyenne tribe. My father was fluent in Cheyenne and plains Indian sign language, as he learned both long before learning English. I miss him. RIP, daddy

[@katherinedelacruz9876]

Did he teach it to you? Sorry for your loss he sounds like an amazing person!

[@SlightlyDisturbed123]

I lost my father recently. I know the pain; I'm so sorry for your loss. Your father sounds like an amazing man.

[@robertogiovanelli1709]

What about the young cheyennes , they still talk cheyenne language ?

[@usenglishwithnativeenglish3820]

@@robertogiovanelli1709 some do. It was illegal to speak our own language up until 1979.

[@robertogiovanelli1709]

@@usenglishwithnativeenglish3820 🙏 thanks Italian people love cheyennes

[@ForestRaptor]

The fact that Hand Talk was essentially transcribed into text/glyph form and knowing Hand Talk allows you to understand the text is jaw dropping to me. It's the kind of thing that would help decipher many a written language that no longer have anyone to read them!

[@xPeachSweetTea]

There's an Indigenous scholar, Erich Fox Tree, who studied how Mayan Sign Language was used in their writing system on temples and stuff, and where previous researchers assumed there was gaps in the text it was filled in with the position of the figure on the tablet/wall completed the sentences. He just had to interview the Deaf locals and they were like "oh yeah, that says eclipse" etc. So much was forcibly lost when getting rid of culturally fluent speakers/signers!

[@justanawkwardnerd]

It was one of the best parts of the video for me! Such a cool concept that made me want to do double-takes on glyphs - how many of those old texts actually depict an action or something of the like? So cool!

[@kmj2000]

I knew of the PISL and I knew about the glyphs but the connection between the two was completely new to me!

[@pentapenta9898]

@@xPeachSweetTeawhat’s the name of that video you’re talking about from that scholar Enrich fox tree?? Can I have it?

[@madisonhernandez1757]

What is the most mind blowing aspect of this to me is as a ASL student of 8 years that took many Deaf History courses I never ONCE heard of Hand Talk. The language crafted around this language, the culture that fought for The world to hear and validate Deaf history completely wrote out their Deaf Indigenous population that crafted their language. And I finally realised how deep my culture had been written out of the history I was taught my whole life

[@jeremyburke1986]

My sign language classes wrote "Indian Sign Language" off as a code not a language. The development of ASL was explained as a combination of French Sign Language and "home-signs" from kid's families. Other than family creativity/necessity, I guess "home-signs" can include anything from Indian Sign Language, to Benedictine Sign Language, to the Martha's Vineyard community.

[@madisonhernandez1757]

@@jeremyburke1986 often that was how it was explained in class as well. But I can definitely see the similarities between Hank Talk and ASL

[@krono5el]

you wont believe how many things are Native to the Americas after you've been told so long they are from a whole different hemisphere of the planet.

[@colorbugoriginals4457]

@@TheDogGoesWoof69 why shouldn't it be taught?

[@colorbugoriginals4457]

@@TheDogGoesWoof69 what does that mean?

[@oro7114]

linguistic genocide/the destruction of peoples native language is something that truly horrifies me

[@trufu9678]

How about the reclassification of “black” people. We were the people who taught the natives because we were being genocided on our land

[@daveunbelievable6313]

true, the way we think is coded by our language, it's the software for our brains. Take that away and how much of a people is left, if they are made to think in the ways of an outside group?

[@daveunbelievable6313]

To me, actual ancestry is not necessarily important. I'm English, with mostly English ancestry, although I have a distant Irish great-great-grandfather on my dad's side. I never knew that until recently, the fact that one of my distant ancestors was Irish has shaped me in no way. But the people who created the environment in which I live and the language I speak did have an impact, their impact is felt in every way I express myself. I am English, and I wouldn't feel any different if I found out I was adopted from a french couple and had no ancestry here.

[@trufu9678]

@@daveunbelievable6313 bots are so annoying

[@ItSpiatz]

@@daveunbelievable6313 You don't know if you would feel any different unless you were actually adopted though, saying that is very different from actually experiencing that.

[@icecp4279]

As a learner of Chinese it amazes me that "hand talk" has similarities to Chinese such as the lack of an alphabet, measuring months by moons (月), and the use of compound words. Even the Chinese word for war (大战) has the same literal translation as hand talk. Just shows how big and small our world is.

[@PHlophe]

similar to a number of african languages. some have whole languages that bridge de 2

[@andrasfogarasi5014]

But the English words "month" and "moon" are also cognates. They both originate from the Proto-Indo-European word "méh₁n̥ss". As for other languages: German has the cognates "Monat" and "Mond". Turkish has "ay" to refer to both. Hungarian has "hónap" and "hold", of which the former is derived from the latter. Zulu has "inyanga" to refer to both. Hawaiian has "mahina" to refer to both. _It's almost as if months were based on moon cycles and languages across the word either developed words to reflect that._

[@DavidPumpernickel]

@@andrasfogarasi5014 True, but the latter point still holds.

[@c2jones]

@ Ice CP Remember, the American indigenous people were originally from the Mongolian stepps who came to America via the bering strait. The forming of tribal nations came well thereafter.

[@c2jones]

@@BEAKERBOT You are massively mistaken. The overwhelming evidence, including DNA, proves the migration from the Mongolian steppe (greater Siberia) onto the Americas. You could stand to hone in and focus upon your points of contention publicly. The study you refer to only questions the Japanese origins. Not the Siberian. Right from the (one) article you site: The "lead author, Professor Richard Scott, a recognized expert in the study of human teeth, who led a team of multidisciplinary researchers, said: "We do not dispute the idea that ancient Native Americans arrived via the Northwest Pacific coast -- only the theory that they originated with the Jomon people in Japan. "These people (the Jomon) who lived in Japan 15,000 years ago are an unlikely source for Indigenous Americans. Neither the skeletal biology or the genetics indicate a connection between Japan and the America. The most likely source of the Native American population appears to be Siberia." The bering strait migration has not been disputed. Only the origin. To be sure, they were Mongolian and not Japanese. That's all.

[@Safrout007]

he said at 4:40 "how many winters are you?", and i was amazed by that as an Arab, because we ask similar questions like: "how many autumns are you?" and "how many springs are you?"

[@SteinGauslaaStrindhaug]

Each culture probably chose to count whatever season is most distinctive. Nearer the poles the winter is very distinctive with frost and snow, and at least where I grew up in Norway all the other seasons are much less sharply delineated; spring varies a lot depending on how long the snow melting takes (which depends on how intense the winter snow was) and just suddenly becomes summer once all the snow has cleared that gradually gets colder until it's suddenly winter (sometimes without even the leaves on the trees having time to fall to the ground; so often they stay on until the first snowfall). In tropical areas with monsoon theres mostly just two seasons wet and dry; and I guess the wet season is most distinctive? I guess areas with seasonal flooding might measure time by that. Is that maybe why Arabic culture uses spring or autumn? Or is it simply easier to measure the spring or fall equinoxes than anything else there?

[@ashikana21]

We go by winter when telling our ages because of how difficult winter seasons can be, at least for the two communities I come from. Your age comes from how many winters you survive. ❤

[@SičhaŋǧuWičhaša]

@@ashikana21Héčhetu. (That is correct) By how many winters you survived is how my tribe counts age. Waníyetu [ni]tóna hwo. Winters [you]how-many + masc. ques. marker =?

[@nw2kr8bc3t]

I think the thing that is so fascinating to me about sign language is how easy it is to pick up. In just this ten minute video had me making the gestures shown and communicating basic concepts and imitating the simple sentences they used as examples. I might try and learn basic ASL and Hand Talk because of this video.

[@lanye2708]

I think that may just be a you thing haha. go for it though!

[@Charliefarley170287]

Learning BSL I’ve found a lot of signs are quite literal so it’s quite easy. Go for it! Even if you never use it at least you’ve made the effort to learn it.

[@squirrelsinmykoolaid]

Sign languages are not any easier to pick up than spoken languages. Dont perpetuate the stereotype that sign languages are simple. They are complex and have grammatical systems you cant just pick up through a ten minute video as an adult.

[@kayborndadon4009]

@@squirrelsinmykoolaid You are absolutely right. When people are taught a language they most often than not learn that the people who speak that language don't speak the "Classroom" way. Sign language is the same that many who use it don't use "Classroom" sign language.

[@KHobbies_cina]

yeah basic yes , but speed and reading the signs when youre in a full conversation is pretty difficult to catch , lots of slangs and culture-know-how needed

[@amiaswolfgang]

I am an ASL-user myself (semi-mute and hard of hearing if anyone is curious) and I was unfortunately taught a very white and colonialist history of the language (ie "ASL is a modified version of French sign with some additions from Deaf communities in the US" and not the truth that many of those Deaf communities were most certainly Native. We were taught under the quiet assumption by our teacher and textbook that those communities were white and that Native peoples in the Americas has no indigenous sign languages of their own). I'm very happy that this video exists to help bridge some of the gaps in my education in my second language and Deaf history in North America.

[@xPXGx]

This was absolutely fascinating. I had no idea Hand Talk was the precursor to ASL.

[@Borderlynx]

ASL also descends from Martha's Vineyard Sign Language (the island off the coast of Massachusetts that historically had a huge Deaf population) and also French Sign Language (langue des signes française, LSF). Fun fact: by virtue of descending from LSF, due to a fascinating history, ASL is completely unrelated to British Sign Language; therefore, there is very very little mutual intelligibility between them.

[@johnnyjayzeboomboomroom9163]

You mean asl was forced on native deaf signers you colonizers!

[@jonathanvazquez2831]

Little Padawan

[@charlytaylor1748]

Borderlynx, that answers a question that's been in my head for a while

[@turnipsociety706]

@@Borderlynx yes, mostly LSF though. Check out Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet.

[@Dexy83]

It seems to me that Indigenous people didn't automatically assume people with hearing loss we're less than. Love that!

[@BEAKERBOT]

Yes!

[@h3w45]

🇷🇺

[@toontrooper4103]

You'll hear from uneducated people that communal living is "tribalism" and a rejection of the uncommon, but examples like thus show that narrative to be false. Strong ties to your fellow people can actually make you more accepting!

[@12thWardGator]

Well yeah, being “less than” is entirely rooted in white supremacy.

[@stephenbrand5661]

😆

[@galacticgrandmas]

PISL honestly seems easier to learn than ASL. The symbols make much more sense and seem logical to where even if you didn’t know the sign you could somewhat grasp what’s being discussed.

[@virusDETECTED]

Im sure it had to be as easy to learn as possible, because if not, diplomacy and communication past a vocal language barrier wouldn’t be possible

[@videovedo36]

I'm Italian. I didn't know about PISL and it's weird how familiar all this sounds to me. Our hand gestures, which are not a complete language but with which in certain circumstances you can build entire sentences, developed exactly because people from different regions of Italy couldn't understand one another in any other way. They are so ingrained in our culture that we still use them even now (and actually even while talking) that we can all speak standard Italian. I'm going to do some more reading about PISL and related Indian hand languages, as it's truly fascinating.

[@shelbynamels973]

It is called Chironomia. Goes back to ancient Rome.

[@videovedo36]

@@shelbynamels973 oh I guess way before the Romans. If only for the fact that this word is greek...but I thing it goes back to ancient Egypt. :)

[@shelbynamels973]

@@videovedo36 I learned about it by coincidence. Some youtuber did a video on the Ian McNeice character in the show "Rome". He played a public announcer who had a whole repertoire of gestures to go with his speeches. Surprised the heck out of me to find there is actually a word for it. As an aside, I couldn't remember the EXACT word, so Google autocomplete suggested 'chiromancy', which is a fancy word for palm reading, same way as 'palmistry'.

[@videovedo36]

@@shelbynamels973 funny :)).. And funny how one comes to know new things following unexpected paths. KZbin is a mine for these serendipitous discoveries and it's part of why I love it.

[@videovedo36]

@@shelbynamels973 I forgot to tell you: 'palm reader' in Italian is, in fact, 'chiromante'.

[@soumyabratachakraborty5239]

I love how Vox videos talk about something we are interested about but feel we don't have the time to explore

[@ncubesays]

So true. They explore questions that we don't know how to pose but need answered.

[@khalilahd.]

Exactly! Such a great channel!

[@curtisthomas2670]

Things you didn't know you wanted to know

[@eliza3505]

As an indigenous person I’ve always wished our sign language was more known about Ty!

[@JonDoeNeace]

What's remarkable is that PISL and it's derivative forms are actually considered Indian languages.

[@joermnyc]

I learned about Hand Talk from”The Mandolorian”, as Native American actors portrayed Tuskan Raiders, or Sand People, and they would communicate with Mando (and later Boba Fett) using Hand Talk to negotiate to traverse their land (something many people didn’t bother to do, and then they wondered why they were shot at.) Really sad most people don’t know that ASL was derived from Hand Talk.

[@Rachel-fi4sc]

I did appreciate that The Mandalorian not just hired indigenous and deaf actors, but listened to them and took their input on board to humanize an peoples who have such a racist origin. Really, though, the actors should have been Bedouin - the ethnic group George Lucas used as "inspiration", for whom "Sand People" is a still a real-life slur. Even the names we have in canon - Sand Person, Tusken Raider, even Ghorfa - are the words of the human colonists of Tatooine and so steeped in sci-fi racism that bleeds into our world. In the lore, there's no word for what they call themselves. The world-builder and writer known by the username Fialleril suggests the word Tukrasken as their word for themselves. It would make sense for the colonists to then call their lands (Fort Tusken) from a butchered version of the native word.

[@cowanleighanne]

ASL was only partially derived from Hand Talk. It’s mostly made up of SLF (Signed Exact French), and MVSL (Martha’s Vineyard Sign Language). Indigenous Hand Talk also played a large role in the formation of ASL, but not on its own. ^^

[@CorgiCorner]

@@Rachel-fi4sc if sand people is a slur then sure plains indians is as well right?

[@CorgiCorner]

@@Rachel-fi4sc i think this issue of nomenclature arrises like it does in math when converting bases. Forty in the decimal system is thirty-four in duodecimal. Even still the name “duodecimal” is based on decimal nomenclature as it is “2and10” so some prefer “dozenal” when referring to duodecimal.

[@Rachel-fi4sc]

@@CorgiCorner Well, given that Native Americans aren't Indian and are only called Indian because a colonizer got lost.... Context and intention is a huge factor in what is considered a slur - something that doesn't really factor in with math. In the case of "Sand People", it's not what the Bedouin call themselves and it's used by prejudiced people to belittle them.

[@diulikadikaday]

The term used here to describe Indigenous people "People of the land" is the same translation used in Te Reo Maori (the Maori language in New Zealand). Tangata Whenua literally means "people (of the) land". I am not Maori, but I have been doing night classes in it and the words you learn give you an insight into it's culture. We are learning words about the environment and geography. On the other hand, when I learnt french, a lot was about food and travel. Whereas when learning Mandarin, I felt like we talked a lot about family.

[@briangarrow448]

The native people who lived on the Pacific coast had a language for trade that was used for hundreds of years before the white man came to their homeland. Tribes traded, and warred with each other while using sea going canoes that could carry over 30 people. Their seamanship was incredible, especially considering how dangerous the ocean is along the North Pacific coast.

[@forest_green]

I gave my daughters Chinuk wawa middle names to honour my ancestors who spoke the language. We need to remember in any way we can.

[@Whiteplane]

CAP! The Tribes in the NW were blessed with so much natural resources they became lazy and foolish. The Lush waters of the Salish Sea aka the Puget Sound are calm, even playful; a youth with a kayak from REI could navigate from every major port of call.

[@audhumbla6927]

excuse me, colombus wasnt the first white man in america hahah, the vikings came already year 1000

[@audhumbla6927]

and traded like civilized people, please dont say white people when you mean "those who colonized the americas in the last millenia" or smthn

[@turnipsociety706]

how do we know about the "hundreds of years before"? Is there hard evidence for that? can you provide that?

[@ExcitedPunch]

The photograph at the end, where the man is signing “now” is especially striking - you can’t hear people in photographs. They can’t communicate with you, but because he is signing, his word was preserved, he can communicate with you across 100’s of years if you understand the sign! And on top of that it is the word “now”. That was just made a huge impression on me, especially given the context within the video and the topic. Thank you for the video, fascinating and enlightening.

[@jakes2305]

I've often seen fictionalized depictions of Native Americans in old movies doing signs with their hands, but never knew they were imitating an actual complex living language of hand talk. Amazing video.

[@toontrooper4103]

I'm glad to see indigenous people be more seen on big platforms and not at the expense of hearing their struggles like shown here.

[@samivayajd]

As a Hopi, (who knows ASL) I was always aware of the trading that our people have conducted with various tribes from other regions. I've always wondered whatever happened to the method of communication between those tribes (now there are intertribal marriages and bi tribal or multi tribal identities) I have a visual impairment but went to our school for the deaf and blind. As you can imagine the student population on our campus was about half indigenous. Thank you for highlighting this.

[@chesthoIe]

In my ASL culture class, we talked with a person who only understood Japanese Sign Language. We eventually were able to figure each other out, and it was insanely eye opening about how cultures exchanged information without being able to understand each other.

[@ausgepicht]

This also lends insight into how and why both Natives and Europeans learned to communicate so rapidly. Within a day of learning signs from a Native, you have rudimentary communication which will also significantly aid you in learning the spoken languages. The wisdom behind this is astounding.

[@MariaMartinez-researcher]

A curious detail not mentioned here: hand talk in movies. I have watched many Westerns in which there are First Nations people talking, be among themselves or with whites; almost always there are some hand movements involved. Sometimes just for emphasis, sometimes as the conversation itself, and strikingly, no matter the movie's quality or its point of view: native Americans as enemies, partners, friends, or even the portrayal of a conversation made with hand talk only, for cartoonish comedic effect (Hallelujah Trail...) It appears that "Indian" hand talk was so ingrained in American culture that even cowboy movies, which aren't famous for their ethnographic accuracy, couldn't but show it. Wondering now how much of real hand talk was in those scenes, and how did it reach the screens.

[@Bayplaces]

I remember being taught that PISL was not really sign language in an ASL class back in 2013. I thought it was a weird statement to make. Seems ASL community still participates in the reproduction of stereotypes regarding PISL.

[@FaeQueenCory]

What you're describing is called genocide. Because our genocide is ongoing.

[@ynat2198]

this history should be celebrated, the fact that colonizers felt so threatened by it that to this day these stereotypes persist and are perpetuated shows the efforts to re-write history to fit their narrative.

[@turnipsociety706]

it might not be though; trade languages are not convenient to express complex thought. Simple communication is not thought

[@Bayplaces]

@@turnipsociety706 I don’t know enough about linguistics to talk about the criteria of what constitutes a language. So feel free to ignore me. I just took two semesters of ASL nearly a decade ago. But it seems what is shown in PISL is complex. And I don’t like assuming a lot about history, but it’s easy to imagine that deaf native children were capable of communicating complex thought through sign and that PISL was a part of it. What about it doesn’t constitute language?

[@JP-br4mx]

Are you native and or deaf

[@Andrew_Kono]

As a 26 year old Native American man myself, who’s lived in Southern California all his life - it absolutely baffles me to barely jus be finding out this knowledge. Like I literally had no idea. So if that doesn’t say something about our country’s education system- then idk what will. We need to do better. Like introduce American Indian History into the K-12 curriculum! It’s our right. Knowledge like this shouldn’t have to be found on the internet. This should be basic knowledge everyone should be taught growing up - not something to be hid or forgotten. Call your state senator today bc there’s only so much i or this channel can do.

[@kavaskous]

I appreciate pieces like this that preserve our history and cultures to prevent them from vanishing or being forgotten. The Native Americans as a whole had amazing accomplishments almost wiped from history and that's unforgivable.

[@boyhenry1]

Much love to the producers for making this video extremely accessible to deaf audiences. I noticed the CC was much more detailed regarding audio queues. Good job!

[@teresamansbach1419]

I wish they taught ASL in school it would be amazing for times people are in situations where you can hear like a night club or you’re far away!! It would help everyone not just deaf people

[@arsenicjones9125]

You can likely receive free or low cost lessons at your public library and there is most definitely a Deaf community near you who have regular public social gatherings you can attend to help you practice communicating in sign w native speakers. Call your library and ask. If your library doesn’t try the next closest larger city, they will. Once you’re learning they can help you plug into the local community.

[@teresamansbach1419]

@@arsenicjones9125 oh. I have a deaf aunt I live with and plenty of asl practice. I just think it would be great if the average person I met knew ASL. It’s very helpful even if you’re hearing.

[@arsenicjones9125]

@@teresamansbach1419 my personal favorite thing is how sign can be used to aid in communication w your non-verbal child. Wether they’re non-verbal cuz they’re too young or non-verbal due to some condition it can help. Human brains are just wired to communicate

[@kaitlyn__L]

I think it could also be very useful for nonverbal autistic people! Someone came in to do an intro to BSL in my first year of school but nothing after that :/

[@zarahalimardani4579]

I love these Native American videos. So engaging.

[@gaotosky1087]

Always interesting to see how humans' methods of communication have evolved over time

[@fandroid6491]

Amazing to see the Chinese _written_ language evolve from noodle drawing to one of the most complicated and sophisticated written languages out there.

[@QWERTY-gp8fd]

@@fandroid6491 more like devolution

[@JP-br4mx]

Evolved?

[@YaburuRunyaru]

Ever since I was young, I always had a great respect and interest for learning about the Native Americans, but I never knew this! Awesome, thank you Vox!

[@owami1000]

Very interesting piece indeed.. can Vox look into the the genocide of the "Herero and Nama" tribes in Namibia (formerly South-West Africa) by the German colonial forces 1904-1908. I truly believe it would be beneficial to understand that the Holocaust concept started way before Hitler came into power. See Gen.Lothar von Trotha vs Samuel Maharero, Hendrik Witbooi, et al.. Just a thought..

[@ottodidakt3069]

Yes good idea, did you know that Hitler was strongly influenced by US Gov't documents on how to deal with natives for his "final solution" ? It's a documented historical fact. But you are right that there are many other roots to holocaust and genocide, not only by colonials all though there was lots of that !

[@lifeveteran79]

I googling it right now

[@solarmoth4628]

They asked for ideas using a google form years ago and I suggested this, I have no idea if they’ll ever do it though.

[@faithlesshound5621]

The SW African genocide was committed by the Kaiser's army. The doctor/anthropologist Eugen Fischer was in charge of the death camp on Shark Island. He sent hundreds of African skulls and complete corpses of children back to Germany. Hitler studied and annotated his books while in prison and later made him Rector of the University in Berlin. Dr Mengele was a protégé of his successor (Verschuer) at the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Anthropology, Human Heredity and Eugenics.

[@hannahg.8572]

I don‘t really agree with comparing the two, they were both genocides, but every genocide is unique (uniquely horrifying) and the two had extremely different backgrounds. I think drawing a direct connection there would mean a misunderstanding of the conditions at the time. Sadly, the genocide in Namibia was nowhere near the first in history, and the Holocaust wasn‘t the last. That being said, the Namibian genocide needs to be talked about and examined WAY more, because too few people know of it in general, and because, especially compared to the Holocaust, there is way too little discussion of and engagement with this dark part of history in Germany.

[@Operation2]

What is interesting to me is that there are many signs in Japanese Sign Language that are similar, if not exactly the same, to PILS. In fact it is also called 'hand-talk', 手話「しゅわ」shuwa, in Japanese. Although the sign for that is different.

[@khalilahd.]

Wow this is incredible I had no idea! I’m currently learning Japanese and always find facts about their culture fascinating. Thanks for sharing!

[@squirrelsinmykoolaid]

@@halloweenfan158 this doesnt make any sense. Please dont spread misinformation like this. So many misconceptions about sign languages are already spread. Language formation and change are complex subjects.

[@bakuski__7954]

it was also interesting how the used moon to represent months like how it is in the kanji and sun to represent days...really made me wonder if they had any influence on each other

[@Operation2]

@@khalilahd. I found learning JSL helped me learn Japanese as it reinforced memory. Good luck!

[@bakuski__7954]

@Zee Aye oh wow didn’t knew…thats fascinating

[@rosalynndasilva8605]

This blew my mind! I learned South African sign language at University and have been involved in the Deaf community in South Africa for over 15 years. I have been well exposed to ASL and other sign languages and always marvelled at their similarities but I had never heard of Hand Talk of PISL. It's so conceptual! I love it. It's like a pure form of sign language. I absolutely love the concept of having a visual lingua franca that isn't affected by spoken language grammar.

[@beetroot48]

Thank you so much for sharing this vital Indigenous sign language. The more we know what’s been hidden and suppressed the more we can lift those valuable tools of communication up and honor them and their creators.❤

[@hondoklaatu1904]

Great video! I'm glad you highlighted indigenous voices. Though I would like also to mention Robert Hofsinde who born in Denmark in 1902, He emigrated to the U.S. twenty years later. He settled in Minneapolis, and his close relationship with the nearby Ojibwa resulted in the publication of more than fifteen children's books on Native American culture including a well-received one on "Indian" sign language. This book has been reprinted many times including a 1984 edition put out by scholastic which I grew up reading. My siblings and I learned and used many of the signs. I don't know how accurate it was since he was not a native speaker but we really enjoyed learning them. It really is an beautiful way of communicating and hope it is preserved for the future.

[@cubes7805]

it's amazing how we've been fooled that ASL was the first sign language, it's quite fun to see the true story behind this, thanks Vox!

[@FOLIPE]

French sign language was the first modern sign language, not ASL.

[@mysteriousgreenstar]

most of us Deaf people didn't believe that ASL is first sign language we know oldest sign language is much older far older than ancient Greece itself ancient Greece did mention about sign language, but they believed in spoken as perfection for language. in other words, ancient sign languages are already lost aside from native American sign language it is amazing that many people didn't know European sign language user are also victim.

[@LadyLenaki]

I do that hand thing when asking questions, especially when someone doesn't get that I'm asking a question at first. I grew up in South Dakota, and I know people would do specific gestures when talking, but didn't realize the origin of it. Very cool.

[@khalilahd.]

This is so incredible and just one of the many reasons why I love this channel. I always learn so much. Such an amazing language with rich history I never would have known about without this video 💛

[@maddy6316]

the way chills swept over my whole body at the sipping water explanation.... i love when words reflect their meaning or sound, so to have that combined with an anatomical representation.. immaculate

[@alienonion4636]

Hand talk is awesome. I used to have a thin little book I got as a kid that had photos of different gestures and their meanings. I had that book for decades as it was a cherished possession. Over the past few years I've lived in places where I sometimes give squirrels some snacks. At times they would come close to me and show me they're here for a snack by putting both front feet to their mouth like they're eating. Gestures are a great way to communicate. Great video. Thank you for this one.

[@TheNinToaster]

It's interesting how Hand Talk can be surprisingly intuitive, after these 10 minutes I felt I could catch on to what they were saying by thinking of representing a lot of what we see into their basic building blocks, really cool stuff! I hope one day we can learn Indigenous languages the same way we can learn other languages, so we can talk with our indigenous siblings better.

[@thekentuckyrifleman]

They taught this in school years ago and I still remember it. My kids understand it now so it's not going away any time soon.

[@jean-francoisdaignault9612]

I was raised by my mother and grandmother who both signed Québec sign language. Sadly I did not learn. So much beauty and history in hand talk. Thank you so much for sharing this knowledge.

[@AndrewGarcia-mv4rd]

so many emotions were stirred by these signs and gestures. They feel so comforting and close.

[@buuh7592]

Vox what's happening? You guys just keep on releasing banger after banger!! This past videos has been incredible

[@saltymangoparty]

As an American I am so sorry for our country erasing so much intangible and tangible cultural heritage of the indigenous people. I hope you all can recover from the tremendous damage and grow back even stronger than before.

[@peppanotpepper4672]

I’m a special education teacher and I had no idea about Plains Indian Sign Language! I’m embarrassed that I never considered that ASL is not inclusive and how Plains Indian Sign Language is not celebrated as the origins of ASL. I’m saddened that Plains Indian Sign Language itself is not celebrated and respected as it rightly should be. I’m glad that the atrocities committed against indigenous people are being brought to light and we are starting to own up to these monumental human rights violations and injustices. Thank you, Vox!

[@DonMarzzoni]

White washing history is exactly why you've never heard of this before.

[@arsenicjones9125]

The origins of ASL are as descendent w modification of FSL, French Sign, which is the first sign developed in the modern age. FSL was brought to the US and taught where the Deaf made it theirs. PISL definitely got some influence in there but is not the direct ancestor or progenitor of ASL in the same way the FSL is.

[@BigOTheOmni1]

@@arsenicjones9125 L take tbh

[@throwaway2799]

​@@BigOTheOmni1 Dude he just described the thesis of the video. Natives didn't invent ASL, but they had major contributions that aren't mentioned enough in the history of sign language. Did you watch this whole video and only come to the conclusion "uhhh white people stole sign language!!!"

[@arsenicjones9125]

@@BigOTheOmni1 solid use of language. Fully understood whatever it was you were going on about. Living the rest of whatever life I have left now. Thanks for the brief interrupt.

[@amcridah2914]

Loved the video, we need more videos about indigenous history

[@BiodiWerWieWas]

Yes please!

[@sabrinakirchner242]

Wow! I knew about the boarding schools and how native children were forbidden from speaking their own language, but I had never heard of hand talk before. The fact that it was not just used as an accommodation for deaf and HoH people (the way it is in ASL) but was used along with spoken language and used as a way to cross spoken language barriers too.

[@FaeQueenCory]

Well there were over 300 different languages in North America alone, with only a handful per language family being close enough to each other to be easily understandable with some effort (like French and Italian). It was a necessity in order to facilitate the double continent wide trade that we did for millennia.

[@poloclubb]

@@FaeQueenCoryIn California alone native cultures & languages outnumbered all of europes cultures & languages by a long shot, not including up and down the NA continent, hundreds of thousands of unique cultures & languages

[@The12hugo]

I am about to graduate in linguisitcs and never heard a single mention of this. Truly mind-blowing.

[@TdT2211]

Congratulations my guy! I hope you take it upon yourself to learn more about it. Because I've heard that there was a common sign language that all precolonial North Americans used to communicate.

[@The12hugo]

@@TdT2211 I definitely will now

[@TonyBullard]

Fascinating video. Thank you for sharing these stories. I especially enjoyed the professor's insights. The "people of the land" explanation was so beautiful.

[@catherinefilipowski3506]

I hope the few PISL speakers record video of every single word they know - so that future generations will not loose this beautiful means of communicating.

[@beauteoussounds1156]

My father was Lakota from Poplar (Fort Peck) born in 1927. His mother was deaf & mute and their family of 9 communicated through hand talk/PISL. He showed us kids a few signs but I was never able to find much info about it. I just knew the signs were different from ASL. Thank you so much this video! ❤

[@c.powell8472]

the weird thing is they told us about this in Texas Elementary school. It's how all the native americans talked to eachother. they all SPOKE different language but all signed the same language so they could trade with each other

[@emmam.9376]

I wish they taught me this in school. We were taught it came from the french😒

[@tcu1099]

I hope the internet keeps our native tribes and their history in the wider conversation. It's very rich history. With everything that's happened in the last 5 years, it could down out or dilute stories like this in textbooks even moreso than they already have been.

[@AmarreMoha]

In Somali language specially in the north and northwest we say how many springs because that's when people were prosperous as people were nomads and followed rain.

[@gamtngirl3655]

It is so hard for me to know what we did to Native American children. They lost out on their culture in so many ways - in addition to the trauma of being taken from their homes and families.

[@matthewflowers1079]

From a Native American passionate about language and preserving history, thank you Vox for spreading this information and keeping this history alive.

[@PokhrajRoy.]

This was so beautiful, especially the part about ‘the people of the land’.

[@zerosysko]

As a kid I would get to pick out a book from the scholastic book fair; there was one that I chose which taught Hand Talk! Even today I still remeber how to sign wolf (one of my favorite animals). I didn’t have anyone to sign with. I just liked it. I’m not indigenous but I’m glad that book existed for those who were/are.

[@solssun]

Vox you’re smashing it with your journalism recently, such engaging & important story’s, beautifully made

[@guthixisdead]

Very interesting video. I found this old book describing this, it was written I. The early 1900’s I believe. Love that y’all are bringing this to light!

[@Fellowtellurian]

Vox and Missing Chapters team, you should be very proud of your work. Keep it up.

[@llll-lk2mm]

The experts called to explain are so sweet. I would love to actually learn hand talk from them.

[@GreenMM_11]

Vox kills it every time. Brilliant and necessary documentation of Native American history 💚💙💜

[@tuawacheteochitnotl3004]

Always leave out democrat trail of tears

[@rowdysgirlalways]

This language is a valuable resource. I hope that indigenous people learn it and teach it to the rest of us.

[@hylacinerea970]

wonderful vid, there are so many different signed languages in the world besides ASL, the newest recognized language is Al-Sayyid Bedouin Sign Language developed by the indigenous residents of the Negev desert :)

[@offensivevibes511]

I'm on my way to learning Hand talk, BASL, and ASL. Wish me luck

[@terramater]

Great video, friends! 👏🏽 It's always interesting to see how communication methods have evolved over time. We know that diving into such topics could be very complex, but kudos to the editor, this video's storyline is really beautiful!

[@MoMixMasta03]

I wish it was a longer doc!

[@pinkmanfan09]

Incredible that such an important part of how we communicate had such a neat history! Hats off to you, Vox!

[@vinnyd_]

When do you plan to go to Texas?

[@TheAlmightyBob04]

Just watched this video and it's actually amazing how much the Mexican culture also uses similar hand talk. I work with men from Michoacan and Guanajuato and they are often using signs to communicate in a loud environment. According to the map, it may be Mesoamerican hand talk.

[@strugs]

Thank you for telling these stories, Vox. How heart breaking to see ‘linguistic genocide’ occur throughout colonial history internationally.

[@solssun]

This is the first time I’ve seen someone use sign language in an interview, really awesome :)

[@chrisnaden3590]

For a particularly good fictional take on an Englishman learning hand talk in the 1840s, it's worth checking out the George Macdonald Fraser book Flashman & the . The book was written in the 60s, hence the title, but includes some very good material on different nations, hand talk, the "Mountain Men", the 49ers, the 1870s Indian Wars, Little Bighorn etc. - and includes a good deal on "Frank Grouard", more properly known as Standing Bear; one of the most fascinating and enigmatic members of the small group of mixed-race folks who were seen as white Americans by whites, but as true Native Americans by the indigenous community.

[@lindaj5492]

2:52 The drawing depicting “buffalo” reminds me of the movie “Dances with Wolves”

[@Growmetheus]

The fact that “white man” relates to “scalper” is absolutely terrifying. 0:20

[@Fummy007]

Its actually "him who we scalp" not "scalper"

[@goshdarnitman]

I will learn sign talk and teach my children this way. Thank you, greatly.

[@peterschiff2007]

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[@marlonrichard9950]

I saw that recommendations but i did not bother chatting her up🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️

[@sarnocaballero1131]

Hello thanks for introducing her to us i actually did the trade with a loan from my friend and now with the profits i payed up and now am happy and comfortable

[@marymarwa4711]

Haha you don't have to be surprised Mrs Camilla mc Coy is really good and everyone loves genuine services, she've helped me recover what I lost trying to trade on my

[@carina4489]

i just withdraw my last two days before now, I'm glad I did invest with her still reinvested and the trade is ongoing

[@nicoleparenzee7434]

Her availability is sure on Telegram username👇🏼

[@jeaniebottle6758]

Thank you. A'ho, many blessings to you for this great insight to the genius of the past wisdom.

[@juliahart8593]

I've always wanted to learn about this, but could find very few resources. Thank you, Vox!!!

[@BurtReynoldstash]

Thank you for posting, so important this tradition is kept alive.

[@eb.3764]

how nice lives would've been had the indigenous people had the chance to flourish into the present century. different ways of life and viewpoints would've made north America so much more culturally interesting

[@FaeQueenCory]

Child. We still exist. We literally invented the governments of North America. Though given how you talk like we're dead and gone, my money is on the US... Which is literally plagiarized from our Great Law of Peace...

[@SeymourDisapproves]

There's something very charming to me about the question "how many winters are you"

[@critterjon4061]

Apparently this is what inspired the sand people sign language in the mandalorian

[@operasinger89]

I believe this should be taught in schools. There should be a whole curriculum surrounding Native American culture within schools.

[@alexisdelmoro7882]

hoping that PISL will never be forgotten by many people🙌🏻

[@ccityplanner1217]

There was a trend in European schools that peaked in the early 19th century of having a standard language that was the language of that school & was the only language allowed to be spoken in the school. This was in an effort to create a standard language: in France at the beginning of the 19th century in particular, only 4% spoke a language intelligible to Parisians. It is only thanks to this effort that our linguistic boundaries correspond to our national borders, & one can still see the scars it left: many towns in the east of France have German names spelt according to French orthographical conventions. The people of is region originally spoke a range of dialects, most of them related to German, some to French. France then imposed the French language on them through the school system. After the Franco-Prussian War, it was transferred to Germany, which continued the process, but with German as the imposed language. After World War I, it went back to France, which completed the endeavour in French. The countries with multiple national languages are those which did not choose to impose a centralised language via the school system: Belgium kept changing hands, from Austria to France to the Netherlands, during the peak of the language standardisation process, before gaining independence in 1830, while Switzerland, being a decentralised republic, didn't have the cultural nexus of a royal court that it could point to & say that German was the language spoken by the finest Swiss. Europe before then didn't so much have discrete languages as dialect continua, & if you travelled slowly enough, you would have noticed the language gradually shifting from village to village. The only obvious boundary was that between the Romance and Germanic language, so much so that German has an adjective which specifically refers to things from south of this line, welsch, which gives its name to one of the French-derived dialect of Alsace-Lorraine, Welche. It is unlikely we will ever know how much culture we lost to language standardisation, because it wasn't written down, but we at least have Switzerland as a control group. That country has a whole parallel linguistic strand called Swiss German, largely unintelligible to Germans, with different phonology & grammar. Instead of having set rules, the orthography is governed by local traditions: its name is spelt Schwyzerdütsch in Bern, but Schwiizertüütsch in Zürich, where long vowels are marked by doubling the letter. It used to be like that everywhere. Europeans once spoke languages rooted to the place they inhabited; now, apart from a few elderly people, most of them speak a generic national language. This method of language standardisation serves to give a nation a language which can be understood by people from all parts thereof, & also serves to teach children to behave in a formal setting. Although with children it has largely been superseded, it is still in use today in the training of recruits to the French Foreign Legion who are not already French-speakers. It becomes a problem where you have boarding schools, where children aren't going home to their parents & speaking their own dialect outside of the school environment, or where they are speaking a language that's significantly different from the standardisation language, such as in a different language, or when you add complicating elements such as racial diversity to the mix.

[@Elhastezy888]

this is THE BEST comment here!! Absolutely fascinating, I'm so glad you took the time, very appreciated 💕 wishing you many blessings

[@goatmodegaming]

Wow, this is interesting, I didn’t even know about this before. Thanks for making this video!

[@DonMarzzoni]

You can thank white America for destroying history and white washing history

[@remnant1018]

This brings so much more meaning to projects two of my class’s groups did this past week on the border wall’s impact on Native/Indigenous Americans and on genocide. Thank you for posting this video.

[@RoyalHemlock]

Today I learned that every region has a different sign language and that deaf people can’t necessarily communicate well with other deaf people from different regions.

[@Borderlynx]

Yup, it's a common misconception that there's only a single sign language. I don't think people realise how hard it is to standardise an unwritten language, especially in a time before video technology. It makes the achievement of PISL all the more amazing in its success and prevalence, and all the more tragic in the historical systematic oppression and current endangerment. Sign languages as a whole have a fascinating history. I find it particularly amazing how the language families evolve and exist in parallel to verbal languages; for example, ASL is also descended from French Sign Language (langue des signes française, LSF), which is completely unrelated from British Sign Language.

[@yonipoabaty7456]

Great thanks for this video. I was searching for videos about this subject. I hope this language will still exist in the future. It's a duty for humanity to preserve any shade of human culture and a matter of survival in the troubled times that will come.

[@boembajee]

Fascinating! Hand Talk is alomst like a written version of a language that enables practitioners with different dialects to be able to understand each other. But it also goes further than that because it enables the use of non verbal uses like in hunting, and it could potentially trancend different languages. Like sign language can be the same across English, French, Dutch etc

[@arsenicjones9125]

Sign is NOT the same across English, French and Dutch. ASL is AMERICAN sign as distinct from FSL, FRENCH sign, and still distinct from BSL, BRITISH sign, which is also distinct from Dutch sign AND Flemish sign bc they have 2 sign languages in the Netherlands. Sign is not universal. That’s 2 English sign languages, 2 Dutch sign languages and 1 French Sign Language, not even close to “the same” just to throw out some examples. Some signs appear in multiple languages or are as variants across many languages but an ASL user can’t just bump into a DSL user and have fluent conversations w/o major issue. Sign languages are distinct and represent the different communities and cultures that use them and show evolution and adoption just the same as any spoken language.

[@yashagrawal88]

@@arsenicjones9125 Yes and even American sign languages are different and many, as told in the video. Pacific one is just one of them.

[@boembajee]

@@arsenicjones9125 Hi yes sorry I was misinformed, thanks for pointing that out. It is amazing that the native american had a universal sign language.

[@arsenicjones9125]

@@yashagrawal88 the differences seen in ASL across the country are considered dialectic differences. I’m not qualified to determine at what point they would be considered different languages. My understanding however is that African American ASL is the most distinct dialect featuring many words and phrases unique to them

[@yashagrawal88]

@@arsenicjones9125 I said American sign languages (older ones), not ASL.

[@vice.nor.virtue]

God I love great design! The fact the language matches the symbols is just so amazing! *chef's kiss

[@diarenee9012]

Well, thats pretty interesting

[@monicascott2354]

"People of the land." I love that. It's perfect.