Hand Talk – Native American Sign Language

By Kim Mellor, Ephesus Elementary School, Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools, Chapel Hill, North Carolina

OVERVIEW OF LESSON:
Students will learn about and practice Hand Talk, Native American Sign Language, with a focus on the most extensively researched and documented Native American sign language, Plains Indian Sign Language (PISL). Students will investigate this form of communication, used by both deaf and hearing Native Americans, that thrived for centuries but is now endangered. Students will watch Hand Talk demonstrations, learn a bank of signs and phrases, use gestural communication to create some of their own signs, and examine the decline of Native American sign language as well as revitalization efforts.

SUGGESTED GRADE LEVEL: Grade 5

SUBJECTS: Social Studies, English Language Arts

CORRESPONDING NATIONAL AND/OR STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA STANDARDS:

North Carolina Social Studies:

5.H.1 – Understand the role of various people, events, and ideas in shaping the United States.

5.H.1.1 Explain how the experiences and achievements of women, minorities, indigenous groups, and marginalized people have contributed to change and innovation in the United States

5.H.1.2 Summarize the changing roles of women, indigenous, racial and other minority groups in the United States.

North Carolina English Language Arts:

RI.5.3 – Explain the relationships or interactions between two or more individuals, events, ideas, or concepts in

a historical, scientific, or technical text based on specific information in the text.

SL.5.2 – Summarize a written text read aloud or information presented in diverse media and formats, including

visually, quantitatively, and orally.

ESSENTIAL QUESTION:

• How does language reflect culture?

LESSON OBJECTIVES:

Students will be able to:

1. Locate their school on a digital map and learn the names of Indigenous tribes who have inhabited the area on which their school sits (e.g. Tutelo, Saponi, Occaneechi, Eno, Shakori), recognizing that many tribal descendants still live and thrive in the region today.
2. Describe generally the history of Hand Talk – its development, prevalence, and its decline.
3. Compare and contrast Plains Indian Sign Language (PISL) with American Sign Language (ASL)
4. Demonstrate a bank of Hand Talk words/signs and phrases.
5. Create their own signs and simple sentences to represent words/concepts from their daily lives.
6. Summarize information presented visually/orally.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION FOR THE EDUCATOR or RESOURCES TO EXPLORE FURTHER:
Hand Talk, or Native American Sign Language, is an ancient, endangered, gestural language that was considered the lingua franca (universal language) between Native American/First Nations Peoples predating European contact. It was widely used by both hearing and deaf tribal members for a variety of functions, including trade, storytelling, conflict resolution, and other rituals. Plains Indians Sign Language (PISL) is the most documented of the Indigenous sign languages.

Research suggests that Native American Sign Language, traced back to as early as the 1540s, influenced the development of American Sign Language (ASL), but Hand Talk has largely been written out of American history. By studying the history of Hand Talk and engaging in learning signs from PISL, students will gain an understanding of the cultural relevance of Native American Sign Language. Through the creation of a gestural language, used by both hearing and non-hearing people, Native Americans who spoke different tribal languages were able to communicate and convey complex ideas and emotions.

Currently, there are only a handful of fluent PISL signers left, but efforts are underway to revitalize the language and celebrate it as a testament to the resilience of Native American communities. The book, Indian Sign Language, by William Tomkins, served as a valuable resource in learning the motions and gestures to teach and practice PISL.

SPECIFIC STUDENT STRATEGIES & ACTIVITIES:

Educators should use the Native American Sign Language Slide Deck throughout the lessons.

Day 1 – Introduction to Hand Talk (30-40 minutes)

• Anticipation Guide (Pre-Assessment) – Distribute to collect data on students’ prior knowledge; students fill in the left-hand column only. Students will return to their Anticipation Guide at the end of the unit to demonstrate acquired knowledge.
• Vocabulary – (Slide 4) Teach six key words in kid-friendly language with visuals: culture, assimilation, Indigenous, unceded, treaty, sovereignty
  Show animated slide in Slideshow view.
  Pronounce each word. Solicit hand signals (see below) to check vocabulary knowledge before clicking to show each word’s definition and related image.

-thumb down – never heard the word
-thumb to the side – the word sounds familiar; unsure of its meaning
-thumb up – they have heard the word and can define it

• Let’s Talk Numbers – (Slide 5)- Clarify the word, “recognized” before having students guess the numbers of tribes in North Carolina, the United States, and the world.
  Say: “Recognized” is a word frequently used to describe Indigenous groups of people. Some groups are recognized at the state level and/or the Federal level. Recognition of sovereignty means that tribes operate as independent nations within a nation. “Recognized” tribal nations have their own constitutions, laws, elections, and infrastructure. Their rights, lands, and other assets are their own. They make decisions that best serve their people. Native Nations have been sovereign since time immemorial; their sovereignty is not granted, but rather recognized. Most recognitions originated with a treaty. A treaty is a binding formal agreement or contract between two sovereign nations honoring the right of each group to govern their own people.

• Map (Slide 6) – Use Native-land.ca to zoom in on where your school sits so that students can learn the Indigenous tribes that first inhabited the land. Chapel Hill and greater North Carolina sits on land once inhabited by many Indigenous people.North Carolina is home to the largest population of Native Americans east of the Mississippi River and home to eight state-recognized tribes, which include:

1. 1. Occaneechi Band of Saponi Indian Nation
   2. Haliwa-Saponi Indian Tribe
   3. Waccamaw Siouan Indian Tribe
   4. Saponi Tribe
   5. Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina
   6. Meherrin Indian Nation
   7. Coharie Indian Tribe
   8. Eastern Band of the Cherokee Indians

• Student brainstorming: (Slide 7)
  Think about it… If hundreds of tribes of Native Americans (574 or more) once lived in current-day North America, how do you think they communicated with one another? (Think-Pair-Share).Possible follow-up question: Do you think they all spoke the same language?

Answer: NO, there were hundreds of oral languages, which made communication complicated! There was however a “lingua franca,” or a universal language, that was used for communication when tribes did not share the same oral language. Hand Talk, or Native American Sign Language, was developed by First Nations peoples as a way to get around the oral communication barrier. Hand Talk is an intuitive, gestural language. Unlike American Sign Language, it was not developed primarily for deaf people, although deaf tribal members benefited from it. Hearing and non-hearing people use Hand Talk.

• Teacher poses Essential Question – (Slide 8) – How does language reflect culture?

Students jot ideas on a sticky note. Place students’ post-it note ideas on chart paper with the EQ written in the center. Note: Teachers may struggle with answers to this question too. For reference, here are some facts that illustrate language reflecting culture:

• • Finnish people have as many as 40 different expressions for snow or frozen precipitation.
  • The Icelandic language is only spoken in the tiny island nation by about 350,000 people. A lot of software and technology services (Siri and Alexa) are not translated into Icelandic. The pace of innovation is threatening the Icelandic language as Icelanders drown in an English digital world of smartphones, Facebook, YouTube, and Netflix. Icelanders are no longer getting the input they need to build a strong base in the grammar and vocabulary of their native tongue.
  • Language can create bias: If someone says “Girls can be as good in math as boys,” this indicates that it is normal for boys to be good and not as normal for girls.
  • Language can indicate location – Y’all is used in the south of the United States; Youse guys may be more common in the northeast.
  • Some Indigenous Peoples of Australia use cardinal directions to describe location, not left/right or front/back. So, one might say “You have an ant on your southeast leg.” As a result, speakers from these groups have excellent spatial orientation skills and a unique awareness of direction.
  • In Western societies, illness is spoken of as a property of a person. “He has a headache. She has cancer.” Some Native American languages address illness as transitory, not a fixed state, so they may describe illness like: “I am head-aching. She is cancer-ing.” Saying it in this way indicates a different perspective on suffering and healing – it will This difference in language possibly reflects a culture that possesses a more positive attitude about well-being and resilience.
  • “G’day mate” is a way of saying hello that connects the speaker specifically to Australia.

Day 2:  Native American Sign Language: Hand Talk History and Hands On Practice  (40-45 minutes)

Show comparisons of PISL and ASL (Slide 10) using a video created by North Carolina educators. Pause between each of the eight words demonstrated to allow students to compare and record observations on a note catcher.  Allow students to work in partners to complete the questions that go with the note catcher and discuss their observations. Then engage the group in a discussion.

Option: Teachers may choose to show the digital article from The Washington Post, Native American Sign Language Arrives at the Super Bowl, instead of the video referenced above. The comparison in the article includes a video demonstration of Kiowa Sign Language, a dialect of Plains Indian Sign Language, by a Kiowa tribal member. Some of the words demonstrated differ from the ones in the NC educator video. The Washington Post article may require a membership fee for viewing and includes ads.

Notes about the signs: After viewing the video and discussing notes, explain the signs to assist students in seeing how language reflects culture.

	Plains Indian Sign Language	American Sign Language
girl	Hand curves from head to evoke a woman combing hair, followed by the hand pushing down to represent little (“Little woman”)	Thumb being dragged along cheekbone to chin represents a girl tying her bonnet strings
dog	Dragging two fingers back represents dogs working — pulling things/loads. Before the arrival of horses, Native Americans relied on dogs to pull a travois, which is a sled-like frame used for carrying things.	Patting leg and snapping fingers like one is calling a dog.
Native American	The back of the fist/hand represents land; rubbing hand on top means “of the land” or “of this place.”	Hand in “ok position” – touch cheek and pull hand higher up and back. Meant to represent feather headdress.
people	Fingers straight up, like standing people.	Based on finger spelling – fingers make the letter “p” and move in a forward, alternating rotational movement.
hunger	Straight hand across middle of body at the belly because that is where you feel hunger pains.	Hand in c-shape toward body. Start at throat and pull shape down toward stomach.
elder	The fist moving back and forth represents a person using a walking stick	Hand makes a grab near the chin (like grabbing one’s beard) and pulls down
love	Crossed wrists pulled into body near heart to represent fondness or affection.	Crossed wrists pulled into body near heart to represent fondness or affection.
moon	Use pointer finger and thumb to make a C-shape, like the crescent moon; hand starts at temple, near the eye and moves toward the sky. Early pictographs showed a crescent moon symbol, thought to have been transferred to hand talk.	Use pointer finger and thumb to make a C-shape, like the crescent moon; hand starts at temple, near the eye and moves toward the sky.

 

Some PISL and ASL signs look incredibly different, often reflecting differences in culture. What about the signs that are nearly identical? Encourage students to discuss these observations. Is it a coincidence that some signs from PISL and ASL look identical? What could be an explanation?

Teach the history of Native American Sign Language – (Slides 11 & 12)

Say: Now that you have viewed a few signs from PISL and ASL, brainstorm with a partner or table group some of the advantages and disadvantages of sign language.”  Ask students to jot notes on a t-chart labeled “Advantages” and “Disadvantages.” Slide 12 presents some ideas.

History of Native American Hand Talk continued: (Slides 13-15)

• Nature of Hand Talk – Mention again that Hand Talk was used by hearing and non-hearing Native Peoples.
• Where was Hand Talk prevalent? Sign language was common across tribes, but Plains Indian Sign Language (PISL) is the most documented.
• Native American Sign Language predates European contact.
• Threats – Indian Boarding Schools were one threat; young Indian children were ripped from their families and sent, often far away, to Indian Boarding Schools where the goal was to assimilate Indians into white culture – to strip them of their culture so that they could be “useful” in American society. Students at the boarding schools were severely punished if they spoke or signed their language.

Learn and practice key words by category – (Slides 16-21)

Teachers should become familiar and practice the signs ahead of time using the images and directions from the book, Indian Sign Language, by William Tomkins. 27 words total.

Day 3: Connecting personally to PISL (40-45 minutes) – Students create their own signs

• Show video, The Hidden History of Hand Talk, via an author-created EdPuzzle and discuss. EdPuzzle encourages students to process and respond to the video at certain intervals, which allows for the teacher to check understanding. This link is a preview of the EdPuzzle. If teachers wish to save student progress, they must use the “assign to a class” option. The video provides compelling evidence that PISL influenced the development of ASL, even though such contributions have been erased from American history.
• Review Native American signs learned so far. (Revisit Slides 16-21).
• After the video and the review of signs, students work in pairs or triads to create their own signs for vocabulary words that are integral to their daily lives. Examples may include soccer field, cell phone, school bus, homework, video game, etc. Students share/teach classmates their created signs and explain why they chose that gesture.

Option: In addition to teaching their sign(s), ask students to illustrate with a sketch too, including arrows to show hand movements (like the picture dictionary examples from the anchor text, Indian Sign Language, by William Tomkins).

Day 4: Sign language phrases/short sentences & Revitalization Efforts (40-45 minutes) (Slides 24-31)

• Teacher will demonstrate four PISL phrases (What is your name? How old are you? Where do you live?  I build a fire.) Teach explicitly that one sign in Native American Sign Language represents all question words. See pages 7 & 8 in the book, Indian Sign Language, by William Tomkins.
• Students return to pairs or triads from the previous lesson. They work to create their own phrase or question. Instruct groups to be ready to demonstrate their signed phrase and justify their choices of hand movements or placements.
• Explain sign language revitalization efforts. Due to the decline in Native American Sign Language and the fear that Indian culture will be forgotten, efforts are being made to revitalize the language.

Revitalization efforts include:

1. Camps/workshops where adults go to learn the language. Camp directors hope that people are inspired to learn sign and possibly teach it to others. Share sign language camp footage – Plains Sign Language camp, a new spin on an old way of communicating on the Prairies [suggested segments: beginning to 0:46 for introduction to camp; 3:58-5:00 for participants trying it and sharing hopes for the future].
2. Sign language conferences sponsored by universities
3. Digitizing print copies and other records of Native American Sign Language to preserve it
4. Teaching Native American Sign Language in schools

Unit Assessment:

Post Assessment – return to the Anticipation Guide administered on Day 1. Instruct students to work in the columns to the right of the statements and “Agree” or “Disagree.” This time, however, they must fill in the “why” section to justify their answer.

Unit Summarizing Activity – Students summarize their learning and complete a 3-2-1 summary:

• 3 reasons Native American Sign Language is important to preserve
• 2 events or actions that contributed to its decline
• 1 example of how language reflects culture

LEARNING EXTENSION:

• Technology – FLIP presentation (formerly FlipGrid) – Students use FLIP to:
  • demonstrate a minimum of five Native American signs that they learned
  • teach one sign that they created themselves and explain why they chose that gesture
  • explain the impact of this knowledge on their thinking/understanding

MATERIALS:

• Native American Sign Language Slide Deck
• Anticipation Guide (used as a pre- and post-assessment)
• Note Catcher Handout – used with the comparison video of PISL and ASL
• Book: Indian Sign Language by William Tomkins

REFERENCES:

CBC News Canada. (2019, December 2). Plains sign language camp – a new spin on an old way of

communicating on the prairie. [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hllFyC8yOiE

Chakraborty, R. (2022, May 16). The hidden history of “Hand Talk”. Vox. Retrieved November 21, 2023, from https://www.vox.com/videos/23075393/hand-talk-pisl-missing-chapter-sign-language

Citizen Potawatomi Nation. (2024, January 12). Tribal Member Hopes to Revive Native Sign Language. https://www.potawatomi.org/blog/2024/01/12/tribal-member-hopes-to-revive-native-sign-language/

Clark, W. P. (1884). The Indian Sign Language with Brief Explanatory Notes. L.R. Hamersly & Co. https://www.dotycoyote.com/pdfs/sources/clark_sign_language.pdf

Davis, J. (2006). A Historical Linguistic Account of Sign Language among North American Indians. In C. Lucas (Ed.), Multilingualism and Sign Languages: From the Great Plains to Australia (Vol. 12, pp. 3-21). Gallaudet University Press. https://gupress.gallaudet.edu/content/download/12285/151511/version/1/file/978156368

964_MultilingualismandSignLanguages_excerpt.pdf

Dawe, A. (2022). Indigenous Sign Languages of North America. Western University, Canada. Head and Heart

Indigenous Research Fellowship – 2022 Cohort. https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?params=/context/headandheartprogram_2022/article/1001/&path_info=Aimee_Dawe___Indigenous_Sign_Languages_of_North_America.pdf.

Duolingo. (2022, August 6). How Language Shapes the Way We Think – Professor Lera Boroditsky. [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0TFNVP6r_-o. Presented as part of Duolingo Duocon 2022.

Hunt, R. R. (n.d.). Plains Sign Language – Discover Lewis & Clark. Lewis-Clark.org. Retrieved February 11, 2024, from https://lewis-clark.org/sciences/ethnography/plains-sign-language/

Morris, A. (2023, Feb 12). Native American sign language arrives at the super bowl. The Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/wellness/2023/02/12/native-american-sign-language-super-bowl/

Tomkins, W. (1969). Indian Sign Language. Dover Publications.