This unique book teaches children the hand signals that Native American tribes used to communicate with one another: How to ask a question, how to express past, present and future, and more.

Learn to communicate without words with these authentic signs. Learn over 525 signs, developed by the Sioux, Blackfoot, Cheyenne, Arapahoe, and others. Book also contains 290 pictographs of the Sioux and Ojibway tribes.

Describes a unique case of sign language that served as an international language among numerous Native American nations not sharing a common spoken language. The book contains the most current descriptions of all levels of the language from phonology to discourse, as well as comparisons with other sign languages.

Hugh Lenox Scott, who would one day serve as chief of staff of the U.S. Army, spent a portion of his early career at Fort Sill, in Indian and, later, Oklahoma Territory. There, from 1891 to 1897, he commanded Troop L, 7th Cavalry, an all-Indian unit. From members of this unit, in particular a Kiowa soldier named Iseeo, Scott collected three volumes of information on American Indian life and culture—a body of ethnographic material conveyed through Plains Indian Sign Language (in which Scott was highly accomplished) and recorded in handwritten English. This remarkable resource—the largest of its kind before the late twentieth century—appears here in full for the first time, put into context by noted scholar William C. Meadows. The Scott ledgers contain an array of historical, linguistic, and ethnographic data—a wealth of primary-source material on Southern Plains Indian people. Meadows describes Plains Indian Sign Language, its origins and history, and its significance to anthropologists. He also sketches the lives of Scott and Iseeo, explaining how they met, how Scott learned the language, and how their working relationship developed and served them both. The ledgers, which follow, recount a variety of specific Plains Indian customs, from naming practices to eagle catching. Scott also recorded his informants’ explanations of the signs, as well as a multitude of myths and stories. On his fellow officers’ indifference to the sign language, Lieutenant Scott remarked: “I have often marveled at this apathy concerning such a valuable instrument, by which communication could be held with every tribe on the plains of the buffalo, using only one language.” Here, with extensive background information, Meadows’s incisive analysis, and the complete contents of Scott’s Fort Sill ledgers, this “valuable instrument” is finally and fully accessible to scholars and general readers interested in the history and culture of Plains Indians.

Co-published by the Center for Applied Linguistics Timely and comprehensive, this state-of-the-art overview of major issues related to heritage, community, and Native American languages in the United States, based on the work of noted authorities, draws from a variety of perspectives—the speakers; use of the languages in the home, community, and wider society; patterns of acquisition, retention, loss, and revitalization of the languages; and specific education efforts devoted to developing stronger connections with and proficiency in them. Contributions on language use, programs and instruction, and policy focus on issues that are applicable to many heritage language contexts. Offering a foundational perspective for serious students of heritage, community, and Native American languages as they are learned in the classroom, transmitted across generations in families, and used in communities, the volume provides background on the history and current status of many languages in the linguistic mosaic of U.S. society and stresses the importance of drawing on these languages as societal, community, and individual resources, while also noting their strategic importance within the context of globalization.

New 4th Edition completely revised and updated with new DVD now available; ISBN 1-56368-283-4.

The collection explores new applications of the American Philosophical Society’s library materials as scholars seek to partner on collaborative projects, often through the application of digital technologies, that assist ongoing efforts at cultural and linguistic revitalization movements within Native communities.

Research Methods in Sign Language Studies is a landmark work on sign language research, which spans the fields of linguistics, experimental and developmental psychology, brain research, and language assessment. Examines a broad range of topics, including ethical and political issues, key methodologies, and the collection of linguistic, cognitive, neuroscientific, and neuropsychological data Provides tips and recommendations to improve research quality at all levels and encourages readers to approach the field from the perspective of diversity rather than disability Incorporates research on sign languages from Europe, Asia, North and South America, and Africa Brings together top researchers on the subject from around the world, including many who are themselves deaf