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Article By: JamesBeckett
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American Indian Sign Language - How It All Started
Anyone who has watched a television show that attempts to depict the behavior and lifestyle of American Indians when they lived free in this country will notice that the use of sign language seems to be used a lot. In western TV shows or movies, when an "Indian" approaches the heroes of the story, if the guide knows the Indians well, he knows how to communicate in a series of signals and body gestures which he then translates to the other characters, and to us viewers as well.
Of course television and movies sometimes did a poor job of showing the cultures of these great peoples who were native to this land long before the Europeans showed up. Often the actors who played Indians in these shows had no Native American blood so you wonder if the signage they show is also just another dramatic device to make Indians look exotic and mysterious.
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.
The sign languages of the Native Americans were something that was developed at the time to help different tribes communicate more easily when that was needed. This "language" of sign was valuable for resolving disputes and cooperation in hunting or for giving each other trips to survive the winters. The leadership of the tribes also used signing to discuss and resolve land disputes and to avoid war when they could because that kind of conflict was not good for either tribe.
But historians and linguists have learned that the sign language used between tribes had many daily uses within tribal life as well. Many times Native Americans developed the sign language of the tribe so they could interact when the spoken word was not a good idea like when they were hunting or spying on enemies.
Learning about and thinking about how Native Americans lived before Europeans came along is educational and fun too. And it helps to understand the importance of sign language to leadership and the normal Indian man and woman because this tool helped them live healthier, more productive and peaceful lives.
And a great thing about learning more about how important communications methods were used by Native Americans is it makes you a more intelligent friend if you meet or already know someone from this culture. And any time we can understand other cultures more, it makes us better people too.
Article Source: ArticleZones.com
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If you are looking to take American sign language classes then head over to http://www.AmericanSignLanguageOnline.com for more information.
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