Plains Indian Sign Language

Plains Indian Sign Language
Plains Sign Talk Plains Sign Language First Nation Sign Language
Hand Talk
Native to	Canada, Mexico, USA
Region	Central Canada and United States including the Great Plains and the Rocky Mountains region; northern Mexico
Ethnicity	Various indigenous peoples of North America
Language family	Language isolate
Dialects	Great Basin[1] Northeast[1] (OSL) Plains[1] Southeast[1] Southwest[1] ? California Coast[1] ? Coast Salish[2] ? Plateau
Writing system	Petroglyphs & pictographs[3]
Official status
Recognised minority language in	Recognised as official in courts, education and legislative assembly of Ontario.[4]
Language codes
ISO 639-3	psd
Glottolog	plai1235
ELP	Plains Indian Sign Language
Map of the various sign languages spoken across Turtle Island, excluding Francosign languages. Plains Sign Language is labelled in red as Hand Talk

Plains Indian Sign Language (PISL), also known as Hand Talk, Plains Sign Talk,^[6][7] Plains Sign Language, or First Nation Sign Language,^[4] is an endangered^[8] sign language common to the majority of Indigenous nations of North America, notably those of the Great Plains, Northeast Woodlands, and the Great Basin. It was, and continues to be, used across what is now central Canada, the central and western United States and northern Mexico.^[9] This language was used historically as a lingua franca, notably for international relations, trade, and diplomacy; it is still used for story-telling, oratory, various ceremonies, and by deaf people for ordinary daily use.^[10]

In 1885, it was estimated that there were over 110,000 "sign-talking Indians", including Blackfoot, Cheyenne, Sioux, Kiowa, and Arapaho. As a result of the European colonization of the Americas, most notably including American boarding and Canadian residential schools, the number of sign talkers has declined sharply.^[11] However, growing interest and preservation work on the language has increased its use and visibility in the 21st century.^[9] Historically, some have likened its more formal register, used by men, to Church Latin in function.^[12] It is primarily used today by Elders and Deaf citizens of Indigenous nations.^[8]

Some D/deaf Indigenous children attend schools for the deaf and learn American Sign Language (ASL) having already acquired Plains Sign Language.^[10] A group studied in 1998 were able to understand each other, though this was likely through the use of International Sign.^[10] Jeffrey E. Davis, a leading linguist in documentation efforts,^[8] hypothesizes that this contact, combined with potential contact with Martha's Vineyard Sign Language (another potential antecedent to ASL) may suggest that ASL descends in part from Plains Sign Language.^{[13]: 24–27}