Discourse in Signed Languages

Discourse Features of American Indian Sign Language (AISL)

179 Discourse Features of American Indian Sign Language (AISL) Jeffrey E. Davis Historically, the vast geographic expanse and extreme linguistic and cultural diversity of North America contributed to Native American groups speaking numerous mutually unintelligible languages. In order to mediate this contact and language divide, the Indians often either adopted or developed an intermediary third language, which anthropologists and sociolinguists sometimes call a lingua franca. It has been well documented that a highly conventionalized and linguistically enriched signed language emerged and was used in varying degrees across the major cultural areas of native North America—a signed lingua franca. This historical linguistic case of an international signed lingua franca involved American Indians representing at least (if not more than) 40 different spoken language groups across 12 major language families, or phyla (Campbell, 2000; Davis, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2010; McKay-Cody, 1997, 1998; Mithun, 2001; Taylor, 1978, 1981, 1997). Based on more than two decades of intensive research on the subject of the North American Indian signed lingua franca, I posit and describe in this chapter that this was an unparalleled historical occurrence of a signed language being used by this number of hearing community members, from different nations, across such a wide geographic expanse. Although I have written this chapter to focus on American Indian Sign Language (AISL) varieties, it is worth noting that in many of today’s intercultural, intercontinental, or international contexts American Sign Some parts of the material in this chapter draw on material that first appeared in previous publications (Davis 2006, 2007, 2010; Davis & McKay-Cody 2010; Davis & Supalla 1995; although the material has been considerably reworked and recast for this chapter and volume. I alternate between “I” and “our,” “me” and “we” when referring to aspects of our NSF-funded fieldwork (Davis, PI; McKay-Cody, co-PI), which involved collaboration with other scholars, linguistic students, and PISL community stakeholders. Roy_Part 4_Pgs 177-227.indd 179 8/17/2011 1:54:34 PM 180 : jeffrey e. davis Language (the ASL variety) functions much like a lingua franca. Moreover , the notion of a type of “third-language system” emerging from sign language contact situations is a familiar theme in research literature (e.g., Locker McKee & Davis, 2010; Quinto-Pozos, 2007a). Consider the international scope, status, and spread of ASL varieties across the North American continent. Besides ASL being widely used throughout most of Canada, the contiguous United States, Alaska, Hawaii, and U.S. territories, we find ASL varieties or dialects (based on degree of mutual intelligibility and similarity of linguistic features) commonly used across northern Mexico and in many parts of the Caribbean—including Puerto Rico, Jamaica, and Trinidad and Tobago in the West Indies. I believe that closer historical and sociolinguistic examination of North American signed language varieties will further illuminate language contact phenomena such as language hybrids, lingua francas, and Creoles. Although I find the span and spread of ASL use worth noting, this chapter focuses on North American Indian Sign Language, which is distinct from ASL and involves several sign language dialects and varieties.1 INTRODUCTION In the research literature about sign language, varieties of indigenous signed language used among North America Indian groups are collectively referred to as North American Indian Sign Language (NAISL; cf. Wurtzburg & Campbell, 1995). Though at times broadly categorized this way, it is essential to note that different varieties of indigenous sign language have been identified among American Indian groups (e.g., Inuit-Iñupiaq, Keresan Pueblo, Navajo/Diné, among others). Plains Indian Sign Language (PISL) has been the most well documented and described variety of American Indian signed language.2 Traditionally, the Indian signed lingua franca served various social and discourse functions within and between numerous American Indian communities of the Great Plains and other cultural groups bordering this area. However, the transmission of the Plains Indian signed lingua franca has dramatically waned from its widespread use in previous times. This is due to various historical and social factors—including its replacement by English and, in some instances, ASL. Today there is an extreme urgency to document, preserve, and revitalize the Plains Indian signed language variety and maintain traditional Indian ways of signing. Melanie McKay-Cody and I have collaborated Roy_Part 4_Pgs 177-227.indd 180 8/17/2011 1:54:34 PM Discourse Features of American Indian Sign Language : 181 for 20 years in efforts to conduct fieldwork among Native American communities who use the traditional Indian...