New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1880-07-05
SIGN LANGUAGE.
Yvpopr Ry COLONEL MALLORY.

IFRoA A REGULAR CORRESPONDENT OF THE iniboNI-I
WASHINGTON. July 4-Witln the last &c"
years the scientific observations aud Investigations
of the habits. customs and languages OF the North
American Indians by Professors.P Powell and Hayden
and many Others under their direction have done
,,pcb to throw light upon comparatively neg
leeted field of scientific research. The latest pub
lshed contribution ON the subject is a modest pu'
highly interesting monograph. entitled an lh''o
ducton to the Study of the Sign Language Among
the North American Indians, illustrating the Oes-
ture-Speech of Mankind.
The author of the report is Colonel uairlch
Mallory of the United States Army, who mas
already devoted several years to the study OF 'he
subject and who now attached to the bureau oi
Ethnology of the Smithsonian Institution
The work upon which Colonel Mallory rs en-
gagged appears TO have an Immediate practical as
well as prospective scientific value. for he declares
that by the establishment OF the principles OF
gesture language. common to mankind, instead Oh
several arbtraryicodes specuiar to certain peoples
which can only be memorzed after practical
observation the traveller, whether among our In
dams or foreign savages and barbarians may ne
come comparatively Independent of Interpreters.
Colonel Mallory while he does not recommend
onv attempt to revive the old fancy OF universal
mode of communication does assume that the in
telhgent use of natural signs will also insure COM
prehension among civilized nations whose oral
speech is not known to the observer
Although every work upon tbs wild inhabitants
of our country has mentioned their sign language,
hut few specimens of the language have been de-
scribed and those so imperfectly to he oil niue
value. Colonel Mallory while carefully collatlng
nil published material, has supplemented and ex-
plained il hy collection of signs recently made III
the field by selected correspondents working in
unison according to a strict method of description,
and diagrams and illustrations. so that the common
error of differing verbal expressions conveying
several ideas of the sign, is TO large extent
eliminated The official visits of delegations OF
most of the Indian tribes TO Washington III the
pas wear has also enabled the officers of the Bureau
of Ethnoogy not only TO prevent iapses IN the re-
collection of minute and rapidly executed signs, by
debating their description to stenographer at
the moment Of their exhibition, but also 10 pro-
cure the prints of a large number of them made
before the camera as certain evidence of their ac-
curacy.
general interest in the work will be promoted
by the fact that the signs of the American aDorig
ines are examined in suggested comparison with
those of the other tribes of men throug hon. the
world aud with the natural, as distinct
from the conventional, gesture expressions
of deaf mutes. The present publication.
although full of information, is not
elaborate or exhaustive. only protesting TO be an
exposition of the principles of gesture speech,
sufficient to excite interest and invite correspond
ence to indicate desirable directions and modes OF
observation and 10 give notice OF and explain the
facilities provided for description and Illustration
The final publication contemplated to be issued
bv the Smithsonian Institution, Will manly CONSIST
of collation. in the form of vocabulary, OF all
authentic signs including signals made at dis
tance with their description, as also OF
associated facial expressions, set forth
cla
when necessary, that they can be reproduced by
the reader The scope of the work Will he useful in
Calculating the evolution of articulate speech, the
radicals of languages. the forms OF alpnab3ts and
syllabares and the photographs which preceded the
latter.
Colonel Mallory solIcits the cooperation of per-
sons familiar with the deaf aud dumb In their CON
tTibution of the natural signs that have been IN
vented and used by uneducated deaf mutes
in their intercourse with their families and
friends. and further assistance is sought from
PSYCHOLOGISTS. travellers aud missionaries
whose attention mas been directed to the
cral modes of expressing human thought To
obtain such contributions large edition
of the introduction" together with forms
to facilitate description and illustration
and insure accuracy. has been distributed 70 officers
of our Navy TO foreign Governments, TO Boards Of
Foreign Missions, and to individual travellers and
scientists throughout the world.
The efforts at expression of all savage and bar
barian tribes when brought into contact with other
bodies of men not speaking AN oral language COM
mon to both. and especially when unciyilized III
habitants of the same territory are separated
by many linguistic divisions, should. in theory,
resemble the devices of the North American ln-
dams They are not shown by published works TO
prevail in the Eastern hemisphere to the same eX-
tent and in the manner as i'll North and
1no- 1,latn rvat0 in,
South America. Colonel Mallory says:
It's however probable that they exist IN many local
tiles, though not reported. and also that some
cyililation has been attained. and after
changed environment has rendered Their
be- first unconnected with existing oral
language and used IN place OF accen,ats seeOn Sc
words ordinary speech or may consist Of gestures.
impassioned conversation such being possibly. survi
walls of former gesture language
Colonel Mallory continues:
All classes Of gestures NAV be examined phiclogieally
LANGUAGE, syllabsres and idiographc characters.
language Of signs preceded in Importance
tnst oS aser penTe had leeems an ar The
early connection between them was so rl ultimate
formative effect upon MANY words. hut fhat
nataGsy accompany certain gestures it certain
that the latter exhoit tie earliest condition oil the hui
municated To speech.
Even n the moro material and substantive relations be-
tween signs and language cannot nov be asceTtaed,
from the inquiries suggested may at least expect
linguistic results IN the analogy between Their several
developments. The mental processes are nearly
the same both and the psychology of Language
Inay studied ia the older and lower means Of coniDu-
DcaOn the physical and mental organization OF mao
has been prof ably compared Win that or the
lower animals. The examination of signs and OF
picture writing, Which IL Intimately associated with
them light npou tho grammatical machinery of
language, the synactca principle and the genesis OF
the Not unt large body OF facts mas been
gathered by several classes of observers,
and compared by competent scholars, be possible
ascertain with the principles OF the print
i've ulteranoe OF mankind. An exhaustlve treat