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Known as "Hand Talk," Indian nations across America once used sign for trade and social communication. Now researchers seek to capture this subtle "speech" before it disappears permanently. NOTE: This video is open-captioned. |
Posted on 05/22/2010 10:43:01 AM PDT by SunkenCiv
Known as "Hand Talk," Indian nations across America once used sign for trade and social communication. Now researchers seek to capture this subtle "speech" before it disappears permanently. NOTE: This video is open-captioned.
(Excerpt) Read more at livescience.com ...
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Sometimes ya just *know* what's gonna get posted in a topic... |
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I have a handbook that has about 100 signs in it. Used to study it (back when I was a Boy Scout).
So, I'm not an expert in it, but I do recognize those "signs" when I see them elsewhere. You can look up far more AI sign words on the internet BTW.
Shang Dynasty characters are one of the earliest written ideographs with some character bearing shells being dated 6,000 years old ~ or contemporaneous with the development of writing in Mesopotamia and Egypt.
If you can track a handbook of Indian signs you can understand Shang Dynasty characters ~ since they appear to be the same thing, except the Indian does the "signs" himself with his body parts, and the Shang are drawn on shells.
The development of Shang pretty much overlaps the arrival of the Na-Dene people from Asia to America. These are today known as the Athabascans (including the Navajo, Apache, Aztec, etc.)
You can look up modern Chinese characters on any search engine. For the most part the standard characters have changed quite a bit over the millenia. At the same time many Chinese restaurants use a simplified set that've been drifting around with the Overseas Chinese since the days of Admiral He and the Ming Treasure Ship fleet. They are "older" ~ and actually easier to figure out (if you are into that sort of thing while waiting on your food.)
Deaf colonists were taught sign language by Indians. This was, for many, their first experience with language. The American Sign language did not develope until the time of the American Revolution. Many signs in the American sign language are from the older plains Indian signs.
shang olmec site:freerepublic.com
Thank you for posting this fascinating video. I hope this language is studied and preserved.
My pleasure. :’)
Just refreshing myself on the dates, Shang has a developmental stage that lasts for many centuries, and then they get to the time of the Olmec when Shang characters have grown into the thousands ~ and folks are using them for something other than the ceremonial purposes of the leadership elite.
So even the Chinese agree?!
The American Indian sign language reflects a rather sophisticated linguistic technique that cannot possibly be just coincidental when it comes to the OLDEST Shang characters.
It only takes a handful of people to transmit writing. The Meso-American writing methodologies were kept in the hands of the top ranked people who actually created characters that look like men signing!
No doubt someone needs to finally create a library of all the Athabascan signs.
Apparently the Google folks turned the Google logo into a working PacMan game to commemorate the oh-so-very-important 30th anniversary of PacMan.
PacMan is important. That’s one game I can always win at.
was there ever a song about it?
http://www.gametrailers.com/user-movie/80s-space-invaders-song/283306
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q-9CkkoISYw
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