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I'm wondering has American Sign Language in USA has taken over North American Indian Sign Language?

Is North American Indian Sign Language still in use today for their ceremony?

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  • 9 years ago
    Favorite Answer

    It's known as Plains Indian sign languages (PISL), the best known Plains Standard Sign Language. There are few PISL signers today, because of the massive depopulation and the Americanization of Native North Americans. Missionaries would have preferred their own sign languages for deaf people, and later schools would have pushed ASL. And the infamous Indian boarding schools during the late 19th and early 20th centuries would have repressed any expression of native culture, instead choosing for forced "assimilation".

    "Ethnologue" says :

    - "Population : No estimate available."

    - "Language use : Formerly used between nations in hunting, trade, by deaf people, and every level of social interaction, and with non-Indians. Today used within nations in storytelling, rituals, legends, prayers, and by deaf people."

  • Anonymous
    9 years ago

    The current number of signers is unknown, but it is clear that there are still a number of users across North America, both hearing and deaf.

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