Indian language Indian culture What's new on our site today!

Plains Indian Sign Language

Plains Indian Sign Language is a remarkable pidgin sign language devised by hearing Native Americans in order to communicate cross-tribally. There have never been native signers of this language, but it is still used as a second language for storytelling purposes among many of the Plains Indian tribes.

˜Plains Indian Sign Language Resources –

Native American Sign Language
Movie clips of seventeen words being signed

North American Indian Sign Language
Article on Plains Sign Language, its origins, and its usage

Indian Sign Language Dictionary
Alphabetical glossary of English words with their Plains Indian signs

Plains Indian Sign Language
History and demographics from the Ethnologue of Languages

˜CD's And Books For Sale On The Plains Indian Sign Language –

Wiyuta Assiniboine Storytelling
Brenda Farnell's wonderful CD-ROM recording of stories being told in Nakota and Plains Indian Sign Talk, with English translation.

Indian Sign Language
Book for sale presenting history, translations, and dialectology of Plains Sign Talk

Back to the names of Indian tribes
Back to our American Indians Information for kids

Native Languages

Native American Artists Native American Names Tribal Tattoos

Would you like to sponsor our work on the American Indian Sign Language?