<html><head><meta http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><META name="Author" content="Novell GroupWise WebAccess"></head><body style='font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; '><div><font face="Tahoma, sans-serif">Like Rhodes, I too </font><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;">wouldn't read too much into differences in pointing mechanisms, at least for purposes of interacting with this Nishnaabe-kwe.</span></div><br><div>The various reasons posited for the apparent discouragement of pointing with the finger were perhaps culture-specific but many of "us" in the Nishnaabe-land of today also likely simply consider it rude. I've never heard any explicit rationale from my family or other community members for not pointing with the finger. I can't pinpoint when -- likely during my gradual acculturation (maybe during high school in a non-native town) -- when I just got the message that it's rude to point with the finger. </div><br><div>Among those of "us" who don't behave in ways considered "traditionally Native", etc., I suspect it remains simply a matter of not being rude or obvious. Given the occasional need to point and to do so in a manner that's not rude or as obvious, it seems to be simply a practical matter of what we use if not the finger, the only other option being the lips or the head. (This master gesticulator --me -- has at times used the latter too. Even over the old-fashioned phone, I gesticulate madly as I explain directions etc. to someone.)</div><br><div>If my comments aren't all that enlightening, bear in mind that I'm not an anthropologist and that the Native culture I know is that of a 5,000-member plus First Nation most of whose members accepted Catholicism in the mid-1800s. </div><div><font size="3"><br></font></div><div><font size="3">:) M. Naokwegijig-Corbiere</font></div><div><font size="3"><br></font><font face="Tahoma, sans-serif">>>> Amy Dahlstrom <a-dahlstrom@UCHICAGO.EDU> 03/06/13 10:06 AM >>></font><br><font face="Tahoma, sans-serif">Hello Algonquianists,</font><br><br><font face="Tahoma, sans-serif">I'm a discussant at an upcoming conference on gesture, and one thing I </font><br><font face="Tahoma, sans-serif">thought I would mention to the (extremely diverse) audience is the </font><br><font face="Tahoma, sans-serif">practice among at least some of the Algonquian peoples of pointing with </font><br><font face="Tahoma, sans-serif">the lips or with the chin, rather than pointing with the finger.</font><br><br><font face="Tahoma, sans-serif">I would like to ask you all how widespread this practice is. And for </font><br><font face="Tahoma, sans-serif">native speakers (native pointers? :-) ), do you have any intuitions </font><br><font face="Tahoma, sans-serif">about why pointing with the finger is avoided? Would it seem rude to </font><br><font face="Tahoma, sans-serif">point with the finger? Or inappropriate in some other way?</font><br><br><font face="Tahoma, sans-serif">thanks in advance for any thoughts you can share!</font><br><br><font face="Tahoma, sans-serif">Amy</font><br><br><font face="Tahoma, sans-serif">P.S. if you hit "reply" remember that you are replying to the whole </font><br><font face="Tahoma, sans-serif">list! :-)</font><br><br></div></body></html>
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