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<big><big><small><small>"(...) This author found that by the 1980s,
Plains Sign Language was no longer commonly used on the northern plains
because forced accommodation to the English language had led to its
gradual replacement. Its decline mirrors that of many spoken languages
of the Plains Indians. In the late twentieth century fluent sign
talkers are few, but they can be found in several communities where
elders learned the language at an early age, where traditional
storytelling keeps it alive, or where deafness in a family has
preserved its practical function. Signing remains in use among the
Assiniboins, Stoneys, Blackfeet, Piegans, Bloods, Crows, and Northern
Cheyennes, in contexts involving such activities as religious
ceremonies, drumming, and storytelling. This author has also noted
that, in speaking their native language, Plains people frequently use
gestures from the sign language to accompany their speech in everyday
interactions. The revival of interest in indigenous languages, and the
efforts to preserve them, have led to a renewed interest in the Plains
Sign Language. Among the Assiniboins at Fort Belknap, and on the
Blackfoot, Crow, and Northern Cheyenne Reservations in Montana, for
example, the sign language is being incorporated into
language-maintenance programs."<br>
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<br>
(Brenda Farnell, University of Iowa)<br>
<br>
<br>
Alfred<br>
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