pointing, not with finger

[Richard Preston]

found by Preston for Cree on the E. Coast of James Bay
minimum - rude; putting a person "on the spot"
maximum - sorcery; a visible and tangible threat
a shout where a well placed whisper would be good

On 2013-03-06, at 8:54 AM, Amy Dahlstrom wrote:

> Hello Algonquianists,
> 
> I'm a discussant at an upcoming conference on gesture, and one thing I thought I would mention to the (extremely diverse) audience is the practice among at least some of the Algonquian peoples of pointing with the lips or with the chin, rather than pointing with the finger.
> 
> I would like to ask you all how widespread this practice is.  And for native speakers (native pointers? :-) ), do you have any intuitions about why pointing with the finger is avoided?  Would it seem rude to point with the finger?  Or inappropriate in some other way?
> 
> thanks in advance for any thoughts you can share!
> 
> Amy
> 
> P.S.  if you hit "reply" remember that you are replying to the whole list! :-)