Hand signs for numerals in PSL.

[R. Rankin]

Right!  This very nice description kindly sent by Linda is exactly the system
protrayed in the publication with drawings that I used in my talk.     Bob


----- Original Message -----
From: <lcumberl at indiana.edu>
> On the subject of hand gestures in counting, here's a fairly detailed
> description from Denig's "The Assiniboine", written around 1854 at Ft. Union:
>
> "In counting with the hand, an Indian invariably begins with the little finger
> of the left, shutting it down forcibly with the thumb of the right; when the
> five fingers are thus shut he commences on the thumb of the right, shutting it
> with the left fist. When wishing to telegraph by signs a certain number less
> than 10 he holds up that number of fingers, beginning with the little finger
of
> the left hand and keeping the others shut. Should the number be 7, then all
the
> fingers of the left and thumb and finger of the right would be extended,
holding
> up his hands, the rest of the fingers closed. Tens are counted by shutting and
> opening both hands; thus, 100 would be indicated by shutting and opening both
> hands 10 times in succession.  The number 7 has two names, shakkowee and
enshand
> (the odd number)."
>
>
> Denig, Edwin Thompson (edited by JNB Hewitt with a new introduction by David
R.,
> Miller). Regina: Canadian Plains Research Center, 2000:26. (p.420 in Hewitt's
> 46th Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology to the Secretary of the
> Smithsonian Institution 1928-1929)
>
>
>