Plains Indian Sign Language

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A language of United States

Scattered. Great Plains and neighboring regions, particularly on reservations of Apache, Assiniboine, Blackfeet, Cheyenne, Chippewa, Crow, Hidatsa/Mandan, Kalispel, Kiowa, Kutenai, Lakota, Mandan, Navajo, Pawnee and Southern Tiwa tribes.

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Canada

Language NamePlains Indian Sign Language

User Population

Small rapidly diminishing population.

Location

Scattered. Great Plains and neighboring regions, particularly on reserves of Assiniboine, Blackfeet, and Kutenai First Nations.

Alternate Names

First Nation Sign Language, NAISL, North American Indian Sign Language, PISL, Plains Sign Language, Plains Sign Talk

Dialects

Far Northern Plains Indian Sign Language.

Language Status

8b (Nearly extinct). Provincially recognized language in Ontario (2007, 38:2 Bill 213, Recognition of Sign Language as an Official Language Act).

Language Use

Elderly only. A few very elderly hearing people and some middle-aged or older deaf people. Shifted to American Sign Language [ase].

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Plains Indian Sign Language

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A language of United States

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