MALLERY. } SYNTAX OF SIGN LANGUAGE. 363 
ing of the American Asylum in 1817 down to about the year 1835, when 
it was abandoned. 
The collection of narratives, speeches, and dialogues of our Indians in 
sign language, first systematically commenced by the present writer, 
several examples of which are in this paper, has not yet been sufficiently 
complete and exact to establish conclusions on the subject of the syntactic 
arrangement of their signs. So far as studied it seems to be similar to 
that of deaf-mutes and to retain the characteristic of pantomimes in 
figuring first the principal idea and adding the accessories successively 
in the order of importance, the ideographic expressions being in the ideo- 
logic order. If the examples given are not enough to establish general 
rules of construction, they at least show the natural order of ideas in 
the minds of the gesturers and the several modes of inversion by which 
they pass from the known to the unknown, beginning with the dominant 
idea or that supposed to be best known. Some special instances of 
expedients other than strictly syntactic coming under the machinery 
broadly designated as grammar may be mentioned. 
DEGREES OF COMPARISON. 
Degrees of comparison are frequently expressed, both by deaf-mutes 
and by Indians, by adding to the generic or descriptive sign that for 
“pig” or “little.” Damp would be “ wet—little”; cool, ‘*cold—little”; hot, 
“warm—much.” The amount or force of motion also often indicates cor- 
responding diminution or augmentation, but sometimes expresses a dif- 
ferent shade of meaning, as is reported by Dr. Matthews with reference 
to the sign for bad and contempt, see page 411. This change in degree of 
motion is, however, often used for emphasis only, as is the raising of the 
voice in speech or italicizing and capitaliziag in print. The Prince of 
Wied gives an instance of a comparison in his sign for excessively hard, 
first giving that for hard, viz: Open the left hand, and strike against it 
several times with the right (with the backs of the fingers). Afterwards 
he gives hard, excessively, as follows: Sign for hard, then place the 
left index-finger upon the right shoulder, at the same time extend and 
raise the right arm high, extending the index-finger upward, perpen- 
dicularly. 
Rey. G. L. Deffenbaugh describes what may perhaps be regarded as 
an intensive sign among the Sahaptins in connection with the sign for 
good ; i.e., very good. “Place the left hand in position in front of the body 
with all fingers closed except first, thumb lying on second, then with 
forefinger of right hand extended in same way point to end of forefin- 
ger of left hand, move it up the arm till near the body and then toa 
point in front of breast to make the sign good.” For the latter see Ex- 
TRACTS FROM DICTIONARY page 487, infra. The same special motion 
is prefixed to the sign for bad as an intensive. 
Another intensive is reported by Mr. Benjamin Clark, interpreter at 
the Kaiowa, Comanche, and Wichita agency, Indian Territory, in which 
after the sign for bad is made, that for strong is used by the Comanches 
