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Show 274 SIGNS OF AFFIRMATION Cn.Ar. xr. That these signs are innate or instinctive, at least with Anglo-Saxons, is rendered highly probable by tho blind and deaf Laura Bridgman '' constantl~ accom" panyino- her yes with the common affirmative nod, " and he~ no with our negative shake of the head." Had not Mr. Lieber stated to the contrary/9 I should have imagined that these gestures .might have be~n acquired or learnt by her, considenng her wonderful sense of touch and appreciation of the n1ovements of others. With microcephalous idiots, who are so degraded that they never learn to sp:ak, one of them is desc1·ibed by Vogt, 20 as answer1n?, whe~ ~sl~ed whether he wished for more food or dnnk, by 1nchn1ng or shaking his head. Schmalz, in his remarkable dissertation on the education of the deaf and dumb, as well as of children raised only one degree above idiotcy, assumes that they can always both make and understand the common signs of affirmation and negation. 21 Nevertheless if we look to the various races of man, these signs are not so universally employed as I should have expected ; yet they seem to? g.eneral to. be ranked as altogether conventional or artrfimal. My Informants assert that both signs are used by the Malays, by the natives of Cey Ion, the Chinese, the negroes of the. Guinea coast, and, according to Gaika, by the 1\afirs of South Africa, though with these latter people Mrs. Barber has never seen a lateral shake used as a negative. With respect to the Australians, seven observers agree that a nod is given in affirmation; five agree about a lateral shake in negation, accompanied or not 19 'On the Vocal Sounds of L. Bridgman;' Smithsonian Contributions, 1851, vol. ii. p. 11. 2o 'Memoire sur les Microcephales,' 1867, p. 27. 21 Quoted by Tylor, 'Early History of Mankind,' 2nd edit. 1870, p. 38. CrrAP. xr. AND NEGATION. 275 by son1e word; but l\fr. Dyson Lacy has nev r s en tl1is latter sign in Qn ensland, and Mr. Bulmer . ays that in Gipps' Land a negative is expressed by throwing the head a little backwards and putting out the tongue. At the northern extremity of the continent, near Torres Straits, the natives when uttering a negative "don't " shake the head with it, but holding up the right " hand, shake it by turning it half round and back " again two or three tim s." 22 The throwing back of the head with a cluck of the tongue is said to be used as a negative by the modern Greeks and Turks, the latter people expressing yes by a movement like that made by us when we shake our heads.23 The Abyssinians, as I am informed by Captain Speedy, express a negative by jerking the head to the right shoulder, together with a slight cluck, the mouth being closed ; an affirmation is expressed by the head being thrown backwards and the eyebrows raised for an instant. The Tagals of Luzon, in tho Philippine Archipelago, as I hear from Dr. Adolf Meyer, when they say "yes," also thro·w the head backwards. According to the l~ajah Brooke, the Dyaks of Borneo express an affirmation by raising the eyebrows, and a negation by slightly contracting them, together with a peculiar look from the eyes. vVith the Arabs on the Nile, Professor and Mrs. Asa Gray concluded that nodding in affirmation was rare, whilst shaking the head in negation was never used, and was not even understood by them. With the Esq uimaux 24 a nod means yes and a wink no. The New Zealanders " elevate the head and chin in place " of nodding acquiescence." 25.J 22 Mr. J. B. Jukes, 'Letters und Extracts,' &c., 1871, p. 248. 23 F. Lieber, ' On the Vocal Sounds,' &c., p. 11. 'J.1ylor, ibid. p. 5:;. ~4 Dr. King, Edinburgh Phil. JoUl'nal, 1845, p. 313. ~5 Tylor, 'Early History of 1\fankincl,' 2nd edit. 1870, p. 53. T 2 |