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Show 276 SIGNS OF AFFIRMATION CnAP. xr. ,~Vith tho IIindoos Mr. H. Erskine conclndcs fron1 inquiries made fron1 experienced EnropeanR, a?-d from native gentlemen, that the signs of affirm~tion and negation vary-a nod and a latei:al ~hake being sometimes used as we do; but a negative IS more commonly expressed by the head bein?' thro~vn suddenly backwards and a little to one side, with a cluck of the tongue. What the meaning may be of .this c1~ck of the tongue, which has been o?served with vanous people I cannot imaaine. A native gentleman stated that affirmation is fr~quently shown by the head being thrown to the left. I asked Mr. Scott to attend particularly to this point, and, after repeated observationR, he believes that a vertical nod is not commonly used by the natives in affirtnation, but that tl~e head is first thrown backwards either to the left or r1ght, and then jerked obliquely forwards only ~nee. This movement would perhaps have been descnbed by a less caref~1l observer as n. lateral shake. He also states that In negation the head is usually held nearly upright, and shaken several times. Mr. Bridges informs me that the Fuegians noel their heads vertically in affirmation, and shake them laterally in denial. With the wild Indians of North America, according to Mr. '\Vashington Matthews, nodding and shaking the head have been learnt from Europeans, and are not naturally employed. They express affirmation "by describing with the hand (all the fin gers " except the index being flexed) a curve downwards " and outwards from the body, whilst negation is ex· " press~d by moving the open hand outwards, with the '; palm facing inwards." Other observers state that the sign of affirmation with these Indians is the fore· finger being raised, and then lowered and pointed to the ground, or the hand is waved straight forward from the CHAP. XI. AND NEGATION. 277 face ; and that the ~gn of n gation is the finger or whole hand shaken from s1de to side.26 'This latter movement probably r presents in all ca es the lat ral shaking of the head. 1:'he Italians are said in like manner to move the lifted finger fi·om riaht to left in negation as . d 0 ' In eed we English sometimes do. . On the whole we find considerable diversity in the signs of affirmation and negation in the different races of man. With res1 ect to negation, if we admit that tho shaking of the finger or band fro1n side to side i symbolic of the lat ral movement of the head· and if we admit that the sudden backward movement' of tho head repr?sents ?ne of ~he actions often practised by young children In refusing food then there is much uniformity throughout the world i~ the signs of negation, and we can see how they originated. The most marked exceptions a1~e pr~sented by the Arabs, Esquimaux, so1no ..A ..u strahan tnbes, and Dynks. With the latter a frown is the sjgu of negation, and with us frowninO' often accompanies a lateral shake of the head. n . vVith rcsp ct to nodding in affirmation, the exceptions a~·e rather :nore numerous, namely with some of ~he H1ndoos, With the Turks, Abyssinians, Dyaks ~agals, ~nd .r. ew Zealanders. The eyebrows are some-' ti.metS rmsed In affinnat.ion, and as a person in bendjng h1s head forwards and downwards naturally looks up ~~. the. person whom he .ad~reEses, he will be apt to Huse Ins eye?r~ws, and tlns s1gn may thus have arisen as au .~~brev1ation. S~ again with tho New Zealanders, the lifting up the chin and head in affirmation mav perhaps rep~·osent in an abbreviated fonn the upward 1noven1 nt of the head after it has been nodded forwards and down wards. 26 Lubbock, • TJ,o Origin of Civilization' 1810 IJ 277 '11 1 . 'L' ·' 08 L' b ('1 ,'1 ' ' · · Y u1, 1 1u p. · lC cr lul( • p. 11) rcnmrks on the n f'6'ati vc of the Itnllaui:!. . |