Plains Indian Sign Language

Plains Indian Sign Language
Plains Sign Talk, Hand Talk, First Nation Sign Language
Native to	Canada, Mexico, USA
Region	Central Canada and United States including the Great Plains and the Rocky Mountains region; northern Mexico
Ethnicity	Various North American Indigenous Peoples
Native speakers	Unknown (no date) 75 users total (no date)
Language family	Isolate, formerly a trade pidgin
Dialects	Navajo Sign Language Blackfoot Sign Language Cree Sign Language Ojibwa Sign Language
Writing system	none
Official status
Official language in	none
Recognised minority language in	Recognised as official in courts, education and legislative assembly of Ontario.
Language codes
ISO 639-3
Glottolog	plai1235
The attested historical range of Plains Sign Talk among other sign languages in the US and Canada (excl. ASL and LSQ).

Plains Indian Sign Language (PISL), also known as Plains Sign Talk,Plains Sign Language and First Nation Sign Language, is a trade language (or international auxiliary language), formerly trade pidgin, that was once the lingua franca across central Canada, central and western United States and northern Mexico, used among the various Plains Nations. It was also used for story-telling, oratory, various ceremonies, and by deaf people for ordinary daily use. It is falsely believed to be a manually coded language or languages, however there is not substantive evidence establishing a connection between any spoken language and Plains Sign Talk.

The name 'Plains Sign Talk' is preferred in Canada, with 'Indian' being considered pejorative by many. Hence, publications and reports on the language vary in naming conventions according to origin.

Plains Sign Talk's antecedents, if any, are unknown, due to lack of written records. But, the earliest records of contact between Europeans and Indigenous peoples of the Gulf Coast region in what is now Texas and northern Mexico note a fully formed sign language already in use by the time of the Europeans' arrival there. These records include the accounts of Cabeza de Vaca in 1527 and Coronado in 1541.

As a result of several factors, including the massive depopulation and the Americanization of Indigenous North Americans, the number of Plains Sign Talk speakers declined from European arrival onward. In 1885, it was estimated that there were over 110,000 "sign-talking Indians", including Blackfoot, Cheyenne, Sioux, Kiowa and Arapaho. By the 1960s, there remained a "very small percentage of this number". There are few Plains Sign Talk speakers today in the 21st century.