Note 186 — Chapter V · CITIES AND PEOPLES (B) PEOPLES, RACES, TONGUES

The gesture-languages of to-day (Delbrück, Grundfragen d. Sprachforsch., pp. 49, et seq., with reference to the work of Jorio on the gestures of the Neapolitans) without exception presuppose word-language and are completely dependent upon its intellectual systematism. Examples: the mimicry of the actor, and the language which the American Indians have formed for themselves for the purpose of mutually understanding one another in spite of extreme differences and fluidity in the verbal languages of the various tribes. Wundt (Völkerpsychologie, I, p. 212) quotes the following to show how complicated sentences can be handled in this language: “White soldiers, led by an officer of high rank, but little intelligence, took the Mescalero Indians prisoners.”