Do sign languages use the feet?

So one of the things that a lot of people who aren’t familiar with sign languages tend to find surprising is that there’s a lot more involved than just the hands. In fact (as I think I’ve mentioned before), fluent signers actually focus on the eyes of the person they’re signing with — not the hands at all. That makes it easier to see things like grammatical facial expressions. But it the use of other body parts doesn’t stop there. In fact, I was recently surprised to learn that several sign languages around the world actually make use of the feet during signing! (If you’d asked me even a couple of months ago, I’d have guessed there weren’t any, and I was super wrong.)

Signs Produced on the Feet

So one way in which the feet are used during signing is that some signs are produced with the hands, but on top of or in contact with the feet. Signers aren’t usually bending down to touch their toes in the middle of signing, though. Usually these are languages that are mainly used while sitting cross-legged on the ground. As a result, the feet are easily within the signing space.

• Some sign languages that produce signs on the feet:
  • Yolgnu Sign Language (Australia)
  • Al-Sayyid Bedouin Sign Language (Israel)

Signs Produced With the Feet!

Now these are even more exciting for me. Some languages actually use the feet as active articulators. This was very surprising to me. Why? Well, like I said before, most signers tend to look at other signers’ eyes while they’re communicating. If you’re using your feet during signing, though, your communication partner will need to break eye contact, look down at your feet, and then look all the way back up to your face again. That may not sound like a whole lot of work, but imagine if you were reading this passage and every so often there was a word written on your knee instead of the screen. It would be pretty annoying, and languages tend not to do things that are annoying to their users (because language users stop doing it!).

• Some sign languages that produce signs with the feet:
  • Walpiri Sign Language (Australia): Signs like RUN and WALK in this language actually involve moving the feet as if running or walking.
  • Central Taurus Sign Language (Turkey): Color signs are produced by using the toe to point to appropriately colored parts of richly colored carpets. (Thanks to Rabia Ergin for the info!)
  • Highland Mayan Sign Language/Meemul Tziij (Guatamala): Signers in this language not only use their feet, but they will actually reach down to the feet while standing. (Which is really interesting–I’d love to see more data on this language.)

So, yes, multiple sign languages do make use of the feet as both places of articulation and active articulators. Interestingly, it seems to be predominantly village sign languages–that is, sign languages used by both deaf and hearing members in small communities with a high incidence of deafness. I don’t know of any Deaf community sign languages–which are used primarily by culturally Deaf individuals who are part of a larger, non-signing society–that make use of the feet. I’d be very interested to hear if anyone knows of any!