The Sign Language of Sawmill Workers in British Columbia

This paper describes a language of manual gestures spontaneously created by sawmill workers on the Pacific Coast of Canada to coordinate their technical functions and break the monotony of their work. While many industries seem to provide the conditions for the emergence of such languages, there are virtually no systematic data recorded on them. Our aim here is to contribute substantively to a significant but neglected aspect of sign language studies. The dominant element of the technical culture of the factory is the production process and its requirements and constraints. Organization and technology select channels and frequency of communication, but the production workers shape its style and content. More often than not workers are left to their own devices in developing and maintaining communication systems essential to production, and even less interest is shown in whether they have the means available for non-technical interpersonal expression. When conditions are favourable, the available means for both technical and personal expression include speech. When they are not, workers have three principal ways of communicating non-verbally: through the objects of their work; occasionally through signals such as lights and whistles designed for a minimum of technically necessary information; and through the use of their bodies in gestural signs which are the concern of this paper.