Boys' Dance

The giant apes that live in the forest surrounding the women's villages use a system of gestures for basic communication. A group of abandoned human boys living with one particular group of giants adapted that system into a sign language, called "dancing" because of the full-body motions frequently employed.

Syntax

Boys' Dance uses predominantly a topic-comment structure. Any sign--object, action, or description--can be given priority by the dancer signing it first along with a bobbing of the head to indicate it as the topic of discourse. Once a topic is declared, its sign can be omitted from the following dance without loss of meaning, until it is replaced by another topic of a similar class.
Multiple topics can be set simultaneously, as long as they are all of a different class. For instance, boy and run can be topics at the same time, so that the dancer can describe how the boy ran without repeating those signs. The topic run can be replaced with eat, and further dancing describes the boy eating, without having to re-indicate the topic of boy.

Tenses

Actions are modified by a number of accompanying body movements. With no modification, an action is taken as an imperative. A completed action is indicated by taking two steps in place, an ongoing action by swaying side to side. If it is important to show in what time frame an action takes place, whether recently or distantly in the future or past, that aspect can be indicated by twisting the body and reaching forward or back and setting that sign as the topic.

Sentence Structure

Within the topic-comment structure, sentences are generally signed in a subject-object-verb order. This order can be shifted if the dancer wants to emphasize a different part of the sentence and the shift does not result in ambiguity.

Structural Markers

The dance system does not have a mechanism for asking questions as such, but there are two signs the use of which require a response from the viewer. To find out if a thing is true or not, a signer holds out his hand, palm up, after the sign. To request further information, he taps his foot while making the sign.
Negatives are expressed by the hands slapping together sharply. On its own the sign means stop that, but also negates a sign that it follows. It also can be used to respond negatively to the true-or-not gesture.

View from the future

From development to extinction, Boys' Dance lasted less than 100 years. It was learned by the exiles who traveled with the boys as they migrated south, but only those boys used it, and the sign language in its full form did not persist beyond the following generation. However, many signs were modified into a non-verbal hand-motion code used during group hunting, and some of those gestures remain in use today both in the vastland and the islands.

Common Unisex Names

Any sign can be made into a name, as long as it is preceded by tapping a closed fist over the heart. That indicates that the following sign refers to a person.

A guide to some similar signs

Direction of motion: lend vs. borrow

Eye contact: I acknowledge vs. I disagree

Angle of body: I dropped it vs. I threw it from me

Shape of hand: food vs. drink

Object used: collect fruit vs. play "stealing sticks" game

Repeated motion: correct vs. pay attention