This 1988 book was the first full-length study ever to be published on the subject of sign language among Australian Aborigines.

List of illustrations; Preface; Orthographic conventions and descriptive terms; 1. Introduction; 2. Aboriginal sign languages observed: a history; 3. Aboriginal sign languages observed: geographical review; 4. North central desert background; 5. Sign structures; 6. Sign forming and sign meaning; 7. Sign organization and word structure; 8. Signing spoken language grammar; 9. Discourse in sign and speech; 10. Signing and speaking simultaneously; 11. Signs of kinship; 12. Comparing Aboriginal sign languages; 13. Australian Aboriginal sign languages and other semiotic systems; 14. Aboriginal interaction and Aboriginal sign language; Appendix I. Sign notation symbols; Appendix II. Two versions of a Warlpiri story; References; Index of signs; General index.