Timucua Hand Use: Dispelling the Myth of Left-Hand Preference

Abstract

At the time of Spanish contact, the Timucua were the original people of northern central Florida. Granberry (1996) claimed in a provocative article that Timucua constitutes an exception to the universal or near-universal property of preference for the right hand, and showed a preference for the left hand instead. This article critically examines Granberry's argument, and shows that there is no good linguistic evidence to support left-hand preference in Timucua