Year: 1998
Type: article
Abstract: Gestures add semantic, pragmatic, and discourse content to speech and participate in the formation of idea units.Where language systems differ, gestures may also differ, suggesting a new form of linguistic influence on thought, manifested in modes of speech-gesture combination. Speech and Gesture Integration David McNeillGesture-the long-neglected sister of language-surrounds speech with a web of images.Gestures with speech are as much a part of language as are the words, phrases, and sentences that have traditionally been regarded as such (McNeill, 1992).What does the enrichment of language with imagery show us of language and thought?In recent years the rise of sign language as a topic of interest in psychol ogy and linguistics has brought gesture into focus as a kind of backdrop to the analysis of language systems.But gesture can also be approached as a rich research topic in its own right.The study of gesture goes back to Roman times.Efron (1941) established the approach that has characterized the study of ges ture in the modern period to the present day.With the advent of slow-motion film and video, gesture study has entered a period of exciting empirical dis covery.A 1995 conference on gesture at the Linguistic Institute attracted par ticipants from around the world.For our purposes a gesture can be defined as a movement of the arms and hands in a region of space reserved for symbolic expression, typically in front of the torso.Only those movements that are regarded by both speaker and listener as communicative acts (as opposed to practical actions, selftouching, or other nonsymbolic movements) are germane to the study of ges ture.For example, a speaker might raise her hand vertically in front of her A research grant from the Spencer Foundation supports my cross-linguistic research on gestures as pan of motion event descriptions.I am grateful to Susan Duncan, Lisa Miotto, Karl-Erik McCullough, and Gale Stam for the developmental materials.Adam Kendon com mented on the "conventional gestures" section.Randall B.
Author: David McNeill
Institution: University of Chicago
Language: English
Subfield: Language and Linguistics
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
OpenAlex ID: W2121012272