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A gesture is a form of
non-verbal communication Nonverbal communication (NVC) is the transmission of messages or signals through a nonverbal platform such as eye contact, facial expressions, gestures, posture, and body language. It includes the use of social cues, kinesics, distance ( prox ...
or non-vocal
communication Communication (from la, communicare, meaning "to share" or "to be in relation with") is usually defined as the transmission of information. The term may also refer to the message communicated through such transmissions or the field of inquir ...
in which visible bodily actions communicate particular messages, either in place of, or in conjunction with,
speech Speech is a human vocal communication using language. Each language uses Phonetics, phonetic combinations of vowel and consonant sounds that form the sound of its words (that is, all English words sound different from all French words, even if ...
. Gestures include movement of the hands,
face The face is the front of an animal's head that features the eyes, nose and mouth, and through which animals express many of their emotions. The face is crucial for human identity, and damage such as scarring or developmental deformities may aff ...
, or other parts of the
body Body may refer to: In science * Physical body, an object in physics that represents a large amount, has mass or takes up space * Body (biology), the physical material of an organism * Body plan, the physical features shared by a group of anima ...
. Gestures differ from physical non-verbal communication that does not communicate specific messages, such as purely
expressive Expressivity, expressiveness, and expressive power may refer to: *Expressivity (genetics), variations in a phenotype among individuals carrying a particular genotype *Expressive loa, a type of loanword in phono-semantic matching *Expressive power ...
displays,
proxemics Proxemics is the study of human use of space and the effects that population density has on behaviour, communication, and social interaction. Proxemics is one among several subcategories in the study of nonverbal communication, including haptics ...
, or displays of
joint attention Joint attention or shared attention is the shared focus of two individuals on an object. It is achieved when one individual alerts another to an object by means of eye-gazing, pointing or other verbal or non-verbal indications. An individual gaz ...
.Kendon, Adam. (2004) ''Gesture: Visible Action as Utterance''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Gestures allow individuals to communicate a variety of feelings and thoughts, from contempt and hostility to approval and affection, often together with
body language Body language is a type of communication in which physical behaviors, as opposed to words, are used to express or convey information. Such behavior includes facial expressions, body posture, gestures, eye movement, touch and the use of space. Th ...
in addition to
word A word is a basic element of language that carries an objective or practical meaning, can be used on its own, and is uninterruptible. Despite the fact that language speakers often have an intuitive grasp of what a word is, there is no conse ...
s when they speak. Gesticulation and speech work independently of each other, but join to provide emphasis and meaning. Gesture processing takes place in areas of the brain such as Broca's and
Wernicke's area Wernicke's area (; ), also called Wernicke's speech area, is one of the two parts of the cerebral cortex that are linked to speech, the other being Broca's area. It is involved in the comprehension of written and spoken language, in contrast to B ...
s, which are used by
speech Speech is a human vocal communication using language. Each language uses Phonetics, phonetic combinations of vowel and consonant sounds that form the sound of its words (that is, all English words sound different from all French words, even if ...
and
sign language Sign languages (also known as signed languages) are languages that use the visual-manual modality to convey meaning, instead of spoken words. Sign languages are expressed through manual articulation in combination with non-manual markers. Sign l ...
. In fact, language is thought by some scholars to have evolved in ''Homo sapiens'' from an earlier system consisting of manual gestures. The theory that language evolved from manual gestures, termed Gestural Theory, dates back to the work of 18th-century philosopher and priest Abbé de Condillac, and has been revived by contemporary anthropologist Gordon W. Hewes, in 1973, as part of a discussion on the origin of language.


Research throughout the ages

Gestures have been studied throughout time from different philosophers. Marcus Fabius Quintilianus was a
Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a letter ...
Rhetoric Rhetoric () is the art of persuasion, which along with grammar and logic (or dialectic), is one of the three ancient arts of discourse. Rhetoric aims to study the techniques writers or speakers utilize to inform, persuade, or motivate parti ...
ian who studied in his Institutio Oratoria on how gesture can be used on rhetorical discourses. One of his greatest works and foundation for
communication Communication (from la, communicare, meaning "to share" or "to be in relation with") is usually defined as the transmission of information. The term may also refer to the message communicated through such transmissions or the field of inquir ...
was the " Institutio Oratoria" where he explains his observations and nature of different oratories. A study done in 1644, by John Bulwer an
English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...
physician A physician (American English), medical practitioner (Commonwealth English), medical doctor, or simply doctor, is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through th ...
and early Baconian
natural philosopher Natural philosophy or philosophy of nature (from Latin ''philosophia naturalis'') is the philosophical study of physics, that is, nature and the physical universe. It was dominant before the development of modern science. From the ancient wo ...
wrote five works exploring human communications pertaining to gestures. Bulwer analyzed dozens of gestures and provided a guide under his book named Chirologia which focused on hand gestures. In the 19th century,
Andrea De Jorio Andrea De Jorio (1769–1851) was an Italian antiquarian who is remembered today among ethnographers as the first ethnographer of body language, in his work ''La mimica degli antichi investigata nel gestire napoletano'', 1832 ("The mime of the ...
an Italian antiquarian who considered a lot of research about
body language Body language is a type of communication in which physical behaviors, as opposed to words, are used to express or convey information. Such behavior includes facial expressions, body posture, gestures, eye movement, touch and the use of space. Th ...
published an extensive account of gesture expressions.
Andrew N. Meltzoff Andrew N. Meltzoff (born February 9, 1950) is an American psychologist and an internationally recognized expert on infant and child development. His discoveries about infant imitation greatly advanced the scientific understanding of early cognition ...
an American psychologist internationally renown for infant and child development conducted a study in 1977 on the imitation of facial and manual gestures by newborns. The study concluded that "infants between 12 and 21 days of age can imitate the facial and manual gestures of parents". In 1992,
David Mcneill Glenn David McNeill (born 1933 in California, United States) is an American psychologist and writer specializing in scientific research into psycholinguistics and especially the relationship of language to thought, and the gestures that accomp ...
, a professor of
linguistics Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. It is called a scientific study because it entails a comprehensive, systematic, objective, and precise analysis of all aspects of language, particularly its nature and structure. Linguis ...
and
psychology Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Psychology includes the study of conscious and unconscious phenomena, including feelings and thoughts. It is an academic discipline of immense scope, crossing the boundaries betwe ...
at the
University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chicago is consistently ranked among the b ...
, wrote a book based on his ten years of research and concluded that "gestures do not simply form a part of what is said, but have an impact on thought itself." Meltzoff argues that gestures directly transfer thoughts into visible forms, showing that ideas and language cannot always be express. A peer-reviewed journal Gesture has been published since 2001, and was founded by Adam Kendon and Cornelia Müller. The International Society for Gesture Studies (ISGS) was founded in 2002. Gesture has frequently been taken up by researchers in the field of dance studies and performance studies in ways that emphasize the ways they are culturally and contextually inflected. Performance scholar Carrie Noland describes gestures as "learned techniques of the body" and stresses the way gestures are embodied corporeal forms of cultural communication. But rather than just residing within one cultural context, she describes how gestures migrate across bodies and locations to create new cultural meanings and associations. She also posits how they might function as a form of "resistance to homogenization" because they are so dependent on the specification of the bodies that perform them. Gesture has also been taken up within queer theory,
ethnic studies Ethnic studies, in the United States, is the interdisciplinary study of difference—chiefly race, ethnicity, and nation, but also sexuality, gender, and other such markings—and power, as expressed by the state, by civil society, and by indivi ...
and their intersections in
performance studies Performance studies is an interdisciplinary academic field that uses performance as a lens and a tool to study the world. The term ''performance'' is broad, and can include artistic and aesthetic performances like concerts, theatrical events, ...
, as a way to think about how the moving body gains social meaning.
José Esteban Muñoz José Esteban Muñoz (August 9, 1967 – December 3, 2013) was a Cuban American academic in the fields of performance studies, visual culture, queer theory, cultural studies, and critical theory. His first book, ''Disidentifications: Queers of ...
uses the idea of gesture to mark a kind of refusal of finitude and certainty and links gesture to his ideas of ephemera. Muñoz specifically draws on the African-American dancer and
drag queen A drag queen is a person, usually male, who uses drag clothing and makeup to imitate and often exaggerate female gender signifiers and gender roles for entertainment purposes. Historically, drag queens have usually been gay men, and part of ...
performer
Kevin Aviance Kevin Aviance (born Eric Snead on June 22, 1968) is an American drag queen, club/dance musician, fashion designer and nightclub personality. He is a personality in New York City's gay scene and has performed throughout North America, Europe and ...
to articulate his interest not in what queer gestures might mean, but what they might perform. Juana María Rodríguez borrows ideas of
phenomenology Phenomenology may refer to: Art * Phenomenology (architecture), based on the experience of building materials and their sensory properties Philosophy * Phenomenology (philosophy), a branch of philosophy which studies subjective experiences and a ...
and draws on Noland and Muñoz to investigate how gesture functions in queer sexual practices as a way to rewrite gender and negotiate power relations. She also connects gesture to Giorgio Agamben's idea of "means without ends" to think about political projects of social justice that are incomplete, partial, and legibile within culturally and socially defined spheres of meaning. Within the field of linguistics, the most hotly contested aspect of gesture revolves around the subcategory of Lexical or Iconic Co-Speech Gestures. Adam Kendon was the first to hypothesize on their purpose when he argued that Lexical gestures do work to amplify or modulate the lexico-semantic content of the verbal speech with which they co-occur. However, since the late 1990s, most research has revolved around the contrasting hypothesis that Lexical gestures serve a primarily cognitive purpose in aiding the process of speech production. As of 2012, there is research to suggest that Lexical Gesture does indeed serve a primarily communicative purpose and cognitive only secondary, but in the realm of socio-pragmatic communication, rather than lexico-semantic modification.


Typology (categories)

Humans have the ability to communicate through language, but they can also express through gestures. In particular, gestures can be transmitted through movements of body parts, face, and body expressions. Researchers Goldin Meadow and Brentari D. conducted research in 2015 and concluded that communicating through sign language is no different from spoken language.''Gesture, sign and language: The coming of age of sign language and gesture studies''. Available from: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/282760416_Gesture_sign_and_language_The_coming_of_age_of_sign_language_and_gesture_studies ccessed Nov 04 2018


Communicative vs. informative

The first way to distinguish between categories of gesture is to differentiate between communicative gesture and informative gesture. While most gestures can be defined as possibly happening during the course of spoken utterances, the informative-communicative dichotomy focuses on intentionality of meaning and communication in co-speech gesture.


Informative (Passive Gestures)

Informative gestures are passive gestures that provide information about the speaker as a person and not about what the speaker is trying to communicate. Some movements are not purely considered gestures, however a person could perform these adapters in such way like scratching, adjusting clothing, and tapping. These gestures can occur during speech, but they may also occur independently of communication, as they are not a part of active communication. While informative gestures may communicate information about the person speaking (e.g. itchy, uncomfortable, etc.), this communication is not engaged with any language being produced by the person gesturing.


Communicative (Active Gestures)

Communicative gestures are gestures that are produced intentionally and meaningfully by a person as a way of intensifying or modifying speech produced in the vocal tract (or with the hands in the case of sign languages), even though a speaker may not be actively aware that they are producing communicative gestures. For instance, on the picture above of Uncle Sam, he is pointing and sending a non-verbal form of gesture by implying he wants you to join the U.S. Army. This is a form of symbolic gesture, usually used in the absence of speech.


Body language relating to gestures

Body language is a form of
nonverbal communication Nonverbal communication (NVC) is the transmission of messages or signals through a nonverbal platform such as eye contact, facial expressions, gestures, posture, and body language. It includes the use of social cues, kinesics, distance ( pr ...
that allows visual cues that transmit messages without speaking. Gestures are movement that are made with the body: arms, hands, facial, etc. Authors Barbara Pease and Allan Pease, of " The Definitive Book of Body Language" concluded that everyone does a shoulder shrug, a gesture signifying that the person is not comprehending what they are supposed to be understanding. Also, that showing the palms of both hands to show a person is not hiding anything, and raising the eyebrows to indicate a greeting. Finger gestures are commonly used in a variety of ways, from point at something to indicate that you want to show a person something to indicating a thumbs up to show everything is good. Some gestures are near universals, i.e., found all over the world with only some exceptions. An example is the
head shake A head is the part of an organism which usually includes the ears, brain, forehead, cheeks, chin, eyes, nose, and mouth, each of which aid in various sensory functions such as sight, hearing, smell, and taste. Some very simple animals may ...
to signify "no". Also, in most cultures nodding your head signifies "Yes", which the book "The Definitive Book of Body Language" describes as submissive gesture to representing the conversation is going the direction of the person speaking. The book explains that people who are born deaf can show a form of submissive gesture to signify "Yes".


Manual vs. non-manual communicative gestures

Within the realm of communicative gestures, the first distinction to be made is between gestures made with the hands and arms, and gestures made with other parts of the body. Examples of Non-manual gestures may include head
nodding A nod of the head is a gesture in which the head is tilted in alternating up and down arcs along the sagittal plane. In many cultures, it is most commonly, but not universally, used to indicate agreement, acceptance, or acknowledgement. To ...
and shaking, shoulder shrugging, and
facial expression A facial expression is one or more motions or positions of the muscles beneath the skin of the face. According to one set of controversial theories, these movements convey the emotional state of an individual to observers. Facial expressions are ...
, among others. Non-manual gestures are attested in languages all around the world, but have not been the primary focus of most research regarding co-speech gesture.


Manual gestures

A gesture that is a form of communication in which bodily actions communicate particular messages. Manual gestures are most commonly broken down into four distinct categories: Symbolic (Emblematic),
Deictic In linguistics, deixis (, ) is the use of general words and phrases to refer to a specific time, place, or person in context, e.g., the words ''tomorrow'', ''there'', and ''they''. Words are deictic if their semantic meaning is fixed but their de ...
(Indexical), Motor (Beat), and Lexical (Iconic) It is important to note that manual gesture in the sense of communicative co-speech gesture does not include the gesture-signs of
Sign Languages Sign languages (also known as signed languages) are languages that use the visual-manual modality to convey meaning, instead of spoken words. Sign languages are expressed through manual articulation in combination with non-manual markers. Sign l ...
, even though sign language is communicative and primarily produced using the hands, because the gestures in
Sign Language Sign languages (also known as signed languages) are languages that use the visual-manual modality to convey meaning, instead of spoken words. Sign languages are expressed through manual articulation in combination with non-manual markers. Sign l ...
are not used to intensify or modify the speech produced by the vocal tract, rather they communicate fully productive language through a method alternative to the
vocal tract The vocal tract is the cavity in human bodies and in animals where the sound produced at the sound source ( larynx in mammals; syrinx in birds) is filtered. In birds it consists of the trachea, the syrinx, the oral cavity, the upper part of th ...
.


Symbolic (emblematic)

The most familiar are the so-called emblems or quotable gestures. These are conventional, culture-specific gestures that can be used as replacement for words, such as the handwave used in the US for "hello" and "goodbye". A single emblematic gesture can have a very different significance in different cultural contexts, ranging from complimentary to highly offensive. The page
List of gestures Gestures are a form of nonverbal communication in which visible bodily actions are used to communicate important messages, either in place of speech or together and in parallel with spoken words. Gestures include movement of the hands, face ...
discusses emblematic gestures made with one hand, two hands, hand and other body parts, and body and facial gestures. Symbolic gestures can occur either concurrently or independently of vocal speech. Symbolic gestures are iconic gestures that are widely recognized, fixed, and have conventionalized meanings.


Deictic (indexical)

Deictic gestures can occur simultaneously with vocal speech or in place of it. Deictic gestures are gestures that consist of indicative or
pointing Pointing is a gesture specifying a direction from a person's body, usually indicating a location, person, event, thing or idea. It typically is formed by extending the arm, hand, and index finger, although it may be functionally similar to other ...
motions. These gestures often work in the same way as demonstrative words and pronouns like "this" or "that". Deictic gestures can refer to concrete or intangible objects or people.


Motor (beat)

Motor or beat gestures usually consist of short, repetitive, rhythmic movements that are closely tied with prosody in verbal speech. Unlike symbolic and deictic gestures, beat gestures cannot occur independently of verbal speech and convey no semantic information. For example, some people wave their hands as they speak to emphasize a certain word or phrase. These gestures are closely coordinated with speech. The so-called beat gestures are used in conjunction with speech and keep time with the rhythm of speech to emphasize certain words or phrases. These types of gestures are integrally connected to
speech Speech is a human vocal communication using language. Each language uses Phonetics, phonetic combinations of vowel and consonant sounds that form the sound of its words (that is, all English words sound different from all French words, even if ...
and thought processes.


Lexical (iconic)

Other spontaneous gestures used during speech production known as iconic gestures are more full of content, and may echo, or elaborate, the meaning of the co-occurring speech. They depict aspects of spatial images, actions, people, or objects. For example, a gesture that depicts the act of throwing may be synchronous with the utterance, "He threw the ball right into the window."McNeill (1992). Hand and Mind. Chicago: University of Chicago Press Such gestures that are used along with speech tend to be universal. For example, one describing that he/she is feeling cold due to a lack of proper clothing and/or a cold weather can accompany his/her verbal description with a visual one. This can be achieved through various gestures such as by demonstrating a shiver and/or by rubbing the hands together. In such cases, the language or verbal description of the person does not necessarily need to be understood as someone could at least take a hint at what's being communicated through the observation and interpretation of body language which serves as a gesture equivalent in meaning to what's being said through communicative speech. The elaboration of lexical gestures falls on a spectrum of iconic-metaphorical in how closely tied they are to the lexico-semantic content of the verbal speech they coordinate with. More iconic gesture very obviously mirrors the words being spoken (such as drawing a jagged horizontal line in the air to describe mountains) whereas more metaphorical gestures clearly contain some spatial relation to the semantic content of the co-occurring verbal speech, but the relationship between the gesture and the speech might be more ambiguous. Lexical gestures, like motor gestures, cannot occur independently of verbal speech. The purpose of lexical gestures is still widely contested in the literature with some linguists arguing that lexical gestures serve to amplify or modulate the semantic content of lexical speech, or that it serves a cognitive purpose in aiding in lexical access and retrieval or verbal working memory. Most recent research suggests that lexical gestures serve a primarily socio-pragmatic role.


Language development

Studies affirm a strong link between gesture typology and
language development Language development in humans is a process starting early in life. Infants start without knowing a language, yet by 10 months, babies can distinguish speech sounds and engage in babbling. Some research has shown that the earliest learning begi ...
. Young children under the age of two seem to rely on pointing gestures to refer to objects that they do not know the names of. Once the words are learned, they eschewed those referential (pointing) gestures. One would think that the use of gesture would decrease as the child develops spoken language, but results reveal that gesture frequency increased as speaking frequency increased with age. There is, however, a change in gesture typology at different ages, suggesting a connection between gestures and language development. Children most often use pointing and adults rely more on iconic and beat gestures. As children begin producing sentence-like utterances, they also begin producing new kinds of gestures that adults use when speaking (iconics and beats). Evidence of this systematic organization of gesture is indicative of its association to language development. Gestural languages such as
American Sign Language American Sign Language (ASL) is a natural language that serves as the predominant sign language of Deaf communities in the United States of America and most of Anglophone Canadians, Anglophone Canada. ASL is a complete and organized visual lang ...
and its regional siblings operate as complete natural languages that are gestural in modality. They should not be confused with finger spelling, in which a set of emblematic gestures are used to represent a written alphabet. American sign language is different from gesturing in that concepts are modeled by certain hand motions or expressions and has a specific established structure while gesturing is more malleable and has no specific structure rather it supplements speech. Before an established sign language was created in Nicaragua after the 1970s, deaf communities would use "home signs" in order to communicate with each other. These home signs were not part of a unified language but were still used as familiar motions and expressions used within their family—still closely related to language rather than gestures with no specific structure. This is similar to what has been observed in the gestural actions of chimpanzees. Gestures are used by these animals in place of verbal language, which is restricted in animals due to their lacking certain physiological and articulation abilities that humans have for speech. Corballis (2009) asserts that "our hominid ancestors were better pre-adapted to acquire language-like competence using manual gestures than using vocal sounds." This leads to a debate about whether humans, too, looked to gestures first as their modality of language in the early existence of the species. The function of gestures may have been a significant player in the evolution of language.


Social significance

Gesturing is probably universal; there has been no report of a community that does not gesture. Gestures are a crucial part of everyday conversation such as chatting, describing a route, negotiating prices on a market; they are ubiquitous.Axtell, R. (1993). Do's and taboos around the world. (3rd ed., p. 116). Wiley. Retrieved from http://www.sheltonstate.edu/Uploads/files/faculty/Angela%20Gibson/Sph%20106/taboos0001.pdf Gestures are learned embodied cultural practices that can function as a way to interpret
ethnic An ethnic group or an ethnicity is a grouping of people who identify with each other on the basis of shared attributes that distinguish them from other groups. Those attributes can include common sets of traditions, ancestry, language, history, ...
, gender, and sexual identity. Gestures, commonly referred to as "
body language Body language is a type of communication in which physical behaviors, as opposed to words, are used to express or convey information. Such behavior includes facial expressions, body posture, gestures, eye movement, touch and the use of space. Th ...
," play an important role in industry. Proper body language etiquette in business dealings can be crucial for success. However, gestures can have different meanings according to the country in which they are expressed. In an age of global business, diplomatic cultural sensitivity has become a necessity. Gestures that we take as innocent may be seen by someone else as deeply insulting. The following gestures are examples of proper etiquette with respect to different countries' customs on salutations: * In the
United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
, "a firm handshake, accompanied by direct eye contact, is the standard greeting. Direct eye contact in both social and business situations is very important." * In the
People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
, "the Western custom of shaking a person's hand upon introduction has become widespread throughout the country. However, oftentimes a nod of the head or a slight bow will suffice." * In
Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
, "the act of presenting business cards is very important. When presenting, one holds the business card with both hands, grasping it between the thumbs and forefingers. The presentation is to be accompanied by a slight bow. The print on the card should point towards the person to which one is giving the card." * In
Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
, "it is impolite to shake someone's hand with your other hand in your pocket. This is seen as a sign of disrespect". * In
France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
, "a light, quick handshake is common. To offer a strong, pumping handshake would be considered uncultured. When one enters a room, be sure to greet each person present. A woman in France will offer her hand first." In
Hinduism Hinduism () is an Indian religion or '' dharma'', a religious and universal order or way of life by which followers abide. As a religion, it is the world's third-largest, with over 1.2–1.35 billion followers, or 15–16% of the global p ...
and
Buddhism Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and gra ...
, a '' mudra'' (
Sanskrit Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...
, literally "seal") is a symbolic gesture made with the hand or fingers. Each mudra has a specific meaning, playing a central role in Hindu and Buddhist iconography. A common religious gesture include crossing oneself in a number of religions as a sign of respect, typically by kneeling before a sacred object in many.VASC, Dermina, and Thea IONESCU. "Embodying Cognition: Gestures And Their Role In The Development Of Thinking." Cognitie, Creier, Comportament/Cognition, Brain, Behavior 17.2 (2013): 149–150. Academic Search Complete. Web. Gestures play a central role in religious or spiritual rituals such as the
Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...
sign of the cross Making the sign of the cross ( la, signum crucis), or blessing oneself or crossing oneself, is a ritual blessing made by members of some branches of Christianity. This blessing is made by the tracing of an upright cross or + across the body with ...
. Gestures are also a means to initiate a mating ritual. This may include elaborate
dance Dance is a performing art form consisting of sequences of movement, either improvised or purposefully selected. This movement has aesthetic and often symbolic value. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoir ...
s and other movements. Gestures play a major role in many aspects of human life. Additionally, when people use gestures, there is a certain shared background knowledge. Different cultures use similar gestures when talking about a specific action such as how we gesture the idea of drinking out of a cup. When an individual makes a gesture, another person can understand because of recognition of the actions/shapes. Gestures have been documented in the arts such as in Greek vase paintings, Indian Miniatures or European paintings. An example, Vitarka Vicara, the gesture of discussion and transmission of Buddhist teaching. It is done by joining the tips of the thumb and the index together, while keeping the other fingers straight.


Neurology

Gestures are processed in the same areas of the brain as
speech Speech is a human vocal communication using language. Each language uses Phonetics, phonetic combinations of vowel and consonant sounds that form the sound of its words (that is, all English words sound different from all French words, even if ...
and
sign language Sign languages (also known as signed languages) are languages that use the visual-manual modality to convey meaning, instead of spoken words. Sign languages are expressed through manual articulation in combination with non-manual markers. Sign l ...
such as the left
inferior frontal gyrus The inferior frontal gyrus (IFG), (gyrus frontalis inferior), is the lowest positioned gyrus of the frontal gyri, of the frontal lobe, and is part of the prefrontal cortex. Its superior border is the inferior frontal sulcus (which divides it f ...
(
Broca's area Broca's area, or the Broca area (, also , ), is a region in the frontal lobe of the dominant Cerebral hemisphere, hemisphere, usually the left, of the Human brain, brain with functions linked to speech production. Language processing in the brai ...
) and the posterior
middle temporal gyrus Middle temporal gyrus is a gyrus in the brain on the temporal lobe. It is located between the superior temporal gyrus and inferior temporal gyrus. It corresponds largely to Brodmann area 21. The middle temporal gyrus is bounded by: * the superi ...
, posterior
superior temporal sulcus The superior temporal sulcus (STS) is the sulcus separating the superior temporal gyrus from the middle temporal gyrus in the temporal lobe of the brain. A sulcus (plural sulci) is a deep groove that curves into the largest part of the brain, ...
and superior temporal gyrus (
Wernicke's area Wernicke's area (; ), also called Wernicke's speech area, is one of the two parts of the cerebral cortex that are linked to speech, the other being Broca's area. It is involved in the comprehension of written and spoken language, in contrast to B ...
). It has been suggested that these parts of the brain originally supported the pairing of gesture and meaning and then were adapted in
human evolution Human evolution is the evolutionary process within the history of primates that led to the emergence of '' Homo sapiens'' as a distinct species of the hominid family, which includes the great apes. This process involved the gradual development o ...
"for the comparable pairing of sound and meaning as voluntary control over the vocal apparatus was established and spoken language evolved". As a result, it underlies both symbolic gesture and spoken language in the present
human brain The human brain is the central organ of the human nervous system, and with the spinal cord makes up the central nervous system. The brain consists of the cerebrum, the brainstem and the cerebellum. It controls most of the activities of the ...
. Their common neurological basis also supports the idea that symbolic gesture and spoken language are two parts of a single fundamental semiotic system that underlies human discourse. The linkage of hand and body gestures in conjunction with speech is further revealed by the nature of gesture use in blind individuals during conversation. This phenomenon uncovers a function of gesture that goes beyond portraying communicative content of language and extends
David McNeill Glenn David McNeill (born 1933 in California, United States) is an American psychologist and writer specializing in scientific research into psycholinguistics and especially the relationship of language to thought, and the gestures that accomp ...
's view of the gesture-speech system. This suggests that gesture and speech work tightly together, and a disruption of one (speech or gesture) will cause a problem in the other. Studies have found strong evidence that speech and gesture are innately linked in the brain and work in an efficiently wired and choreographed system. McNeill's view of this linkage in the brain is just one of three currently up for debate; the others declaring gesture to be a "support system" of spoken language or a physical mechanism for lexical retrieval. Because of this connection of co-speech gestures—a form of manual action—in language in the brain, Roel Willems and Peter Hagoort conclude that both gestures and language contribute to the understanding and decoding of a speaker's encoded message. Willems and Hagoort's research suggest that "processing evoked by gestures is qualitatively similar to that of words at the level of semantic processing." This conclusion is supported through findings from experiments by Skipper where the use of gestures led to "a division of labor between areas related to language or action (Broca's area and premotor/primary motor cortex respectively)", The use of gestures in combination with speech allowed the brain to decrease the need for "semantic control". Because gestures aided in understanding the relayed message, there was not as great a need for semantic selection or control that would otherwise be required of the listener through
Broca's area Broca's area, or the Broca area (, also , ), is a region in the frontal lobe of the dominant Cerebral hemisphere, hemisphere, usually the left, of the Human brain, brain with functions linked to speech production. Language processing in the brai ...
. Gestures are a way to represent the thoughts of an individual, which are prompted in working memory. The results of an experiment revealed that adults have increased accuracy when they used pointing gestures as opposed to simply counting in their heads (without the use of pointing gestures) Furthermore, the results of a study conducted by Marstaller and Burianová suggest that the use of gestures affect working memory. The researchers found that those with low capacity of working memory who were able to use gestures actually recalled more terms than those with low capacity who were not able to use gestures. Although there is an obvious connection in the aid of gestures in understanding a message, "the understanding of gestures is not the same as understanding spoken language." These two functions work together and gestures help facilitate understanding, but they only "partly drive the neural language system".


Electronic interface

The movement of gestures can be used to interact with technology like computers, using
touch In physiology, the somatosensory system is the network of neural structures in the brain and body that produce the perception of touch ( haptic perception), as well as temperature ( thermoception), body position (proprioception), and pain. It ...
or multi-touch popularised by the iPhone, physical movement detection and visual motion capture, used in
video game console A video game console is an electronic device that outputs a video signal or image to display a video game that can be played with a game controller. These may be home consoles, which are generally placed in a permanent location connected to ...
s. It can be recorded using kinematic methodology.


Kendon's continuum

In order to better understand the linguistic values that gestures hold, Adam Kendon, a pioneer in gesture research has proposed to look at it as a continuum from less linguistic to fully linguistic. Using the continuum, speech declines as "the language-like properties of gestural behaviors increase and idiosyncratic gestures are replaced by socially regulated signs". Gestures of different kinds fall within this continuum and include spontaneous gesticulations, language-like gestures, pantomime, emblems, and sign language. Spontaneous gesticulations are not evident without the presence of speech, assisting in the process of vocalization, whereas language-like gestures are "iconic and metaphoric, but lack consistency and are context-dependent". "Language-like gesture" implies that the gesture is assuming something linguistic (Loncke, 2013). Pantomime falls in the middle of the continuum and requires shared conventions. This kind of gesture helps convey information or describe an event. Following pantomime are emblems, which have specific meanings to denote "feelings, obscenities, and insults" and are not required to be used in conjunction with speech. The most linguistic gesture on Kendon's continuum is sign language, where "single manual signs have specific meanings and are combined with other manual signs according to specific rules".


Philosophy

In recent years, various authors have dealt with philosophical theories of gesture, proposing different versions. Among the most important we should note that of Giorgio
Agamben Giorgio Agamben ( , ; born 22 April 1942) is an Italian philosopher best known for his work investigating the concepts of the state of exception, form-of-life (borrowed from Ludwig Wittgenstein) and '' homo sacer''. The concept of biopolitics ( ...
, presented in the book ''Karman'', in which the gesture is seen as a pure means without purpose, as an intermediate form between the doing of praxis and that of poiesis. In an opposite spirit,
Giovanni Maddalena Giovanni Maddalena is full professor of theoretical philosophy at the University of Molise, Italy. He works on American philosophy, especially focusing on Charles Sanders Peirce and classic pragmatists. Career He proposes a new paradigm of reas ...
introduced ''The philosophy of gesture'' where gesture is defined as any performed act with a beginning and an end that carries on a meaning (from the latin gero = to bear, to carry on).Maddalena G. (2015). The philosophy of gesture. Montreal: McGill–Queen’s University Press. According to this philosophy, gesture is our normal procedure to embody vague ideas in singular actions with a general meaning. Gesture is forged by a dense blending of icons, indices, and symbols and by a complexity of phenomenological characteristics, such as feelings, actual actions, general concepts, and habits (firstness, secondness, and thirdness in
Charles S. Peirce Charles Sanders Peirce ( ; September 10, 1839 – April 19, 1914) was an American philosopher, logician, mathematician and scientist who is sometimes known as "the father of pragmatism". Educated as a chemist and employed as a scientist for t ...
’s phenomenology).


See also

*
Chironomia Chironomia is the art of using gesticulations or hand gestures to good effect in traditional rhetoric or oratory. Effective use of the hands, with or without the use of the voice, is a practice of great antiquity, which was developed and syste ...
* Growth point *
Haptic communication Haptic communication is a branch of nonverbal communication that refers to the ways in which people and animals communicate and interact via the sense of touch. Touch is the most sophisticated and intimate of the five senses. Touch or haptics, f ...
*
Kinesics Kinesics is the interpretation of body motion communication such as facial expressions and gestures, nonverbal behavior related to movement of any part of the body or the body as a whole. The equivalent popular culture term is body language, a t ...
*
List of gestures Gestures are a form of nonverbal communication in which visible bodily actions are used to communicate important messages, either in place of speech or together and in parallel with spoken words. Gestures include movement of the hands, face ...
* Musical gesture *
Posture (psychology) In humans, posture can provide a significant amount of important information through nonverbal communication. Psychological studies have also demonstrated the effects of body posture on emotions. This research can be traced back to Charles Da ...
*
Rock, Paper, Scissors Rock paper scissors (also known by other orderings of the three items, with "rock" sometimes being called "stone," or as Rochambeau, roshambo, or ro-sham-bo) is a hand game originating in China, usually played between two people, in which each ...
*
Sign language Sign languages (also known as signed languages) are languages that use the visual-manual modality to convey meaning, instead of spoken words. Sign languages are expressed through manual articulation in combination with non-manual markers. Sign l ...
*
Taunt A taunt is a battle cry, sarcastic remark, gesture, or insult intended to demoralize the recipient, or to anger them and encourage reactionary behaviors without thinking. Taunting can exist as a form of social competition to gain control of the tar ...
*
Orans Orans (/ˈoː.rans/), a loanword from Medieval Latin ''ōrāns'' translated as ''one who is praying or pleading'', also orant or orante, as well as lifting up holy hands, is a posture or bodily attitude of prayer, usually standing, with the elb ...
*
Salute A salute is usually a formal hand gesture or other action used to display respect in military situations. Salutes are primarily associated with the military and law enforcement, but many civilian organizations, such as Girl Guides, Boy Sco ...
*
Enactment effect The enactment effect, also called self-performed task effect (SPT effect) Cohen, RL (1981) "On the generality of some memory laws". ''Scandinavian Journal of Psychology'', 22:267-281. is a term that was created in the early 80's to describe the fact ...


References


Further reading

* '' Bulwer, J (1644). Chirologia: or the Natural Language of the Hand.'' * '' Goldin-Meadow, S (2003). Hearing gesture: How our hands help us think. Cambridge, Massachusetts:
Harvard University Press Harvard University Press (HUP) is a publishing house established on January 13, 1913, as a division of Harvard University, and focused on academic publishing. It is a member of the Association of American University Presses. After the retir ...
. .'' * Hoste, L. & Signer, B. (2014) "Criteria, Challenges and Opportunities for Gesture Programming Languages" In ''Proceedings of 1st International Workshop on Engineering Gestures for Multimodal Interfaces (EGMI 2014)''. Rome, Italy. * '' Kendon, A (2004). Gesture: Visible Action as Utterance. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press Cambridge University Press is the university press of the University of Cambridge. Granted letters patent by Henry VIII of England, King Henry VIII in 1534, it is the oldest university press A university press is an academic publishing hou ...
. .'' * ''Kita, S (2003). Pointing: Where Language, Culture and Cognition Meet.
Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Taylor & Francis Group is an international company originating in England that publishes books and academic journals. Its parts include Taylor & Francis, Routledge, F1000 Research or Dovepress. It is a division of Informa plc, a United Ki ...
. .'' * Lippit, Akira Mizuta (2008). "Digesture: Gesture and Inscription in Experimental Cinema." ''Migration of Gesture''. Ed. Carrie Noland and Sally Ann Ness. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. * Maddalena, Giovanni (2015). ''The Philosophy of Gesture'', Montreal: McGill–Queen’s University Press. * '' McNeill, D (2005). Gesture and Thought. Chicago:
University of Chicago Press The University of Chicago Press is the largest and one of the oldest university presses in the United States. It is operated by the University of Chicago and publishes a wide variety of academic titles, including ''The Chicago Manual of Style'', ...
. .'' * Muñoz, Jose Esteban (2001). "Gesture, Ephemera and Queer Feeling: Approaching Kevin Aviance." ''Dancing Desires: Choreographing Sexualities on and off Stage''. Ed.
Jane Desmond Jane C. Desmond is currently a Professor of Anthropology and Gender and Women's Studies at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Desmond is also a published author as well as the co-founder and director of the International Forum for U.S ...
. Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin Press, 423–442. * Muñoz, José Esteban (2009). ''Cruising Utopia: The Then and There of Queer Futurity''. New York: New York University Press. * Noland, Carrie (2009). ''Agency and Embodiment : Performing Gestures/producing Culture''. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. * Noland, Carrie and Sally Ann Ness, editors (2008). ''Migration of Gesture''. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. * * Rodríguez, Juana María (2007). "Gesture and Utterance Fragments from a Butch-Femme Archive." ''A Companion to Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer Studies''. Ed. George E. Haggerty and Molly McGarry. Blackwell Publishing Ltd, 2007. 282–291. * Rodríguez, Juana María (2014). ''Sexual Futures, Queer Gestures, and Other Latina Longings''. New York: NYU Press.


External links


International Society for Gesture Studies
devoted to the study of human gesture {{Nonverbal communication