Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-g8jcs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-29T00:20:46.308Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

24 - Variation in Gesture: A Sociocultural Linguistic Perspective

from Part V - Gestures in Relation to Interaction

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 May 2024

By
Heather Brookes
Edited by
Alan Cienki
Alan Cienki
Affiliation:
Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam
Get access

Summary

This chapter reviews the study of variation in gesture and its theoretical underpinnings in the field of gesture studies. It questions the use of culture, language, or nationality as the default unit of analysis in studies of gesture variation. Drawing on theoretical developments in sociolinguistics and recent anthropologial analyses of gesture, it argues for the possibility that social factors and divisions other than linguistic/cultural boundaries may provide a more robust and comprehensive theoretical account for variation in gesture.

Keywords

gesturevariationclassgendercultureethnicitystyleindexicalityinteractionenvironment
Type
Chapter
Information
The Cambridge Handbook of Gesture Studies , pp. 616 - 640
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2024

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Agha, A. (2007). Language and social relations. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Bonifacio, G. (1616). L’arte de’ cenni. Vicenza, Italy: Francesco Grossi.Google Scholar
Bressem, J., & Müller, C. (2014a). A repertoire of recurrent gestures of German. In Müller, C., Cienki, A., Fricke, E., Ladewig, S. H., McNeill, D. & Bressem, J. (Eds.), Body-language-communication: An international handbook on multimodality in human interaction (Vol. 2, pp. 1575–1591). Berlin, Germany: De Gruyter Mouton.Google Scholar
Bressem, J., & Müller, C. (2014b). The family of away gestures: Negation, refusal, and negative assessment. In Müller, C., Cienki, A., Fricke, E., Ladewig, S., McNeill, D., & Bressem, J. (Eds.), Body - language - communication: An international handbook on multimodality in human interaction (Vol. 2, pp. 1592–1604). Berlin, Germany: De Gruyter Mouton.Google Scholar
Bressem, J., Stein, N., & Wegener, C. (2017). Multimodal language use in Savosavo: Refusing, excluding and negating with speech and gesture. Pragmatics, 27(2), 173–206. https://doi.org/10.1075/prag.27.2.01breGoogle Scholar
Brookes, H. (2001). O clever “He’s streetwise.” When gestures become quotable: The case of the clever gesture. Gesture, 1(2), 167–184. https://doi.org/10.1075/gest.1.2.05broCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brookes, H. (2004). A first repertoire of South African quotable gestures. Linguistic Anthropology, 14(2), 186–224. https://doi.org/10.1525/jlin.2004.14.2.186CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brookes, H. (2014a). Gesture in the communicative ecology of a South African township. In Seyfeddinipur, M. & Gullberg, M. (Eds.), From gesture in conversation to visible action as utterance (pp. 59–74). Amsterdam, the Netherlands: John Benjamins.Google Scholar
Brookes, H. (2014b). Urban youth languages in South Africa: A case study of tsotsitaal in a South African township. Anthropological Linguistics, 56(3–4), 356–388. https://doi.org/10.1353/anl.2014.0018CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brookes, H., & Nyst, V. (2014). Gesture in the sub-Saharan region. In Müller, C., Cienki, A., Fricke, E., Ladewig, S.H., McNeill, D. & Bressem, J. (Eds.), Body - language - communication: An international handbook on multimodality in human interaction (Vol. 2, pp. 1154–1161). Berlin, Germany: De Gruyter Mouton. .Google Scholar
Brown, A., & Gullberg, M. (2011). Bidirectional crosslinguistic influence in event conceptualization? Expressions of path among Japanese learners of English. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 14(1), 79–94. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1366728910000064CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bucholtz, M. (1999). You da man: Narrating the racial other in the production of white masculinity. Journal of Sociolinguistics, 3(4), 443–460. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9481.00090CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bucholtz, M., & Hall, K. (2005). Identity and interaction: A sociolinguistic approach. Discourse Studies, 7(4–5), 585–614. https://doi.org/10.1177/1461445605054407CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bucholtz, M., & Hall, K. (2016). Embodied sociolinguistics. In Coupland, N. (Ed.), Sociolinguistics: Theoretical debates (pp. 173–200). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bulwer, J. (1974). Chirologia or the natural language of the hand, etc. [and] Chironomia or the art of manual rhetoric, etc. London: Henry Twyford. Edited with an introduction by Cleaty, James W.. Carbondale, IL: Southern Illinois University Press. (Original work published 1644)Google Scholar
Cameron, D., & Kulick, D. (2003). Language and sexuality. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Condillac, E. B. de (1971). An essay on the origin of human knowledge (1756); being a supplement to Mr Locke’s essay on the human understanding. Facsimile reproduction of the translation of Thomas Nugent, edited and with an introduction by Weyant, Robett G.. Delmar, NY: Scholars’ Facsimiles and Reprints. (Original work published 1746)Google Scholar
Cooperrider, K. (2019). Universals and diversity in gesture: Research past, present, and future. Gesture, 18(2), 209–238. https://doi.org/10.1075/gest.19011.cooCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cooperrider, K., Abner, N., & Goldin-Meadow, S. (2018). The palm-up puzzle: Meanings and origins of a widespread form in gesture and sign. Frontiers in Communication, 3 (June), 1–16. https://doi.org/10.3389/fcomm.2018.00023CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Covington-Ward, Y. (2016). Gesture and power: Religion, nationalism, and everyday performance in Congo. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.Google Scholar
Covington-Ward, Y. (2019). Considerations of temporality and power in an anthropology of gesture: Cases from the precolonial Kongo Kingdom. Gesture, 18(2–3), 261–280. https://doi.org/10.1075/gest.19021.covCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Creider, C. A. (1977). Towards a description of East African gestures. Sign Language Studies, 14(1), 1–20. www.jstor.org/stable/26203193CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Creider, C. A. (1978). Intonation, tone groups and body motion in Luo conversation. Anthropological Linguistics, 20(7), 327–339. www.jstor.org/stable/30027426Google Scholar
Creider, C. A. (1986). Interlanguage comparisons in the study of the interactional use of gesture: Progress and prospects. Semiotica, 62(12), 147–164. https://doi.org/10.1515/semi.1986.62.1-2.147CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cutler, C. (1999). Yorkville crossing: White teens, hip hop, and African American English. Journal of Sociolinguistics, 3(4), 428–442. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9481.00089CrossRefGoogle Scholar
De Jorio, A. (2000). Gesture in Naples and gesture in classical antiquity. A translation of La mimica degli antichi investigata nel gestire napoletano (1932), and with an introduction and notes, by Adam Kendon. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press.Google Scholar
Diderot, D. (1916). Letter on deaf mutes. In Diderot’s Early Philosophical Works, translated and edited by Jourdian, Margaret. Chicago, IL: Open Court Publishing. (Original work published 1751)Google Scholar
Driessen, H. (1992). Gestured masculinity: Body and sociability in rural Andalusia. In Bremmer, J. & Roodenburg, H. (Eds.), A cultural history of gesture: From antiquity to the present day (pp. 237–252). Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.Google Scholar
Eckert, P. (1998). Jocks and burnouts: Social categories and identity in the high school. New York, NY: Teachers College Press.Google Scholar
Eckert, P. (2000). Linguistic variation as social practice. Oxford, UK: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Eckert, P. (2012). Three waves of variation study: The emergence of meaning in the study of sociolinguistic variation. Annual Review of Anthropology, 41, 87–100. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-anthro-092611-145828CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Efron, D. (1941). Gesture and environment. New York, NY: King’s Crown Press.Google Scholar
Efron, D. (1972). Gesture, race and culture. The Hague, the Netherlands: Mouton and Co.Google Scholar
Ekman, P., & Friesen, W. (1969). The repertoire of nonverbal behavior: Categories, origins, usage, and coding. Semiotica, 1(1), 49–98. https://doi.org/10.1515/semi.1969.1.1.49CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Enfield, N. J. (2005). The body as a cognitive artifact in kinship representations: Hand gesture diagrams by speakers of Lao. Current Anthropology, 46(1), 51–81. https://doi.org/10.1086/425661CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ferré, G., & Mettouchi, A. (2020). A cultural study of open-palm hand gestures and their prosodic correlates. In Proceedings of the 10th International Conference on Speech Prosody 2020, May 25–28, 2020, Tokyo, Japan (pp. 285–289). https://doi.org/10.21437/SpeechProsody.2020-58CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gawne, L. (2021). “Away” gestures associated with negative expressions in narrative discourse in Syuba (Kagate, Nepal) speakers. Semiotica, 2021 (239), 37–59. https://doi.org/10.1515/sem-2017-0163CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goffman, E. (1963). Behavior in public places. New York, NY: The Free Press.Google Scholar
Gu, Y., Zheng, Y., & Swerts, M. (2019). Which is in front of Chinese people, past or future? The effect of language and culture on temporal gestures and spatial conceptions of time. Cognitive Science, 43(12), e12804. https://doi.org/10.1111/cogs.12804CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hall, K., Goldstein, D., & Ingram, B. (2016). The hands of Donald Trump: Entertainment, gesture, spectacle. Journal of Ethnographic Theory, 6(2), 71–100. https://doi.org/10.14318/hau6.2.009CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harrison, S. (2018). The impulse to gesture. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harrison, S., & Ladewig, S. (2021). Recurrent gestures throughout bodies, languages, and cultural practices. Gesture, 20(2), 153–179. https://doi.org/10.1075/gest.21014.harCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harrison, S., & Larrivée, P. (2016). Morphosyntactic correlates of gestures: A gesture associated with negation in French and its organisation with speech. In Larrivée, P. & Lee, C. (Eds.), Negation and polarity: Experimental perspectives (pp. 75–94). Cham, Switzerland: Springer International Publishing.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Haviland, J. (1993). Anchoring, iconicity, and orientation in Guugu Yimithirr pointing gestures. Linguistic Anthropology, 3(1), 3–45. https://doi.org/10.1525/jlin.1993.3.1.3CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Haviland, J. (1998). Guugu Yimithirr cardinal directions. Ethos, 26(1), 25–47.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Haviland, J. (2019). Space as space and space as grammar An anthropological journey through gesture(d) spaces. Gesture, 18(2–3), 305–342. https://doi.org/10.1075/gest.20014.havCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hymes, D. (1974). Foundations in sociolinguistics: An ethnographic approach. Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania Press.Google Scholar
Kendon, A. (1981). Geography of gesture. Semiotica, 37, 129–167.Google Scholar
Kendon, A. (1992). Some recent work from Italy on Quotable Gestures (Emblems). Journal of Linguistic Anthropology, 2(1), 92–108. https://doi.org/10.1525/jlin.1992.2.1.92CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kendon, A. (2004). Gesture: Visible action as utterance. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kendon, A. (2017). Pragmatic functions of gesture: Some observations on the history of their study and their nature. Gesture, 16(2), 157–176. https://doi.org/10.1075/gest.16.2.01kenCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kita, S. (2009). Cross-cultural variation of speech-accompanying gesture: A review. Language and Cognitive Processes, 24(2), 145–167. https://doi.org/10.1080/01690960802586188CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kita, S., Danziger, E., & Stolz, C. (2001). Cultural specificity of spatial schemas, as manifested in spontaneous gestures. In Gattis, M. (Ed.), Spatial schemas and abstract thought (pp. 115–146). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kita, S., & Essegby, J. (2001). Pointing left in Ghana: How a taboo on the use of the left hand influences gestural practice. Gesture, 1(1), 73–95. https://doi.org/10.1075/gest.1.1.06kitCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kita, S., & Ide, S. (2007). Nodding, aizuchi, and final particles in Japanese conversation: How conversation reflects the ideology of communication and social relationships. Journal of Pragmatics, 39(7), 1242–1254. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2007.02.009CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kita, S., & Özyürek, A. (2003).What does cross-linguistic variation in semantic coordination of speech and gesture reveal? Evidence for an interface representation of spatial thinking and speaking. Journal of Memory and Language, 48(1), 16–32. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0749-596X(02)00505-3CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kulick, D. (2003). Language and desire. In Holmes, J. & Meyerhoff, M. (Eds.), The handbook of language and gender (pp. 119–141). Oxford, UK: Blackwell.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kunene, R. (2010). Etude interlangue du développement narratif multimodal chez l’enfant âgé de 6 à 12 ans en contexte isiZulu et Français. (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). Université Stendhal (Grenoble III).Google Scholar
Labov, W. (2006). The social stratification of English in New York City. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ladewig, S. (2014a). Recurrent gestures. In Müller, C., Cienki, A., Fricke, E., Ladewig, S. H., McNeill, D., & Bressem, J. (Eds.), Body - language - communication: An international handbook on multimodality in human interaction (Vol. 2, pp. 1558–1575). Berlin, Germany: De Gruyter Mouton.Google Scholar
Ladewig, S. (2014b). The cyclic gesture. In Müller, C., Cienki, A., Fricke, E., Ladewig, S., McNeill, D., & Bressem, J. (Eds.), Body-language-communication: An international handbook on multimodality in human interaction (Vol. 2, pp. 1605–1618). Berlin, Germany: De Gruyter Mouton.Google Scholar
Le Guen, O. (2011). Speech and gesture in spatial language and cognition among the Yucatec Mayas. Cognitive Science, 35, 905–938. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1551-6709.2011.01183.xCrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Le Guen, O., & Balam, L. I. P. (2012). No metaphorical timeline in gesture and cognition among Yucatec Mayas. Frontiers in Psychology, 3, Article 271. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2012.00271CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lempert, M. (2011). Barack Obama being sharp: Indexical order in the pragmatics of precision-grip gesture. Gesture, 11(3), 241–270. https://doi.org/10.1075/gest.11.3.01lemCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Levinson, S. C. (1996). Frame of reference and Molyneux’s question: Crosslinguistic evidence. In Bloom, P., Peterson, M., Nadel, L., & Garrett, M. (Eds.), Language and space (pp. 109–169). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Levinson, S. C. (2003). Space in language and cognition: Exploration in cognitive diversity. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McNeill, D. (2005). Language and thought. Chicago, IL: Chicago University Press.Google Scholar
McNeill, D., & Duncan, S. (2000). Growth points in thinking-for-speaking. In McNeill, D. (Ed.), Language and gesture (pp. 141–161). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Maribe, T., & Brookes, H. (2014). Male youth talk in the construction of black lesbian identities. Southern African Linguistics and Applied Language Studies, 32(2), 199–214. https://doi.org/10.2989/16073614.2014.992641CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mauss, M. (1973 [orig. 1935]). Techniques of the body. Economy and Society, 2(1), 70–88. https://doi.org/10.1080/03085147300000003CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mead, M., & Bateson, G. (1942). Balinese character: A photographic analysis. New York, NY: New York Academy of Sciences.Google Scholar
Milroy, L. (1980). Language and social networks. Oxford, UK: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Morris, D., Collett, P., Marsh, P., & O’Shaughnessy, M. (1979). Gestures: Their origins and distribution. London, UK: Jonathan Cape.Google Scholar
Müller, C. (1998). Redebegleitende Gesten: Kulturegeschichte – Theorie – Sprachvergleich. Berlin, Germany: Berlin Verlag Arno Spitz.Google Scholar
Müller, C. (2004). Forms and uses of the Palm Up Open Hand. A case of a gesture family? In Müller, C. & Posner, R. (Eds.), Semantics and pragmatics of everyday gestures (pp. 233–256). Berlin, Germany: Weidler.Google Scholar
Munari, B. (1963). Supplemento al dizionario Italiano. Milan, Italy: Muggiani.Google Scholar
Núñez, R., & Sweetser, E. (2006). With the future behind them: Convergent evidence from Aymara language and gesture in the crosslinguistic comparison of spatial construals of time. Cognitive Science, 30(3), 401–450. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15516709cog0000_62CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Özyürek, A., Kita, S., Allen, S., Brown, A., Furman, R., & Ishizuka, T. (2008). Development of cross-linguistic variation in speech and gesture: Motion events in English and Turkish. Developmental Psychology, 44(4), 1040–1054. https://doi.org/10.1037/0012-1649.44.4.1040CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Özyürek, A., Kita, S., Allen, S., Furman, R., & Brown, A. (2005). How does linguistic framing of events influence co-speech gestures? Insights from crosslinguistic variations and similarities. Gesture, 5, 219–240. https://doi.org/10.1075/gest.5.1.15ozyCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Payrató, L. (1993). A pragmatic view on autonomous gestures: A first repertoire of Catalan emblems. Journal of Pragmatics, 20, 193–216. https://doi.org/10.1016/0378-2166(93)90046-RCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Quintilian, M. F. (1922). The institutio oratoria of Quintilian. Translated by H. E. Butler, Vol. 4. New York, NY: G. P. Putnam and Sons. (Original work published 95 C.E.)Google Scholar
Rampton, B. (1995). Crossing: Language and ethnicity among adolescents. London, UK: Longman.Google Scholar
Rampton, B., & Charalambous, C. (2010). Crossing. In Martin-Jones, M., Blackledge, A., & Creese, A. (Eds.), The Routledge handbook of multilingualism (pp. 482–498). London, UK: Routledge.Google Scholar
Saitz, R., & Cervanka, E. (1972). Handbook of gestures: Columbia and the United States. The Hague, the Netherlands: Mouton.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sanders, K. W. (2015). The convergence of language and culture in Malawian gestures: Handedness in everyday rituals. In Agwuele, A. (Ed.), Body talk and cultural identity in the African world (pp. 111–132). Sheffield, UK: Equinox Publishing Ltd.Google Scholar
Schuler, E. A. (1944). V for victory: A study in symbolic social control. Journal of Social Psychology, 19, 283–299.Google Scholar
Sherzer, J. (1972). Verbal and nonverbal deixis: The pointed lip gesture among the San Bas Cuna. Language in Society, 2, 117–131. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0047404500000087CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sherzer, J. (1991). The Brazilian thumbs-up gesture. Journal of Linguistic Anthropology, 1(2), 189–197. https://doi.org/10.1525/jlin.1991.1.2.189/CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Silverstein, M. (2003). Indexical order and the dialectics of sociolinguistic life. Language and Communication, 23(3/4), 193–229. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0271-5309(03)00013-2CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stam, G. (2015). Changes in thinking for speaking: A longitudinal study. The Modern Language Journal, 99(Supplement), 83–99. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-4781.2015.12180.xCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sullivan, K., & Bui, L.T. (2016). With the future coming up behind them: Evidence that time approaches from behind in Vietnamese. Cognitive Linguistics, 27(2), 205–233. https://doi.org/10.1515/cog-2015-0066CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Talmy, L. J. (2007). Lexicalization patterns: semantic structure in lexical forms. In Shopen, T. (Ed.), Language typology and syntactic description, volume III: Grammatical categories and the lexicon (pp. 66–168). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. (Original work published 1985)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Trudgill, P. (1972). Sex, covert prestige and linguistic change in the urban British English of Norwich. Language in Society, 1(2), 179–195. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0047404500000488CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Trudgill, P. (1974). The social differentiation of English in Norwich. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Tylor, E. B. (1964). Researches into the early history of mankind and the development of civilization by Edward B. Tylor. Edited and abridged with an introduction by P. Bohannan. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press. (Original work published 1865)Google Scholar
Wundt, W. (1973). The language of gestures. The Hague, the Netherlands: Mouton.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×