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-t8hqh Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-22T14:34:11.316Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

6 - Contributions to the Study of Visible Action as Utterance: A Fifty-Year Retrospective

from Part II - Ways of Approaching Gesture Analysis

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 May 2024

By
Adam Kendon
Edited by
Alan Cienki
Alan Cienki
Affiliation:
Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam
Get access

Summary

The chapter provides an overview of Kendon’s research biography, describing the origins of the theoretical notions and categories for analysis that he developed, e.g. gesture unit, gesture phrase, preparation, stroke, hold, kinesic action, the ways in which gestures can perform referential (through forms of pointing and depiction) and pragmatic functions (including operational, performative, modal, and parsing functions). The data he considered included not only speakers’ gestures, but also signed languages of different types, e.g. those used by the Deaf (primary sign languages), to those used for ritualistic or professional reasons (alternate sign languages). Discussion of the latter notes their structural relation to the spoken languages of their users. Locations and communities in which Kendon studied visible action as utterance include Great Britian, Naples, Italy; Papua New Guinea, and the United States; and among Aboriginal people in Australia. The work finishes with issues related to the study of language origins. Emphasis is placed throughout on the limitations of the term ‘gesture’ and the author’s preference for other terms, such as ‘utterance dedicated visible action’.

Keywords

Andrea De Joriogesticulationgesture phrasegesture unitsign languageutterancevisible actionWilliam Condon
Type
Chapter
Information
The Cambridge Handbook of Gesture Studies , pp. 133 - 157
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

Andresen, J. T. (2014). Linguistics and evolution: A developmental approach. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Bauer, A. (2015). The use of signing space in a shared sign language of Australia. Berlin, Germany: De Gruyter Mouton; Lancaster, UK: Ishara Press.Google Scholar
Bavelas, J. B., Chovil, N., Coates, L., & Roe, L. (1995). Gestures specialized for dialogue. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 21(4), 394–405. https://doi.org/10.1177/014616729521401CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bellugi, U., & Klima, E. (1975). Aspects of sign language and its structure. In Kavanagh, J. F. & Cutting, J. E. (Eds.), The role of speech in language (pp. 171–203). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Bellugi, U., & Klima, E. (1976). Two faces of sign: Iconic and abstract. In Harnard, S. R., Steklis, H. D., & Lancaster, J. (Eds.), Origins and evolution of language and speech (pp. 514–538). New York, NY: New York Academy of Sciences.Google Scholar
Birdwhistell, R. L. (1970). Kinesics and context: Essays in body motion communication. Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania Press.Google Scholar
Bolinger, D. (1946). Some thoughts on “yep” and “nope”. American Speech, 21, 90–95.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Boyes-Braem, P. & Sutton-Spence, R. (Eds.). (2001). The hands are the head of the mouth: The mouth as articulator in sign languages. Hamburg, Germany: Signum.Google Scholar
Butler, H. E. (1922). The Institutio Oratoria of Quintilian, with an English translation by H. E. Butler. London, UK: William Heinemann.Google Scholar
Calbris, G. (2011). Elements of meaning in gesture. Amsterdam, the Netherlands: John Benjamins.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chomsky, N. (2010). Some simple evo devo theses: How true might they be for language? In Larson, R. K., Déprez, V., & Yanakido, H. (Eds.), The evolution of human language: Biolinguistic perspectives (pp. 45–62). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clark, H. (2016). Depicting as a method of communication. Psychological Review, 123(3), 324–347. https://doi.org/10.1037/rev0000026CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Condon, W. S. (1976). An analysis of behavioral organization. Sign Language Studies 13, 285–318. https://doi.org/10.1353/sls.1988.0007CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cormier, K., Smith, S., & Sehyr Sevickova, Z. (2015). Rethinking constructed action. Sign Language and Linguistics, 18(2), 167–204. https://doi.org/10.1075/sll.18.2.01corCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cormier, K., Quinto-Pozos, D., Sevickova, Z., & Schembri, A. (2012). Lexicalisation and de-lexicalisation processes in sign languages: Comparing depicting constructions and viewpoint gestures. Langauge and Communication, 32, 329–348. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.langcom.2012.09.004CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Crystal, D. (1969). Prosodic systems and intonation in English. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Cuxac, C. & Sallandre, M.-A. (2007). Iconicity and arbitrariness in French Sign Language: Highly iconic structures, degenerated iconicity and diagrammatic iconicity. In Pizzuto, E., Pietandrea, P., & Simone, R. (Eds.), Verbal and signed languages: Comparing structures, concepts and methodologies (pp. 13–33). Berlin, Germany: Mouton de Gruyter.Google Scholar
Darwin, C. (1871). The descent of man and selection in relation to sex. In two volumes. London, UK: John Murray.Google Scholar
Davis, J. E. (2010). Hand talk: Sign language among American Indian nations. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
De Jorio, A. (2000). Gesture in Naples and gesture in classical antiquity. A translation of La Mimica Degli Antichi Investigata Nel Gestire Napoletano by Andrea De Jorio (1832) and with an introduction and notes by Adam Kendon. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press.Google Scholar
Dor, D. (2015). The instruction of imagination. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Efron, D. (1972). Gesture, race and culture (2nd ed.). The Hague, the Netherlands: Mouton. (Original publication 1941).Google Scholar
Emmorey, K. (Ed.) (2003). Perspectives on classifier constructions in sign languages. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Enfield, N. J. (2009). The anatomy of meaning. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University PressCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ferrara, L. & Halvorsen, R. P. (2017). Depicting and describing meanings with iconic sign in Norwegian Sign Language. Gesture, 16(3), 371–395. https://doi.org/10.1075/gest.00001.ferCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ferrara, L. & Hodge, G. (2018). Language as description, indication and depiction. Frontiers of Psychology, 9, Article 716. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.00716CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Fischer, S. & Gough, B. (1978). Verbs in American Sign Language. Sign Language Studies, 18, 17–48. https://www.jstor.org/stable/26203255CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Floyd, S. (2016). Modally hybrid grammar? Celestial pointing for time-of-day reference in Nheengatú. Language, 92(1), 31–64. https://doi.org/10.1353/lan.2016.0013CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Friedman, L. (Ed.). (1977). On the other hand: New perspectives on American Sign Language. New York, NY: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Goffman, E. (1963). Behavior in public places. New York, NY: The Free Press of Glencoe.Google Scholar
Goffman, E. (1971). Relations in public. New York, NY: Basic Books.Google Scholar
Goldin-Meadow, S. & Brentari, D. (2017). Gesture, sign, and language: The coming of age of sign language and gesture studies. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 40, E46. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0140525X15001247CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gullberg, M. (2011). Language-specific encoding of placement events in gestures. In Pederson, E. & Bohnemeyer, J. (Eds.), Event representations in language and cognition (pp. 166–188). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Harris, R. (1980). The language makers. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.Google Scholar
Hibbitts, B. J. (1992). “Coming to our senses”: Communication and legal expression in performance cultures. Emory Law Journal, 41(4), 873–960.Google Scholar
Hockett, C. (1976). In search of Jove’s Brow. American Speech, 53(4), 233–313.Google Scholar
Hockett, C. (1987). Refurbishing our foundations. Amsterdam, the Netherlands: John Benjamins.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hostetter, A. B. (2011). When do gestures communicate? A meta-analysis. Psychological Bulletin, 137, 297–315. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0022128CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Huttenlocher, J. (1975). Encoding information in sign language. In Kavanagh, J. & Cutting, J. (Eds.), The role of speech in language (pp. 229–240). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Johnston, T. & Schembri, A. (1999). On defining Lexeme in a signed language. Sign Language and Linguistics, 2(2), 115–118. https://doi.org/10.1075/sll.2.2.03johCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Johnston, T., Vermeerbergen, M., Schembri, A., & Leeson, L. (2007). Real data are messy: Considering cross-linguistic analysis of constituent ordering in Australian Sign Language (Auslan), Vlaamse Gebarantaal (VGT), and Irish Sign Language (ISL). In Perniss, P., Pfau, R., & Steinbach, M. (Eds.), Visible variation: Comparative studies on sign language structure (pp. 163–208). Berlin, Germant: Mouton de Gruyter.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kaplan, G. (2015). Bird minds: Cognition and behaviour of Australian native birds. Clayton, Australia: CSIRO Publishing.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kendon, A. (1970). Movement coordination in social interaction: Some examples described. Acta Psychologica, 32, 1–25. https://doi.org/10.1016/0001-6918(70)90094-6CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kendon, A. (1972). Some relationships between body motion and speech. An analysis of an example. In Siegman, A. & Pope, B. (Eds.), Studies in dyadic communication (pp. 170–210). Elmsford, NY: Pergamon Press.Google Scholar
Kendon, A. (1978). Differential perception and attentional frame in face-to-face interaction: Two problems for investigation. Semiotica, 24, 305–315. https://doi.org/10.1515/semi.1978.24.3-4.305CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kendon, A. (1980). Gesticulation and speech: Two aspects of the process of utterance. In Key, M. R. (Ed.), The relationship of verbal and nonverbal communication (pp. 207–227). The Hague, the Netherlands: Mouton and Co.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kendon, A. (1984). Knowledge of sign language in an Australian Aboriginal Community. Journal of Anthropological Research, 40, 556–76. https://doi.org/10.1086/jar.40.4.3629797CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kendon, A. (1988). Sign languages of Aboriginal Australia: Cultural, semiotic and communicative perspectives. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Kendon, A. (1990). Conducting interaction: Patterns of behavior in focused encounters. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Kendon, A. (1991). Some considerations for a theory of language origins. Man (N.S.), 26, 602–619. https://doi.org/10.2307/2803829Google Scholar
Kendon, A. (1994) Do gestures communicate? A review. Research on Language and Social Interaction, 27, 175–200. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15327973rlsi2703_2CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kendon, A. (1995a). Andrea De Jorio – The first ethnographer of gesture? Visual Anthropology, 7, 375–394. https://doi.org/10.1080/08949468.1995.9966661CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kendon, A. (1995b). Gestures as illocutionary and discourse structure markers in Southern Italian conversation. Journal of Pragmatics, 23, 247–279. https://doi.org/10.1016/0378-2166(94)00037-FCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kendon, A. (2002). Some uses of the head shake. Gesture, 2(2), 147–182. https://doi.org/10.1075/gest.2.2.03kenCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kendon, A. (2004). Gesture: Visible action as utterance. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kendon, A. (2008). Some reflections on the relationship between “gesture” and “sign”. Gesture, 8, 348–366. https://doi.org/10.1075/gest.8.3.05kenCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kendon, A. (2009). Manual actions, speech and the nature of language. In Gambarara, D. & Givigliano, A. (Eds.), Origine e sviluppo del linguaggio, fra teoria e storia (pp. 19–33). Rome, Italy: Aracne Editrice.Google Scholar
Kendon, A. (2011). “Gesture first” or “speech first” in language origins? In Napoli, D. J. & Mathur, G. (Eds.), Deaf around the world (pp. 251–267). Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Kendon, A. (2012). Language and kinesic complexity. Reflections on “Dedicated gestures and the emergence of sign language” by W. Sandler. Gesture, 12(3), 308–326.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kendon, A. (2014a) Semiotic diversity in utterance production and the concept of “language”. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, Series B, 369(1651), Article 20139203. https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2013.0293CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kendon, A. (2014b). The poly-modalic nature of utterance and its relevance for inquiry into language origins. In Dor, D., Lewis, J., & Knight, C. (Eds.), The social origins of language. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press (pp. 67–76).Google Scholar
Kendon, A. (2016). Reflections on the “gesture first” hypothesis of language origins. Psychonomic Bulletin and Review, 24, 163–178. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13423-016-1117-3CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kendon, A. (2017a). 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
Kendon, A. (2017b). Language as semiotically heterogeneous systems. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 40, e59. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0140525X15002940CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kendon, A. (2020). Sign language in Papua New Guinea. Amsterdam, the Netherlands: John Benjamins.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kendon, A. & Sigman, S. J. (1996). Ray L. Birdwhistell 1918–1994. Semiotica, 112(3/4), 231–261. https://doi.org/10.1515/semi.1996.112.3-4.231Google Scholar
Kendon, A. & Versante, L. (2003). Pointing by hand in “Neapolitan”. In Kita, S. (Ed.), Pointing: Where language, culture and cognition meet (pp. 109–137). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Kita, S., van Gijn, I., & van der Hulst, H. (1998). Movement phases in signs and co-speech gestures and their transcription by human coders. In Wachsmuth, I. & Frölich, M. (Eds.), Gesture and sign language in human computer interaction. Lecture notes in artificial intelligence (Vol. 1371, pp. 23–35). Berlin, Germany: Springer Verlag.Google Scholar
Laban, R. & Lawrence, F. C. (1947). Effort. London, UK: Macdonald and Evans.Google Scholar
Lascarides, A. & Stone, M. (2009). Discourse coherence and gesture interpretation. Gesture, 9, 147–180. https://doi.org/10.1075/gest.9.2.01lasCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Leeds-Hurwitz, W. (1967). The social history of the Natural History of an Interview: A multidisciplinary investigation of social communication. Research on Language and Social Interaction, 20, 1–51. https://doi.org/10.1080/08351818709389274CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lempert, M. (2011). Barak 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
Lepic, R. & Occhino, C. (2018). A construction morphology approach to sign language analysis. In Booij, G. (Ed.), The construction of words (pp. 141–172). Cham, Switzerland: Springer International AG.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Liddell, S. K. (2003). Grammar, gesture and meaning in American Sign Language. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McNeill, D. (1992). Hand and mind. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Mandel, M. (1977). Iconic devices in American Sign Language. In Friedman, L. A. (Ed.), On the other hand: New perspectives on American Sign Language (pp. 57–107). New York, NY: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Meggitt, M. (1954). Sign language among the Walbiri of central Australia. Oceania, 25, 2–16. https://www.jstor.org/stable/40328952CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Meissner, M. & Philpott, S. B. (1975). The sign language of sawmill workers in British Columbia. Sign Language Studies, 9, 291–308. https://doi.org/10.1353/sls.1975.0010CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Meyer, J. (2015). Whistled languages: A worldwide inquiry on human whistled speech. Berlin, Germany: Springer-Verlag.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Morris, D., Peter, C., Marsh, P., & O’Shaughnessy, M. (1979). Gestures: Their origins and distribution. London, UK: Jonathan Cape.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.), The semantics and pragmatics of everyday gestures (pp. 233–256). Berlin, Germany: Weidler Buchverlag.Google Scholar
Müller, C. (2014). Gestural modes of representation as techniques of depiction. In Müller, C., Cienki, A., Fricke, E., Ladewig, S. H., David, M., & Teßendorf, S. (Eds.), Body - language - communication: An international handbook on multimodality in human interaction (Vol. 2, pp. 1687–1702). Berlin, Germany: De Gruyter Mouton.Google Scholar
Neumann, R. (2004). The conventionalization of the ring gesture in German discourse. In Müller, C. & Posner, R. (Eds.), The semantics and pragmatics of everyday gestures (pp. 216–224). Berlin, Germany: Weidler Buchverlag.Google Scholar
Poggi, I. (1983). La mano a borsa: analisi semantica di un gesto emblematico olofrastico. In Attili, G. & Ricci-Bitti, E. P. E. (Eds.), Communicare senza parole (pp. 219–238). Rome, Italy: Bulzoni.Google Scholar
Pulvermuller, F. (2005). Brain mechanisms linking language and action. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 6, 576–582. https://doi.org/10.1038/nrn1706CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Quintillian see Butler, H. E. (1922).Google Scholar
Rimé, B. & Schiaratura, L. (1991). Gesture and speech. In Feldman, R. S. & Rimè, B. (Eds.), Fundamentals of nonverbal behavior (pp. 239–281). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Roth, W. E. (1897). Ethnological studies among the North-West-Central Queensland Aborigines. Brisbane, Australia: Edmund Gregory, Government Printer.Google Scholar
Scheflen, A. E. (1965). The significance of posture in communication systems. Psychiatry: Journal of Interpersonal Relations, 27, 316–331. https://doi.org/10.1080/00332747.1964.11023403CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schembri, A., Jones, C., & Burnham, D. (2005). Comparing action gestures and classifier verbs of motion: Evidence from Australian Sign Language, Taiwan Sign Language and nonsigners’ gestures without speech. Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education, 10, 272–290. https://doi.org/10.1093/deafed/eni029CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Seyfeddinipur, M. (2004). Meta-discursive gestures from Iran: Some uses of the “pistol hand”. In Müller, C. & Posner, R. (Eds.), The semantics and pragmatics of everyday gestures (pp. 205–216). Berlin, Germany: Weidler Buchverlag.Google Scholar
Singleton, J., Goldin-Meadow, S., & McNeill, D. (1995). The cataclysmic break between gesticulation and sign: Evidence against a unified continuum of gestural communication. In Emmorey, K. & Reilly, J. (Eds.), Language, gesture and space (pp. 287–311). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum and Associates.Google Scholar
Stokoe, W. C. (1960). Sign language structure: An outline of the visual communication systems of the American Deaf (=Studies in Linguistics, Occasional Papers 8). Buffalo, NY: University of Buffalo.Google Scholar
Stokoe, W. C., Casterline, Dorothy C., & Croneberg, C. G. (1965). A dictionary of American Sign Language. Washington, DC: Gallaudet College Press.Google Scholar
Streeck, J. (2008). Depicting by gesture. Gesture, 8(3), 285–301.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Streeck, J. (2009). Gesturecraft: The manu-facture of meaning. Amsterdam, the Netherlands: John Benjamins.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Streeck, J., Goodwin, C., & LeBaron, C. (Eds.). (2011). Embodied interaction: Language and body in the material world. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University.Google Scholar
Turner, J. (2014). Philology: The forgotten origins of the modern humanities. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tylor, E. B. (1878). Researches into the early history of mankind and the development of civilization. Boston, MA: Estes & Lauriat.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Umiker-Sebeok, J. & Sebeok, T. A. (Eds.). (1987). Monastic sign languages. Berlin, Germany: Mouton de Gruyter.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vermeerbergen, M., Leeson, L., and Crasborn, O. (Eds.) (2007). Simultaneity in signed languages: Form and function. Amsterdam, Netherlands: John Benjamins.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
West, L. M., Jr. (1960). The sign language: An analysis. (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). Indiana University, Bloomington.Google Scholar
Wundt, W. (1973). The language of gestures (J. S. Thayer, C. M. Greenleaf, & M. D. Silberman, Trans.). 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
×