Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-l7hp2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-28T19:54:41.688Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The physiognomic unity of sign, word, and gesture

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 April 2017

Carlos Cornejo  and
Roberto Musa
Carlos Cornejo
Affiliation:
Escuela de Psicología, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, 7820436 Santiago, Chile. [email protected]@uc.cl
Roberto Musa
Affiliation:
Escuela de Psicología, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, 7820436 Santiago, Chile. [email protected]@uc.cl
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Goldin-Meadow & Brentari (G-M&B) are implicitly going against the dominant paradigm in language research, namely, the “speech as written language” metaphor that portrays vocal sounds and bodily signs as means of delivering stable word meanings. We argue that Heinz Werner's classical research on the physiognomic properties of language supports and complements their view of sign and gesture as a unified system.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 40 , 2017 , e51
Check for updates
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2017 

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

Cornejo, C., Simonetti, F., Ibáñez, A., Aldunate, N., Ceric, F., López, V. & Núñez, R. E. (2009) Gesture and metaphor comprehension: Electrophysiological evidence of cross-modal coordination by audiovisual stimulation. Brain and Cognition 70(1):42–52. Available at: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0278262608003333.Google Scholar
Goldin-Meadow, S., Shield, A., Lenzen, D., Herzog, M. & Padden, C. (2012) The gestures ASL signers use tell us when they are ready to learn math. Cognition 123(3):448–53. Available at: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0010027712000327.Google Scholar
Humboldt, W. (1988) On language. Cambridge University Press. (Original work published 1836.)Google Scholar
Ingold, T. (2007) Lines: A brief history. Routledge.Google Scholar
Kaden, S. E., Wapner, S. & Werner, H. (1955) Studies in physiognomic perception: II. Effect of directional dynamics of pictured objects and of words on the position of the apparent horizon. Journal of Psychology 39(1):61–70. Available at: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00223980.1955.9916157.Google Scholar
Kelly, S., Kravitz, C. & Hopkins, M. (2004) Neural correlates of bimodal speech and gesture comprehension. Brain and Language 89(1):243–60. Available at: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15010257.Google Scholar
McNeill, D. (1992) Hand and mind: What gestures reveal about thought. University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Ong, W. (1982) Orality and literacy: The technologizing of the word. Methuen.Google Scholar
Valsiner, J. (Ed.). (2005) Heinz Werner and developmental science. Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers.Google Scholar
Wagoner, B. (2013) Symbol formation reconsidered: Moving forward by looking back. Culture and Psychology 19(4):433–40. Available at: http://cap.sagepub.com/content/19/4/433.Google Scholar
Waugh, L. R. (2000) Against arbitrariness: Imitation and motivation revived, In: Phonosymbolism and poetic language, ed. Violo, P., pp. 25–56. Brepols.Google Scholar
Werner, H. (1978a) A psychological analysis of expressive language. In: Developmental processes: Heinz Werner's selected writings, vol. 2: Cognition, language and symbolization, ed. Barten, S. S. & Franklin, M. B., pp. 421–28. International Universities Press.Google Scholar
Werner, H. (1978b) On physiognomic modes of perception and their experimental investigation. In: Developmental processes: Heinz Werner's selected writings, vol. 1: General theory and perceptual experience, ed. Barten, S. S. & Franklin, M. B., pp. 149–52. International Universities Press.Google Scholar
Werner, H. & Kaplan, B. (1963) Symbol formation: An organismic-developmental approach to language and the expression of thought. John Wiley & Sons.Google Scholar