RT Journal Article SR Electronic(1) A1 Hassemer, Julius A1 McCleary, Leland YR 2018 T1 The multidimensionality of pointing JF Gesture VO 17 IS 3 SP 417 OP 463 DO https://doi.org/10.1075/gest.17018.has PB John Benjamins SN 1568-1475, AB Abstract

This paper proposes a novel analysis of deictic gestures which yields a taxonomy of manual pointing. ‘Gesture form analysis’ brings into relief the diversity of pointing by considering the imaginary forms necessarily involved in interpreting a gesture. It combines into a single framework insights found in the literature on how the meaning of any gesture is enabled by a series of spatial operations leading from the physical form of the articulators to the form of the target. Seven distinct spatial operations combine to define a gesture type, twenty-seven of which are illustrated with examples from open-data corpora. Most types involve not the prototypical linear vector of pointing, but the plane of an open hand. Not only deictic, but also iconic and other functions are shown to be rooted in imaginary forms and their ability to draw attention to and specify locations, directions, areas and volumes of space., UL https://www.jbe-platform.com/content/journals/10.1075/gest.17018.has