Gesture - Volume 19, Issue 2-3, 2020

Using data from the Northern Pastaza (qvc) and Upper Napo Quichua (quw) dialects of Amazonian Ecuador, this paper argues that the semantics of ideophones, a highly marked form class of expressive words, is principled and describable with a combination of sensori-semantic features and a fine-grained typology of gestures, based on insights from Streeck (2008) and others. Specifically, ideophones’ sensori-semantics are broken down into a semantic map consisting of 3 super- and 7 subcategorical distinctions. The greater the number of categories encoded by an ideophone’s semantics, the greater are the range of gestures used. Finally, gesture types identified by Streeck (2008) and others, were found among a very different group of people who are not western, educated, industrialized, rich, or democratic. Further research into ideophones and their gestures may find broader significance for ideophone semantics, and more generally, for the interrelations between language and gesture.

The interest of neuroscience has been aimed at the investigation of the neural bases underlying gestural communication. This research explored the intra- and inter-brain connectivity between encoder and decoder. Specifically, adopting a “hyperscanning paradigm” with the functional Near-infrared Spectroscopy (fNIRS) cerebral connectivity in oxygenated (O2Hb) and deoxygenated (HHb) hemoglobin levels were revealed during the reproduction of affective, social, and informative gestures of different valence. Results showed an increase of intra- and inter-brain connectivity in dorsolateral prefrontal cortex for affective gestures, in superior frontal gyrus for social gestures and in frontal eyes field for informative gestures. Moreover, encoder showed a higher intra-brain connectivity in posterior parietal areas more than decoder. Finally, an increasing of inter-brain connectivity more than intra-brain (ConIndex) was observed in left regions for positive gestures. The present research has explored how the individuals neural tuning mechanisms turn out to be strongly influenced by the nature of specific gestures.

Culture-specific symbols can prime aspects of identity, like self-esteem, in bilingual-bicultural individuals. The purpose of the present studies was to test whether gestures that are specific to a culture prime self-esteem and, if so, whether it is due to in-group/out-group association. In Study 1, Chinese Canadians had higher self-esteem scores when primed by Chinese number gestures or characters than by English number gestures or words. In Study 2, we taught Chinese number gestures to non-Chinese adults, with half thinking they were Chinese gestures (out-group) and half that they were old fur traders’ gestures (in-group). The self-esteem scores were higher in the in-group condition than the out-group condition. Comparisons with self-esteem scores from previous studies suggest that the out-group conditions were significantly lower than baseline. These results suggest that out-group gesture primes can lower self-esteem.

This paper revives an interest in a gestural phenomenon: silence gestures, that is, cases where speakers suspend talk and produce a gesture in momentary silence. Earlier research noted this phenomenon, but largely left interactional details unaddressed. Consequently, we have known of the phenomenon for a long time, but known very little about how interactants use it. This study applies conversation analysis to elucidate silence gestures as they appear during naturally occurring Danish interaction. Two classes are considered: i) silence gestures that occur during word search processes and ii) ‘no-problem’ silence gestures. Analysis of the first class offers more nuances to previous assumptions about its affiliation with process difficulties and turn-taking dynamics. Analysis of the second class disconfirms the belief that silence gestures foremost relate to speech difficulties. It reveals that speakers actively postpone or suspend speech production to achieve a turn-intra pauses, which enables them to momentarily foreground the gestural act.

This article discusses several arguments in favor of the hypothesis that the headshake as a gesture for negation has its origins in early childhood experiences. It elaborates on Charles Darwin’s observation that children inevitably shake their heads in order to stop food intake when sated, thereby establishing a connection between rejection and the head gesture. It is argued that later in life the semantics of the headshake extends from rejection to negation – just as it can be observed in the development of spoken language negation. While Darwin’s hypothesis can hardly be tested directly, this paper takes a novel perspective and looks at the predictions it makes taking a plethora of sources of evidence into account. The question of how head gestures are used in cultures where the headshake is not a sign for negation or where other negative head gestures are in use will also be discussed.

In early communicative development, children with Down syndrome (DS) make extensive use of gestures to compensate for articulatory difficulties. Here, we analyzed the symbolic strategies that underlie this gesture production, compared to that used by typically developing children. Using the same picture-naming task, 79 representational gestures produced by 10 children with DS and 42 representational gestures produced by 10 typically developing children of comparable developmental age (3;1 vs. 2;9, respectively) were collected. The gestures were analyzed and classified according to four symbolic strategies. The two groups performed all of the strategies, with no significant differences for either choice or frequency of the strategies used. The item analysis highlighted that some photographs tended to elicit the use of the same strategy in both groups. These results indicate that similar symbolic strategies are active in children with DS as in typically developing children, which suggests interesting similarities in their symbolic development.

In most languages, individual words can be ambiguous between several different meanings, but through syntax and context the intended meaning of an ambiguous word usually becomes apparent. Many great ape gestures also have ambiguous meanings, which poses the problem of how individuals can interpret the signaller’s intended meaning in specific instances. We tested the effects of sequence compositionality and situational context (including behavioural and interpersonal contexts) in wild bonobos (Pan paniscus) at Wamba, DRCongo. We found no effect on a gesture’s meaning from its presence and position in sequence. However, two aspects of situational context did affect meaning: behaviour of the signaller immediately prior to gesturing, and relative age/sex of signaller and recipient. The intended meaning of ambiguous gestures was almost completely disambiguated by means of these aspects of context. Our findings suggest that the use of contextual information to interpret ambiguous signals predates the uniquely-human lineage and is not specific to language.