Hand preference in gestures and signs in the deaf and hearing: some notes on early evidence and theory

Research has shown that when persons with normal hearing accompany their speech with gestures, right-handers use more right-hand gestures, and left-handers use more left-hand gestures, although to a lesser extent (D. Kimura, 1973a, 1973b, Neuropsychologia, 11, 45-50, 51-55.). Comparable differences have been found in deaf persons when signing, with the direction of hand dominance for signing in both right- and left-handers corresponding to that for nonlinguistic actions (J. Vaid, D. Schemenauer, U. Bellugi, & H. Poizner, 1984, Hand dominance in a visual-gesture language. Paper presented at BABBLE, March, Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada). In this paper, I recount early theories and observational data about hand dominance for gesture and signing, both in the hearing and the deaf. Several of these early theories and observations anticipate current work and also suggest new avenues for investigation.