Gesture and Sign: Cataclysmic Break or Dynamic Relations?

Area of Science:

• Linguistics
• Cognitive Science
• Communication Studies

Background:

• The relationship between gesture and sign language is a complex area within linguistics.
• Existing literature has explored this relationship through various theoretical lenses.
• Key figures like Kendon, McNeill, and Goldin-Meadow have shaped the discourse in gesture studies.

Purpose of the Study:

• To introduce a novel framework for systematically analyzing the connections between gesture and sign language.
• To advance the current understanding beyond existing scholarly contributions.
• To provide a structured approach for future research in this domain.

Main Methods:

• A historical reconstruction of the discourse in gesture studies, focusing on seminal positions.
• The formulation of a new theoretical position to guide the exploration of gesture-sign relations.
• Comparative analysis of multimodal language use across different linguistic modalities.

Main Results:

• The article establishes a comprehensive framework for differentiating and relating gesture and sign.
• It critically evaluates prominent theories within gesture studies.
• The proposed framework facilitates a more nuanced understanding of multimodal communication.

Conclusions:

• There is a critical need for systematic, cross-linguistic research on language, encompassing both signed and spoken forms.
• The developed framework offers a robust tool for such investigations.
• Future research should prioritize the multimodal aspects of language to capture its full complexity.