Language Is Gesture
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Language Is Gesture

Language Is Gesture


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About the Book

A new way of viewing language, as a dynamic mode of meaning-making of which gesture is a fundamental part. When David McNeill began his work on gesture more than forty years ago, language and the action of speaking were regarded as separate realms. But language, says McNeill in Language Is Gesture, is dynamic and gesture is fundamental to speaking. Central to his conception of language, and distinct from linguistic analysis, is what McNeill calls the “growth point,” the starting point of making thought and speech one. He uses the term “gesture–speech unity” to refer to the dynamic dimension of adding gesture to speaking. It is the growth point that achieves this unity, whereby thought is embedded in gesture and speech at the same time. Gesture is the engine of language. It is foundational to speaking, language acquisition, the origin of language, animal communication, thought, and consciousness. Gesture is global and synthetic and brings energy; speech is linear and segmented and brings cultural standards. The growth point is a snapshot of an utterance at its beginning psychological stage, the starting point of unifying thought and speech. Growth points create gesture–speech unity by synchronizing a bundle of linguistic features with a gesture that carries the same meaning. This gesture–speech unity is a form of thought, a unique form of cognition.

Table of Contents:
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS CHAPTER 1. BEGINNING CHAPTER 2. GROWTH POINT FACETS CHAPTER 3. ACQUISITION 3: THE ACHIEVEMENT PART 1. CHILD GROWTH POINTS CHAPTER 4. ACQUISITION 3: THE ACHIEVEMENT, PART 2. COHESION CHAPTER 5. ACQUISITION 3: THE ACHIEVEMENT, PART 3. UNPACKING THE GROWTH POINT INTO SPEECH CHAPTER 6. BEFORE ACQUISITION 3 CHAPTER 7. WORDS CHAPTER 8. MATURATION CHAPTER 9. THINGS TO COME CHAPTER 10. LEAPS TO THE FUTURE POSTSCRIPT REFERENCES INDEX

About the Author :
David McNeill is Professor Emeritus, Departments of Psychology and Linguistics, the University of Chicago. His many books include How Language Began and Hand and Mind.


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Product Details
  • ISBN-13: 9780262552912
  • Publisher: MIT Press Ltd
  • Publisher Imprint: MIT Press
  • Height: 229 mm
  • No of Pages: 240
  • Returnable: Y
  • ISBN-10: 0262552914
  • Publisher Date: 05 Aug 2025
  • Binding: Paperback
  • Language: English
  • Returnable: Y
  • Width: 152 mm


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