About the Book
Gestures are ubiquitous and natural in our everyday life. They convey information about culture, discourse, thought, intentionality, emotion, intersubjectivity, cognition, and first and second language acquisition. Additionally, they are used by non-human primates to communicate with their peers and with humans. Consequently, the modern field of gesture studies has attracted researchers from a number of different disciplines such as anthropology, cognitive science, communication, neuroscience, psycholinguistics, primatology, psychology, robotics, sociology and semiotics. This volume presents an overview of the depth and breadth of current research in gesture. Its focus is on the interdisciplinary nature of gesture. The twenty-six chapters included in the volume are divided into six sections or themes: the nature and functions of gesture, first language development and gesture, second language effects on gesture, gesture in the classroom and in problem solving, gesture aspects of discourse and interaction, and gestural analysis of music and dance.
As of March 2017, this e-book is freely available, thanks to the support of libraries working with Knowledge Unlatched. It is licensed under a Creative Commons CC BY-NC-ND license.
Table of Contents:
1. Part I. Nature and functions of gestures; 2. Chapter 1. Introduction (by Ishino, Mika); 3. Chapter 2. Addressing the problems of intentionality and granularity in non-human primate gesture (by Cartmill, Erica A.); 4. Chapter 3. Birth of a Morph (by McNeill, David); 5. Chapter 4. Dyadic evidence for grounding with abstract deictic gestures (by Bavelas, Janet); 6. Chapter 5. If you don't already know, I'm certainly not going to show you!: Motivation to communicate affects gesture production (by Hostetter, Autumn B.); 7. Chapter 6. Measuring the formal diversity of hand gestures by their hamming distance (by Hogrefe, Katharina); 8. Chapter 7. 'Parallel gesturing' in adult-child conversations (by Graziano, Maria); 9. Part II. First language development and gesture; 10. Chapter 8. Sentences and conversations before speech?: Gestures of preverbal children reveal cognitive and social skills that do not wait for words (by Vallotton, Claire D.); 11. Chapter 9. Giving a nod to social cognition: Developmental constraints on the emergence of conventional gestures and infant signs (by Fusaro, Maria); 12. Chapter 10. Sensitivity of maternal gesture to interlocutor and context (by Zammit, Maria); 13. Chapter 11. The organization of children's pointing stroke endpoints (by Andren, Mats); 14. Chapter 12. Is there an iconic gesture spurt at 26 months? (by Ozcaliskan, Seyda); 15. Chapter 13. The development of spatial perspective in the description of large-scale environments (by Sekine, Kazuki); 16. Chapter 14. Learning to use gesture in narratives: Developmental trends in formal and semantic gesture competence (by Capirci, Olga); 17. Chapter 15. The changing role of gesture form and function in a picture book interaction between a child with autism and his support teacher (by Sowden, Hannah); 18. Part III. Second language effects on gesture; 19. Chapter 16. A cross-linguistic study of verbal and gestural descriptions in French and Japanese monolingual and bilingual children (by Zvaigzne, Meghan); 20. Chapter 17. Gesture and language shift on the Uruguayan-Brazilian border (by Newbury, Kendra); 21. Part IV. Gesture in the classroom and in problem-solving; 22. Chapter 18. Seeing the graph vs. being the graph: Gesture, engagement and awareness in school mathematics (by Gerofsky, Susan); 23. Chapter 19. How gesture use enables intersubjectivity in the classroom (by Nathan, Mitchell J.); 24. Chapter 20. Microgenesis of gestures during mental rotation tasks recapitulates ontogenesis (by Chu, Mingyuan); 25. Part V. Gesture aspects of discourse and interaction; 26. Chapter 21. Gesture and discourse: How we use our hands to introduce versus refer back (by Foraker, Stephani); 27. Chapter 22. Speakers' use of 'action' and 'entity' gestures with definite and indefinite references (by Wilkin, Katie); 28. Chapter 23. "Voices" and bodies: Investigating nonverbal parameters of the participation framework (by Maury-Rouan, Claire); 29. Chapter 24. Gestures in overlap: The situated establishment of speakership (by Mondada, Lorenza); 30. Part VI. Gestural analysis of music and dance; 31. Chapter 25. Music and leadership: The choir conductor's multimodal communication (by Poggi, Isabella); 32. Chapter 26. Handjabber: Exploring metaphoric gesture and non-verbal communication via an interactive art installation (by Campana, Ellen); 33. Name index; 34. Subject index
Review :
After decades of methodological self-reflection, the field of gesture studies has now reached a stage which allows steady accumulation of empirically based knowledge. The present volume gives an impressive survey of the kinds and functions of gestures occurring in humans and other primates and introduces the reader into the leading paradigms of contemporary gesture research. The contributors include prominent gesture researchers as well as promising young professionals with an interdisciplinary background and exemplify the successful international cooperation taking place in this fascinating field. The volume is of particular value for readers interested in first and second language development, social cognition, and problem-solving by means of gestures.
This outstanding volume presents a vast overview of contemporary research on gesture, covering multiple disciplines and different theoretical and methodological perspectives. It demonstrates the breadth and sophistication of studies that examine visible bodily actions and their intricate relationship to communication and cognition. A treasure trove of observations concerning forms and functions of gestures, their role in development, interaction, problem-solving, and even music-making, it's a volume to return to again and again. Essential reading for all interested in the nature and function of gestures!
This collection both advances knowledge of each of these individual themes, and highlights an
integrative agenda for future research.
The study of gesture as a phenomenon has been the focus of much work, but as Integrating Gestures shows so well, the study of gesture has implications for a wider range of fields, including conversation analysis, child language acquisition, cognitive linguistics and semantics, than just the study of gesture in and of itself. [...] This collection of papers is a wonderful celebration of the heterogeneous nature of research currently being undertaken on gesture.
Integrating Gestures shows us the great strides that gesture researchers have made in recent years, exploring the most diverse realms of human interaction and social and cognitive life. Gesture, perhaps our most ancient means of making sense together, has lost neither its appeal nor its relevance in this age of new media.
