Gesture
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
Revision as of 18:55, 27 April 2008
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Gestures are a form of body language or non-verbal communication. Although some gestures, such as the ubiquitous act of pointing, differ little from one place to another, most gestures do not have invariable or universal meanings, having specific connotations only in certain cultures. Different types of gestures are distinguished. The most famous type of gestures are the so-called emblems or quotable gestures (see the examples below). These are culture specific gestures that can be used as replacement for words. Communities have repertoires of such gestures. A single emblematic gesture can have very different significance in different cultural contexts, ranging from complimentary to highly offensive.
Another type of gestures are the ones we use when we speak. These gestures are closely coordinated with speech. The meaningful part of the gesture is temporally synchronized with the co-expressive words. For example, a gesture that depicts the act of throwing will be synchronous with the word 'threw' in the utterance "and then he threw the ball right into the window." Other gestures like the so-called beat gestures, are used in conjunction with speech, keeping time with the rhythm of speech and to emphasize certain words or phrases. These types of gestures are integrally connected to speech and thought processes.
