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6 - Contributions to the Study of Visible Action as Utterance: A Fifty-Year Retrospective

from Part II - Ways of Approaching Gesture Analysis

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 May 2024

By
Adam Kendon
Edited by
Alan Cienki
Alan Cienki
Affiliation:
Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam
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Summary

The chapter provides an overview of Kendon’s research biography, describing the origins of the theoretical notions and categories for analysis that he developed, e.g. gesture unit, gesture phrase, preparation, stroke, hold, kinesic action, the ways in which gestures can perform referential (through forms of pointing and depiction) and pragmatic functions (including operational, performative, modal, and parsing functions). The data he considered included not only speakers’ gestures, but also signed languages of different types, e.g. those used by the Deaf (primary sign languages), to those used for ritualistic or professional reasons (alternate sign languages). Discussion of the latter notes their structural relation to the spoken languages of their users. Locations and communities in which Kendon studied visible action as utterance include Great Britian, Naples, Italy; Papua New Guinea, and the United States; and among Aboriginal people in Australia. The work finishes with issues related to the study of language origins. Emphasis is placed throughout on the limitations of the term ‘gesture’ and the author’s preference for other terms, such as ‘utterance dedicated visible action’.

Keywords

Andrea De Joriogesticulationgesture phrasegesture unitsign languageutterancevisible actionWilliam Condon
Type
Chapter
Information
The Cambridge Handbook of Gesture Studies , pp. 133 - 157
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2024

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