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What is a gesture? A lesson from comparative gesture research

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 April 2017

Katja Liebal
Katja Liebal*
Affiliation:
Department of Education and Psychology, Freie Universität Berlin, 14195 Berlin, Germany. katja.liebal@fu-berlin.de http://www.ewi-psy.fu-berlin.de
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Abstract

Research into nonhuman primates’ gestures is often limited by the lack of clear criteria to define a gesture and by studying gestures separately from other communicative means. Despite the fundamental differences between the gestural communication of humans and other primates, I argue that sign language research might benefit from the lessons learned from these drawbacks and the current developments in primate communication research.

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Type
Open Peer Commentary
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 40 , 2017 , e62
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Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2017 

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