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Gesture or sign? A categorization problem

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 April 2017

Corrine Occhino  and
Sherman Wilcox
Corrine Occhino
Affiliation:
Department of Linguistics, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM 87131-0001. cocchino@unm.edu wilcox@unm.edu http://www.unm.edu/~wilcox
Sherman Wilcox
Affiliation:
Department of Linguistics, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM 87131-0001. cocchino@unm.edu wilcox@unm.edu http://www.unm.edu/~wilcox
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Abstract

Goldin-Meadow & Brentari (G-M&B) rely on a formalist approach to language, leading them to seek objective criteria by which to distinguish language and gesture. This results in the assumption that gradient aspects of signs are gesture. Usage-based theories challenge this view, maintaining that all linguistic units exhibit gradience. Instead, we propose that the distinction between language and gesture is a categorization problem.

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Type
Open Peer Commentary
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 40 , 2017 , e66
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Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2017 

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