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On the lower limit of gesture

Andrén, Mats LU (2014)
Abstract
Where, if, and how, should researchers draw the limit between gesture proper and semiotically less complex forms of bodily conduct that do not quite qualify as gesture? This is the question of a lower limit of gesture (Andrén 2010). In accord with a comparative semiotic approach (Kendon 2008) I suggest that the question is best understood, not as a binary distinction between gesture and non-gesture, but as a matter of several different semiotic properties that can vary independently of each other. This involves, in particular, different levels of representational complexity and communicative explicitness. These semiotic properties are both conceptually explicated and applied to empirical examples in this paper, eventually leading me to... (More)
Where, if, and how, should researchers draw the limit between gesture proper and semiotically less complex forms of bodily conduct that do not quite qualify as gesture? This is the question of a lower limit of gesture (Andrén 2010). In accord with a comparative semiotic approach (Kendon 2008) I suggest that the question is best understood, not as a binary distinction between gesture and non-gesture, but as a matter of several different semiotic properties that can vary independently of each other. This involves, in particular, different levels of representational complexity and communicative explicitness. These semiotic properties are both conceptually explicated and applied to empirical examples in this paper, eventually leading me to propose a family resemblance conception of gesture. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
organization
publishing date
type
Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding
publication status
in press
subject
keywords
semiotics, language, gesture
host publication
Visible Utterance in Action
editor
Seyfeddinipur, Mandana and Gullberg, Marianne
publisher
John Benjamins Publishing Company
project
Gestures that involve handling of objects
Centre for Cognitive Semiotics (RJ)
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
ace9d3a8-f687-40dd-a598-d72266e760bb (old id 4255734)
date added to LUP
2016-04-04 11:14:03
date last changed
2025-04-04 14:45:20
@inbook{ace9d3a8-f687-40dd-a598-d72266e760bb,
  abstract     = {{Where, if, and how, should researchers draw the limit between gesture proper and semiotically less complex forms of bodily conduct that do not quite qualify as gesture? This is the question of a lower limit of gesture (Andrén 2010). In accord with a comparative semiotic approach (Kendon 2008) I suggest that the question is best understood, not as a binary distinction between gesture and non-gesture, but as a matter of several different semiotic properties that can vary independently of each other. This involves, in particular, different levels of representational complexity and communicative explicitness. These semiotic properties are both conceptually explicated and applied to empirical examples in this paper, eventually leading me to propose a family resemblance conception of gesture.}},
  author       = {{Andrén, Mats}},
  booktitle    = {{Visible Utterance in Action}},
  editor       = {{Seyfeddinipur, Mandana and Gullberg, Marianne}},
  keywords     = {{semiotics; language; gesture}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  publisher    = {{John Benjamins Publishing Company}},
  title        = {{On the lower limit of gesture}},
  year         = {{2014}},
}