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Gesture and language, gesture as language, language as gesture: Comments on Loehr and Fais et al.

Gesture and language, gesture as language, language as gesture: Comments on Loehr and Fais et al. Sherman Wilcox University of New Mexico 1. Gestureandlanguage As Loehr notes in his paper in this issue (Loehr 2012), there has been a growing interest among gesture researchers and linguists in the relationship between gesture and language. Loehr expands upon the work in this area by examining the interaction between intonation and gesture, noting temporal, structural, and pragmatic synchronies. Loehr reports a number of intriguing findings. First, his research shows that intonational and gestural events occur near each other, with tones clustering tightly around gestures. He also notes a somewhat looser correlation between gestural phrases and intermediate phrases. The most interesting finding, however, is that gestural and intonational meanings correlate. His data reveal a number of pragmatic functions that are performed by intonation and gesture in tight synchrony. Based on these findings, and primarily the temporal alignment of gesture phrases with intermediate phrases, Loehr offers a possible explanation for this widespread synchrony between intonation and gesture. It reflects, he suggests, "the size of the cognitive package which can be expressed through a single surge of bodily and vocal action." That is, both intermediate intonational phrases and gesture phrases act to "package unfolding cognitive content," and this, Loehr suggests, http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Laboratory Phonology de Gruyter

Gesture and language, gesture as language, language as gesture: Comments on Loehr and Fais et al.

Wilcox , , Sherman
Laboratory Phonology , Volume 3 (1) – May 25, 2012
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Publisher
de Gruyter
Copyright
Copyright © 2012 by the
ISSN
1868-6346
eISSN
1868-6354
DOI
10.1515/lp-2012-0008
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Abstract

Sherman Wilcox University of New Mexico 1. Gestureandlanguage As Loehr notes in his paper in this issue (Loehr 2012), there has been a growing interest among gesture researchers and linguists in the relationship between gesture and language. Loehr expands upon the work in this area by examining the interaction between intonation and gesture, noting temporal, structural, and pragmatic synchronies. Loehr reports a number of intriguing findings. First, his research shows that intonational and gestural events occur near each other, with tones clustering tightly around gestures. He also notes a somewhat looser correlation between gestural phrases and intermediate phrases. The most interesting finding, however, is that gestural and intonational meanings correlate. His data reveal a number of pragmatic functions that are performed by intonation and gesture in tight synchrony. Based on these findings, and primarily the temporal alignment of gesture phrases with intermediate phrases, Loehr offers a possible explanation for this widespread synchrony between intonation and gesture. It reflects, he suggests, "the size of the cognitive package which can be expressed through a single surge of bodily and vocal action." That is, both intermediate intonational phrases and gesture phrases act to "package unfolding cognitive content," and this, Loehr suggests,

Journal

Laboratory Phonology – de Gruyter

Published: May 25, 2012

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