Gesture and Thought

Gesturing is such an integral yet unconscious part of communication that we are mostly oblivious to it. But if you observe anyone in conversation, you are likely to see his or her fingers, hands, and arms in some form of spontaneous motion. Why? David McNeill, a pioneer in the ongoing study of the relationship between gesture and language, set about answering this question over twenty-five years ago. In __Gesture and Thought__ he brings together years of this research, arguing that gesturing, an act which has been popularly understood as an accessory to speech, is actually a dialectical component of language. __Gesture and Thought__ expands on McNeill’s acclaimed classic __Hand and Mind.__ While that earlier work demonstrated what gestures reveal about thought, here gestures are shown to be active participants in both speaking and thinking. Expanding on an approach introduced by Lev Vygotsky in the 1930s, McNeill posits that gestures are key ingredients in an “imagery-language dialectic” that fuels both speech __and__ thought. Gestures are both the “imagery” and components of “language.” The smallest element of this dialectic is the “growth point,” a snapshotof an utterance at its beginning psychological stage. Utilizing several innovative experiments he created and administered with subjects spanning several different age, gender, and language groups, McNeill shows how growth points organize themselves into utterances and extend to discourse at the moment of speaking. An ambitious project in the ongoing study of the relationship of human communication and thought, __Gesture and Thought__ is a work of such consequence that it will influence all subsequent theory on the subject. 00000___eaeb83a2efa3f75e9faab6deb5ebb625......Page 1 00001___7bc34a664d5ec8ee25b0c7140e723fbc......Page 2 00002___1cf5a1434124795ceeda0e6128261637......Page 3 00003___42daf6a723e2181cb88ad4ad64cc4135......Page 4 00004___b803c204fdf4d83765ac3e180084f091......Page 5 00005___6ec0fcb1e9aebaf32373e8751406947c......Page 6 00006___643a8e5a56e35490a42e5665571ba7b2......Page 7 00007___b00372868c6aec353c499c6ef86444e6......Page 8 00008___115e70bb580f0d2df9824e3a98563ea0......Page 9 00009___a9c32e289846af6a0da4ad94bd72e72d......Page 10 00010___748ece15170d261daa549f532cd0d69b......Page 11 00011___c9c6a8bd51151a264a4eaabba1bb087c......Page 12 00012___f8ad438e3880da892c63e0bb82347d60......Page 13 00013___86b3df43ac55c2b3f2cec8fb52b551ea......Page 14 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But if you observe anyone in conversation, you are likely to see his or her fingers, hands, and arms in some form of spontaneous motion. Why? David McNeill, a pioneer in the ongoing study of the relationship between gesture and language, set about answering this question over twenty-five years ago. In Gesture and Thought he brings together years of this research, arguing that gesturing, an act which has been popularly understood as an accessory to speech, is actually a dialectical component of language. Gesture and Thought expands on McNeill's acclaimed classic Hand and Mind. While that earlier work demonstrated what gestures reveal about thought, here gestures are shown to be active participants in both speaking and thinking. Expanding on an approach introduced by Lev Vygotsky in the 1930s, McNeill posits that gestures are key ingredients in an “imagery-language dialectic” that fuels both speech and thought. Gestures are both the “imagery” and components of “language.” The smallest element of this dialectic is the “growth point,” a snapshot of an utterance at its beginning psychological stage. Utilizing several innovative experiments he created and administered with subjects spanning several different age, gender, and language groups, McNeill shows how growth points organize themselves into utterances and extend to discourse at the moment of speaking. An ambitious project in the ongoing study of the relationship of human communication and thought, Gesture and Thought is a work of such consequence that it will influence all subsequent theory on the subject. David McNeill, a pioneer in the ongoing study of the relationship between gesture and language, here argues that gestures are active participants in both speaking and thinking. He posits that gestures are key ingredients in an 'imagery-language dialectic' that fuels speech and thought. The smallest unit of this dialectic is the growth point, a snapshot of an utterance at its beginning psychological stage.

In Gesture and Thought, the central growth point comes from a Tweety Bird cartoon. Over the course of twenty-five years, the McNeill Lab showed this cartoon to numerous subjects who spoke a variety of languages, and a fascinating pattern emerged. The shape and timing of gestures depends not only on what speakers see but on what they take to be distinctive; this, in turn, depends on the context.  Those who remembered the same context saw the same distinctions and used similar gestures; those who forgot the context understood something different and changed gestures or used none at all. Thus, the gesture becomes part of the growth point-the building block of language and thought.

Gesture and Thought is an ambitious project in the ongoing study of how we communicate and how language is connected to thought.

Gesture and Thought expands on McNeill's acclaimed classic Hand and Mind. While that earlier work demonstrated what gestures reveal about thought, here gestures are shown to be active participants in both speaking and thinking. Expanding on an approach introduced by Lev Vygotsky in the 1930s, McNeill posits that gestures are key ingredients in an "imagery-language dialectic" that fuels both speech and thought. Gestures are both the "imagery" and components of "language." The smallest element of this dialectic is the "growth point," an "idea unit" of an utterance at its beginning psychological stage. Utilizing several innovative experiments he created and administered with subjects spanning several different age, gender, language, and neurological groups. McNeill's shows how growth points organize themselves into utterances and extend to discourse at the moment of speaking. Why Gestures? -- How Gestures Carry Meaning -- Two Dimensions -- Imagery-language Dialectic -- Discourse -- Children And Whorf -- Neurogesture -- The Thought-language-hand Link And Language Origins. David Mcneill. Includes Bibliographical References (p. [289]-307) And Index.