GESTURES AS PRE-POSITIONS IN COMMUNICATION

Abstract

1. Introduction The work of Birdwhistell (1970), Dittmann (1974), Kendon (1986b, 1995), Scheflen (1973), Bavelas, et al (1992), and many others clearly shows body movements and the flow of speech are intimately linked within an individual's communication system and between interactants. While some behaviors may seem less integrated than others, and nonverbal behaviors are unquestionably part and parcel of the same overall system of communication. Just like communication, each body expression or vocal sign conveys a meaningful message, which can be received and processed by other people. According to the definition of communication by Weaver, communication will be used ... in a very broad sense to include all of the procedures by which one mind can affect another (Shannon, Weaver 1959). The term communication has two related meanings: the process of transmission of the message, and the outcome of this process. The transmission process will generally be referred to as interaction (Schneller 1992). Nonverbal expressions are also used to transmit messages not expressible through words, when words are not available or are inadequate to convey sufficient differences, e.g.: emotional and physical feelings, moods, interest, attention, reaction, etc. Nonverbal communication also comprises a wide range of social functions, for instance: transmission of information, integration of action and feelings, social identity, the presentation and protection of the self (Eisenberg and Smith 1971). Nonverbal means may even contradict the message, usually unconsciously so, creating a state of double-edged or inconsistent communication (Mehrabian 1971). It is mainly the abstract component and content of human communication that is dominated by words, although even in this domain, communication enjoys functional nonverbal support (Schneller 1992). Gesticulation is often an important component of the utterance unit produced, in the sense that the utterance unit cannot be fully comprehended unless its gestural component is taken into consideration. many instances it can be shown that the gesticulatory component has a complementary relationship to what is encoded in words, so that the full significance of the utterance can only be grasped if both words and gesture are taken into account (Kendon 1986a). the present article I consider hand gestures, which are also a type of nonverbal means. Those gestures are iconic gestures. I also explore their use in interaction. Iconic gestures occur during continuous speech and show in their form a related to the articulated in speech. most cases the related speech unit is a word, called the lexical affiliate (Schegloff 1984) of the gesture (Hadar, Butterworth 1997). 2. Imagistic language in communication recent years, there has been renewed interest in and credibility given to the examination of visible and behavior as they occur in natural conversation (Poyatos 1980). This means interest in verbal features--that is, human language and its structuring in real time communication. Such a view supports the view of grammar as symbolism and meaning as conceptualization (Langacker 1988). order to understand language works and is constructed, it is necessary to focus on language works in interaction. On the basis of a progressional view of language one can understand more clearly the cooperation of and visual features in human communication. It is useful to remember the emergence of new ideas in linguistics, and how it was in the paradigm of cognition. According to Langacker, language analysis should posit that language is symbolic at all its levels, i.e. that grammatical constructions are schematic, less specific, symbolic units which embody conversational imagery. In choosing a particular expression or construction, a speaker construes the conceived situation in a certain way, i. …