Form, meaning, and convention: A comparison of a metaphoric gesture with an emblem
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Fey Parrill
Abstract
Speakers tend to produce very similar-looking gestures in very similar discourse contexts. This chapter probes the sources of such uniformity with reference to a particular gesture form. When producing this gesture form, a speaker’s hand moves towards her interlocutor with the palm facing up, as though an object were being presented. Some researchers have claimed that this gesture form is pervasive because people metaphorically conceptualize ideas as though they were objects – the gesture reflects this conceptualization. An alternative hypothesis, however, is that the gesture form is constrained by a cultural convention, in which case the gesture form may no longer be motivated by metaphoric imagery. The present chapter presents an experiment which explores these two hypotheses. Participants were asked to provide a rating of naturalness for non-canonical versions of the gesture form described above and non-canonical versions of a gesture form which is assumed to be wholly conventional. If a gesture form is conventional, participants should be resistant to seeing its normal production form violated. Instead, however, there was a high degree of variability among participants in what was considered acceptable for both gesture forms. These results produce a more complex picture of how convention shapes gesture, which will have implications for theories of language production.
Abstract
Speakers tend to produce very similar-looking gestures in very similar discourse contexts. This chapter probes the sources of such uniformity with reference to a particular gesture form. When producing this gesture form, a speaker’s hand moves towards her interlocutor with the palm facing up, as though an object were being presented. Some researchers have claimed that this gesture form is pervasive because people metaphorically conceptualize ideas as though they were objects – the gesture reflects this conceptualization. An alternative hypothesis, however, is that the gesture form is constrained by a cultural convention, in which case the gesture form may no longer be motivated by metaphoric imagery. The present chapter presents an experiment which explores these two hypotheses. Participants were asked to provide a rating of naturalness for non-canonical versions of the gesture form described above and non-canonical versions of a gesture form which is assumed to be wholly conventional. If a gesture form is conventional, participants should be resistant to seeing its normal production form violated. Instead, however, there was a high degree of variability among participants in what was considered acceptable for both gesture forms. These results produce a more complex picture of how convention shapes gesture, which will have implications for theories of language production.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Contributors vii
- Acknowledgements ix
- Introduction 1
- Why study metaphor and gesture? 5
- From left to right...: Coverbal gestures and their symbolic use of space 27
- Gesture as a conceptual mapping tool 55
- A fresh look at the foundations of mathematics: Gesture and the psychological reality of conceptual metaphor 93
- Peircean semiotics meets conceptual metaphor: Iconic modes in gestural representations of grammar 115
- Unexpected metaphors 155
- Catchment, growth point and spatial metaphor: Analysing Derrida's oral discourse on deconstruction 171
- Form, meaning, and convention: A comparison of a metaphoric gesture with an emblem 195
- What gestures reveal about the nature of metaphor 219
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Commentaries on the value of studying metaphor and gesture from the perspectives of different disciplines
- Metaphoric gesture and cognitive linguistics 249
- Metaphoric gestures and cultural analysis 253
- Metaphor and gesture: A view from the microanalysis of interaction 259
- Implications of cognitive metaphor and gesture studies for Ethnomethodology and Conversation Analysis and vice versa 265
- Sign and gesture: Towards a new paradigm 273
- The study of metaphor and gesture: A critique from the perspective of semiotics 277
- The neuroscience of metaphoric gestures: Why they exist 283
- Metaphor and gesture: Some implications for psychology 291
- Index 303
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Contributors vii
- Acknowledgements ix
- Introduction 1
- Why study metaphor and gesture? 5
- From left to right...: Coverbal gestures and their symbolic use of space 27
- Gesture as a conceptual mapping tool 55
- A fresh look at the foundations of mathematics: Gesture and the psychological reality of conceptual metaphor 93
- Peircean semiotics meets conceptual metaphor: Iconic modes in gestural representations of grammar 115
- Unexpected metaphors 155
- Catchment, growth point and spatial metaphor: Analysing Derrida's oral discourse on deconstruction 171
- Form, meaning, and convention: A comparison of a metaphoric gesture with an emblem 195
- What gestures reveal about the nature of metaphor 219
-
Commentaries on the value of studying metaphor and gesture from the perspectives of different disciplines
- Metaphoric gesture and cognitive linguistics 249
- Metaphoric gestures and cultural analysis 253
- Metaphor and gesture: A view from the microanalysis of interaction 259
- Implications of cognitive metaphor and gesture studies for Ethnomethodology and Conversation Analysis and vice versa 265
- Sign and gesture: Towards a new paradigm 273
- The study of metaphor and gesture: A critique from the perspective of semiotics 277
- The neuroscience of metaphoric gestures: Why they exist 283
- Metaphor and gesture: Some implications for psychology 291
- Index 303
