Non-representational Gestures: Types, Use, and Functions

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue focuses on the relationships between non-representational gestures and speech. Psychologists and other scholars have carried out much research on the role of representational (or iconic) gestures in speaking and communicating. While many mysteries remain about the function(s) of representational gestures, some patterns seem reasonably clear. For example, we know that people often produce representational gestures with spoken language with similar meaning (e.g., Hughes-Berheim et al., 2020), particularly verbs (e.g., Özçalişkan et al., 2014). Representational gestures are particularly likely to be produced when speakers are working out how they want to organize speech (Alibali et al., 2017) and when they are talking about visuospatial referents (Hostetter and Alibali, 2019). There is some research to suggest that representational gestures are particularly likely to be produced when speakers are under a heavy cognitive load (Ping and Goldin-Meadow, 2010). 

The scope of this Special Issue is the identification, use and functions of non-representational gestures. While there is no consensus yet on what types of non-representational gestures might exist, I minimally include emblems/conventional gestures, deictic gestures, beats and other pragmatic gestures (Bavelas, 1994; Kendon, 1997; Lopez-Ozieblo, 2020; McNeill, 2016). Do these “types” of gestures refer to categories that make sense in language use? Is there any reason to think that non-representational gestures are used and/or function differently from representational gestures (Lopez-Ozieblo, 2020).  Some non-representational gestures, such as waving and pointing, are produced by children even before they begin to speak (Hirai and Kanakogi, 2019; Kettner and Carpendale, 2013). These allow children to participate in interpersonal communication before they can use conventional words (Carpendale et al., 2014), as do representational gestures in some cultures (Veena and Bellur, 2015). The production of beats (Vilà‐Giménez and Prieto, 2020) and pragmatic gestures (Colletta et al., 2010) supports the production of complex and coherent stories (Laurent et al., 2020). Given the variety of functions that non-representational gestures can serve (Lopez-Ozieblo, 2020), are there some that are unique? Are these functions associated with particular non-representational gesture types?

We request that, prior to submitting a manuscript, interested authors initially submit a proposed title and an abstract of 400–600 words summarizing their intended contribution. Please send it to Elena Nicoladis (elena.nicoladis@ubc.ca). Abstracts will be reviewed by the Guest Editors for the purposes of ensuring proper fit within the scope of the Special Issue. Full manuscripts will undergo a double-blind peer review.

Tentative Completion Schedule

Abstract Submission Deadline: November 15, 2024

Notification of Abstract Acceptance: December 10, 2024

Full Manuscript Deadline: May 31, 2025

References:

Alibali, M. W., Yeo, A., Hostetter, A. B., & Kita, S. (2017). Representational gestures help speakers package information for speaking. Why gesture, 15-37.

Bavelas, J. B. (1994). Gestures as part of speech: Methodological implications. Research on language and social interaction, 27(3), 201-221.

Carpendale, J. I., Atwood, S., & Kettner, V. (2014). Meaning and mind from the perspective of dualist versus relational worldviews: Implications for the development of pointing gestures. Human Development, 56(6), 381-400.

Colletta, J. M., Pellenq, C., & Guidetti, M. (2010). Age-related changes in co-speech gesture and narrative: Evidence from French children and adults. Speech Communication, 52(6), 565-576.

Hirai, M. & Kanakogi, Y. (2019). Communicative hand‐waving gestures facilitate object learning in preverbal infants. Developmental Science, 22(4), e12787.

Hostetter, A. B. & Alibali, M. W. (2019). Gesture as simulated action: Revisiting the framework. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 26, 721-752.

Hughes-Berheim, S. S., Morett, L. M., & Bulger, R. (2020). Semantic relationships between representational gestures and their lexical affiliates are evaluated similarly for speech and text. Frontiers in Psychology, 11, 575991.

Kendon, A. (1997). Gesture. Annual review of anthropology, 26(1), 109-128.

Kettner, V. A, & Carpendale, J. I. (2013). Developing gestures for no and yes: Head shaking and nodding in infancy. Gesture, 13(2), 193-209.

Laurent, A., Smithson, L., & Nicoladis, E. (2020). Gesturers tell a story creatively; non-gesturers tell it like it happened. Language Learning and Development, 16(3), 292-308.

Lopez-Ozieblo, R. (2020). Proposing a revised functional classification of pragmatic gestures. Lingua, 247, 102870.

McNeill, D. (2016). Why we gesture: The surprising role of hand movements in communication. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Özçalişkan, Ş., Gentner, D., & Goldin-Meadow, S. (2014). Do iconic gestures pave the way for children's early verbs?. Applied psycholinguistics, 35(6), 1143-1162.

Ping, R. & Goldin‐Meadow, S. (2010). Gesturing saves cognitive resources when talking about nonpresent objects. Cognitive Science, 34(4), 602-619.

Veena, K. D. & Bellur, R. (2015). Development of communicative gestures in normally developing children between 8 and 18 months: An exploratory study. Journal of Early Childhood Research, 13(2), 150-164.

Vilà‐Giménez, I. & Prieto, P. (2020). Encouraging kids to beat: Children's beat gesture production boosts their narrative performance. Developmental Science, 23(6), e12967.

Prof. Dr. Elena Nicoladis
Dr. Maria Graziano
Guest Editors

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• gestures
• language learning
• development
• second language acquisition