Universals and diversity in gesture: Research past, present, and future

Abstract

At the dawn of anthropology, gesture was widely considered a “universal language.” In the 20th century, however, this framing fell out of favor as anthropologists rejected universalism in favor of relativism. These polemical positions were largely fueled by high-flying rhetoric and second-hand report; researchers had neither the data nor the conceptual frameworks to stake out substantive positions. Today we have much more data, but our frameworks remain underdeveloped and often implicit. Here, I outline several emerging conceptual tools that help us make sense of universals and diversity in gesture. I then sketch the state of our knowledge about a handful of gestural phenomena, further developing these conceptual tools on the way. This brief survey underscores a clear conclusion: gesture is unmistakably similar around the world while also being broadly diverse. Our task ahead is to put polemics aside and explore this duality systematically—and soon, before gestural diversity dwindles further.

Gesture is the primary modality for language creation

“…Importantly, although signal universality was moderately correlated with signal iconicity, it independently predicted communication success. The universality of gestured signals has long been recognized by philosophers and early explorers, who recommended using ‘the universal language of the hands' to communicate with indigenous people (Quintilian, 95 CE [51]). The basic idea is that people of different cultures can successfully communicate because they represent meaning similarly in the gesture modality.…”