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In:Why Gesture?: How the hands function in speaking, thinking and communicating
Edited by Ruth Breckinridge Church, Martha W. Alibali and Spencer D. Kelly
[Gesture Studies 7] 2017
► pp. 3–10

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Chapter 1
Understanding gesture

Description, mechanism and function

Published online: 26 April 2017
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/gs.7.01kel
Abstract
Gestures offer additional information that is not captured in speech. This essential finding is a bouncing off point for the chapters in this book, which attempt to explain what purpose gesture serves when we speak, think and communicate. Aristotle’s framework is used to describe how the research on gesture can be classified into efficient causes (what factors drive gesture) and final causes (what purpose does gesture potentially serve). The chapters of the book are laid out by research that examines how gesture functions in language and thinking for the producer (Part 1) and the observer (Part 2) with a final section that discusses some theoretical implications (Part 3).
Article outline
  • Mechanisms of gesture
  • Functions for gesture
  • Structure of the book
  • Note
  • References
References (21)
References
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