Editing Gesture (section)

=== Communicative vs. informative ===
The first way to distinguish between categories of gesture is to differentiate between communicative gesture and informative gesture. While most gestures can be defined as possibly happening during the course of spoken utterances, the informative-communicative dichotomy focuses on intentionality of meaning and communication in co-speech gesture.<ref name=":12" />

==== Informative (passive) ====
Informative gestures are passive gestures that provide information about the speaker as a person and not about what the speaker is trying to communicate. Some movements are not purely considered gestures, however a person could perform these adapters in such way like scratching, adjusting clothing, and tapping.'''<ref>{{Cite book |doi=10.1016/S0065-2601(08)60241-5|chapter=Nonverbal Behavior and Nonverbal Communication: What do Conversational Hand Gestures Tell Us?|title=Advances in Experimental Social Psychology Volume 28|volume=28|pages=389–450|year=1996|last1=Krauss|first1=Robert M.|last2=Chen|first2=Yihsiu|last3=Chawla|first3=Purnima|isbn=978-0120152285}}</ref>'''

These gestures can occur during speech, but they may also occur independently of communication, as they are not a part of active communication. While informative gestures may communicate information about the person speaking (e.g. itchy, uncomfortable, etc.), this communication is not engaged with any language being produced by the person gesturing.<ref name=":12" />

==== Communicative (active) ====

[[File:I Want You for U.S. Army by James Montgomery Flagg.jpg|upright|thumb|U.S. Army recruitment poster]]
Communicative gestures are gestures that are produced intentionally and meaningfully by a person as a way of intensifying or modifying speech produced in the vocal tract (or with the hands in the case of sign languages), even though a speaker may not be actively aware that they are producing communicative gestures.<ref name=":12" />

For instance, on the U.S. Army recruitment poster of Uncle Sam, he is pointing and sending a non-verbal form of gesture by implying he wants the viewer to join the U.S. Army. This is a form of symbolic gesture, usually used in the absence of speech.<ref name=":5" />