Editing Gesture (section)

== Manual vs. non-manual communicative gestures ==
Within the realm of communicative gestures, the first distinction to be made is between gestures made with the hands and arms, and gestures made with other parts of the body. Examples of Non-manual gestures may include head [[Nod (gesture)|nodding]] and [[Head shake|shaking]], [[Shrug|shoulder shrugging]], and [[facial expression]], among others. Non-manual gestures are attested in languages all around the world, but have not been the primary focus of most research regarding co-speech gesture.<ref name=":12" />

=== Manual gestures ===

A gesture that is a form of communication in which bodily actions communicate particular messages. Manual gestures are most commonly broken down into four distinct categories: Symbolic (Emblematic), [[Deixis|Deictic]] (Indexical), Motor (Beat), and Lexical (Iconic)<ref name=":0" />

Manual gesture in the sense of communicative co-speech gesture does not include the gesture-signs of [[Sign language|sign languages]], even though sign language is communicative and primarily produced using the hands, because the gestures in [[sign language]] are not used to intensify or modify the speech produced by the vocal tract, rather they communicate fully productive language through a method alternative to the [[vocal tract]].

==== Symbolic (emblematic) ====
[[File:Us navy helicopter landing signals illustration.jpg|thumb|right|Military [[aircraft marshalling|air marshallers]] use hand and body gestures to direct flight operations aboard [[aircraft carrier]]s.]]

{{Main|List of gestures}}The most familiar are the so-called emblems or quotable gestures. These are conventional, culture-specific gestures that can be used as replacement for words, such as the handwave used in the US for "hello" and "goodbye". A single emblematic gesture can have a very different significance in different cultural contexts, ranging from complimentary to highly offensive.<ref>[[Morris, Desmond]], Collett, Peter, Marsh, Peter, O'Shaughnessy, Marie. 1979. ''Gestures, their origins and distribution''. London. Cape</ref> The page [[List of gestures]] discusses emblematic gestures made with one hand, two hands, hand and other body parts, and body and facial gestures.

Symbolic gestures can occur either concurrently or independently of vocal speech. Symbolic gestures are iconic gestures that are widely recognized, fixed, and have conventionalized meanings.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal|last=Krauss |display-authors=etal |first=Robert M.|year=2001|title=Lexical Gestures and Lexical Access: A Process Model|journal=Book: Language and Gesture by D. McNeill (Ed.) New York: Cambridge University Press|pages=261–283}}</ref>

==== Deictic (indexical) ====
Deictic gestures can occur simultaneously with vocal speech or in place of it. Deictic gestures are gestures that consist of indicative or [[pointing]] motions. These gestures often work in the same way as demonstrative words and pronouns like "this" or "that".<ref name=":0" />

Deictic gestures can refer to concrete or intangible objects or people.

====Motor (beat)====

Motor or beat gestures usually consist of short, repetitive, rhythmic movements that are closely tied with [[Prosody (linguistics)|prosody]] in verbal speech. Unlike symbolic and deictic gestures, beat gestures cannot occur independently of verbal speech and convey no semantic information. For example, some people wave their hands as they speak to emphasize a certain word or phrase.

These gestures are closely coordinated with speech. The so-called beat gestures are used in conjunction with speech and keep time with the rhythm of speech to emphasize certain words or phrases. These types of gestures are integrally connected to [[Speech communication|speech]] and thought processes.<ref name="McNeill" />

====Lexical (iconic)====

Other spontaneous gestures used during speech production known as iconic gestures are more full of content, and may echo, or elaborate, the meaning of the co-occurring speech. They depict aspects of spatial images, actions, people, or objects.<ref name="mayberry">{{cite journal|last=Mayberry|first=Rachel I.|title=Gesture Reflects Language Development: Evidence from Bilingual Children|journal=Current Directions in Psychological Science|date=December 2000|volume=9|issue=6|pages=192–196|jstor=20182668|doi=10.1111/1467-8721.00092|s2cid=36634267}}</ref> For example, a gesture that depicts the act of throwing may be synchronous with the utterance, "He threw the ball right into the window."<ref name=McNeill>McNeill (1992). Hand and Mind. Chicago: University of Chicago Press</ref> Such gestures that are used along with speech tend to be universal.<ref name=":6">{{Cite book|title = Gesture: Visible Action as Utterance|last = Kendon|first = Adam|publisher = Cambridge University Press|year = 2004|isbn = 978-0521835251|location = UK}}</ref> For example, one describing that they are feeling cold due to a lack of proper clothing and/or a cold weather can accompany their verbal description with a visual one. This can be achieved through various gestures such as by demonstrating a shiver and/or by rubbing the hands together. In such cases, the language or verbal description of the person does not necessarily need to be understood as someone could at least take a hint at what's being communicated through the observation and interpretation of body language which serves as a gesture equivalent in meaning to what's being said through communicative speech.

The elaboration of lexical gestures falls on a spectrum of iconic-metaphorical in how closely tied they are to the lexico-semantic content of the verbal speech they coordinate with. More iconic gesture very obviously mirrors the words being spoken (such as drawing a jagged horizontal line in the air to describe mountains) whereas more metaphorical gestures clearly contain some spatial relation to the semantic content of the co-occurring verbal speech, but the relationship between the gesture and the speech might be more ambiguous.

Lexical gestures, like motor gestures, cannot occur independently of verbal speech. The purpose of lexical gestures is still widely contested in the literature with some linguists arguing that lexical gestures serve to amplify or modulate the semantic content of lexical speech,<ref name="Kendon" /> or that it serves a cognitive purpose in aiding in lexical access and retrieval<ref name=":0" /> or verbal working memory.<ref name=":2">{{Cite journal|last=Gillespie |display-authors=etal |first=Maureen|year=2014|title=Verbal Working Memory Predicts Co-Speech Gesture: Evidence from Individual Differences|journal=Cognition|volume=132|issue=2|pages=174–180|doi=10.1016/j.cognition.2014.03.012|pmid=24813571|pmc=4066192}}</ref> Most recent research suggests that lexical gestures serve a primarily socio-pragmatic role.<ref name=":3">{{Cite journal|last=Holler |display-authors=etal |first=Judith|year=2012|title=It's On the Tip of My Fingers: Co-speech Gestures During Lexical Retrieval in Different Social Contexts|journal=Language and Cognitive Processes}}</ref>