Kinesics and Gesture

Abstract

This entry discusses the use of co‐occurring manual gestures that integrate with the verbal modality in co‐present interaction. Omitting this dimension of language from investigation leaves us with an incomplete and impoverished understanding of the sociocultural order and the composite meanings embedded in it. When we communicate we not only use speech but co‐occurring movements of the hands and body. This entry provides an introductory overview of gesture studies from its origins to the present and considers the integration of language and gesture as a sociocultural performance and construction of identity. After an overview of gesture and gesture classifications, I discuss broader dimensions of multimodal semiosis and the communicative resources we bring to bear on the production and reception of the interaction order.