Читать книгу Anthropology For Dummies - Cameron M. Smith - Страница 57

In addition to spoken human language, we also use gesture, or what Adam Kendon, editor of the scholarly journal Gesture, has called “visible action as utterance.” Gesture isn’t exactly the same as a word; it’s more of a reinforcement of what you’re saying aloud. And it’s very important. You can imagine how using the wrong gestures in the wrong circumstances could cost you heavily!

Gestures vary widely worldwide, but some common patterns occur; gestures are used globally to point, indicate a state of mind, reinforce a verbal statement, negate a verbal statement (for example, to indicate sarcasm, maybe by using “air quotes”), or to mark beginning or ending points in a conversation.

These are fascinating issues considering that the first languages most likely had a strong gestural component, and you could potentially discover much about them by studying modern gesture. Figure 3-3 shows some polite gestures of 17th-century Europe; the upper left gesture is “adoration,” the upper right “reconciliation,” the lower left “impatience,” the lower right “demonstration,” and the middle “benediction.” You can easily imagine using these gestures in your own communication; think about how different communication is without them … for example, over email.

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FIGURE 3-3: Author’s rendering of drawings in John Bulwer’s work on gesture in European society.