Gestures in native Mexico and Central America

Brown, Penelope

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Gestures in native Mexico and Central America

Brown, P. (2014). Gestures in native Mexico and Central America. In C. Müller, A. Cienki, E. Fricke, S. Ladewig, D. McNeill, & J. Bressem (Eds.), Body -language – communication: An international handbook on multimodality in human interaction. Volume 2 (pp. 1206-1215). Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.

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Item Permalink: https://hdl.handle.net/11858/00-001M-0000-0014-C80A-F Version Permalink: https://hdl.handle.net/11858/00-001M-0000-002B-96DC-5

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Brown, Penelope^{1, 2}, Author

Affiliations:
1Interactional Foundations of Language, MPI for Psycholinguistics, Max Planck Society, Nijmegen, NL, ou_745546
2Other Research, MPI for Psycholinguistics, Max Planck Society, ou_55217

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Abstract: The systematic study of kinesics, gaze, and gestural aspects of communication in Central American cultures is a recent phenomenon, most of it focussing on the Mayan cultures of southern Mexico, Guatemala, and Belize. This article surveys ethnographic observations and research reports on bodily aspects of speaking in three domains: gaze and kinesics in social interaction, indexical pointing in adult and caregiver-child interactions, and co-speech gestures associated with “absolute” (geographically-based) systems of spatial reference. In addition, it reports how the indigenous co-speech gesture repertoire has provided the basis for developing village sign languages in the region. It is argued that studies of the embodied aspects of speech in the Mayan areas of Mexico and Central America have contributed to the typology of gestures and of spatial frames of reference. They have refined our understanding of how spatial frames of reference are invoked, communicated, and switched in conversational interaction and of the importance of co-speech gestures in understanding language use, language acquisition, and the transmission of culture-specific cognitive styles.

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Language(s): eng - English

Dates: Accepted: 2013Date issued: 2014

Publication Status: Issued

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Rev. Type: Peer

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Title: Body -language – communication: An international handbook on multimodality in human interaction. Volume 2

Source Genre: Book

Creator(s):
Müller, C., Editor
Cienki, A., Editor
Fricke, E., Editor
Ladewig, S., Editor
McNeill, D., Editor
Bressem, J., Editor

Affiliations:
-

Publ. Info: Berlin : Mouton de Gruyter

Pages: - Volume / Issue: - Sequence Number: - Start / End Page: 1206 - 1215 Identifier: -