Sandler Wendy
Semiotica. 2009 Apr;2009(174):241-275. doi: 10.1515/semi.2009.035.
Current conceptions of human language include a gestural component in the communicative event. However, determining how the linguistic and gestural signals are distinguished, how each is structured, and how they interact still poses a challenge for the construction of a comprehensive model of language. This study attempts to advance our understanding of these issues with evidence from sign language. The study adopts McNeill's criteria for distinguishing gestures from the linguistically organized signal, and provides a brief description of the linguistic organization of sign languages. Focusing on the subcategory of iconic gestures, the paper shows that signers create iconic gestures with the mouth, an articulator that acts symbiotically with the hands to complement the linguistic description of objects and events. A new distinction between the mimetic replica and the iconic symbol accounts for the nature and distribution of iconic mouth gestures and distinguishes them from mimetic uses of the mouth. Symbiotic symbolization by hand and mouth is a salient feature of human language, regardless of whether the primary linguistic modality is oral or manual. Speakers gesture with their hands, and signers gesture with their mouths.
当前对人类语言的理解包括交际活动中的手势成分。然而，确定语言信号和手势信号如何区分、各自如何构建以及它们如何相互作用，仍然是构建全面语言模型的一个挑战。本研究试图通过手语证据来增进我们对这些问题的理解。该研究采用麦克尼尔区分手势与语言组织信号的标准，并对手语的语言组织进行了简要描述。本文聚焦于象似性手势这一亚类，表明手语使用者用嘴创造象似性手势，嘴这个发音器官与手协同作用，以补充对物体和事件的语言描述。模仿复制品和象似符号之间的新区别解释了象似性嘴部手势的性质和分布，并将它们与嘴部的模仿用途区分开来。无论主要语言形式是口语还是手语，手和嘴的共生符号化都是人类语言的一个显著特征。说者用手做手势，手语使用者用嘴做手势。
