Somewhat old, perhaps, but prof.
Noam Chomsky made a
few remarks in 1996 which I think illustrate the position held by many US linguists and other scientists regarding the difference between gestures and (sign) language. Language is discreet, gesture is continuous. But see some
discussion.
Personally, I think the characterizations of discreet and continuous have led to some remarkable claims. Some researchers looked at how people talked and found certain continuous systems of signification. For example the rising and falling of pitch to indicate height. And they dubbed it 'gesture' in language. Likewise, people studying sign language find continuous mechanisms and call it gesture in sign language. And vice versa, people who study gesture find discreet systems and point out that there are language-like properties in gesture.
It seems more useful to me to think of speech and gesture as two of many forms of meaning-making. We use our hands, mouth, face, tools, media, canvas, even the web, to create meaning for eachother. And when we create meaning we use (sub)systems of form and meaning. Some of those systems are discreet and others are continuous.
Ther e c a n e v e n b e continuity
in the
way I type this sentence.
Were you ever forced to point the finger at someone? (source EurekAlert)
Consider pointing. The question is not whether pointing is continuous or discreet as such. The question how we use different pointing mechanisms to communicate meaning. Some of those will be continuous, but even pointing can be as discreet as it gets.
No comments:
Post a Comment