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Hand gestures are used in regions of Italy and in the Italian language as a form of nonverbal communication and expression. The gestures within the Italian lexicon are dominated by movements of the hands and fingers, but may also include movements of facial features such as eyebrows, the mouth and the cheeks. [1]
Theories persist as to the exact origin of hand gestures as a method of communication in Italy, though they likely emerged through necessity as a universal, non-verbal method of communicating across different Italian local languages and dialects. [2] Despite the majority of today's Italian population speaking Italian, hand gestures have persisted as a method of expression to accompany verbal speech in many regions of Italy.
Around 251 specific hand gestures have been identified, with the belief that they developed during a period of occupation in which seven main groups are believed to have taken root in Italy: the Germanic tribes (Vandals, Ostrogoths and Lombards), Moors, Normans, French, Spaniards, and Austrians. Given that there was no common language, rudimentary sign language may have developed, forming the basis of modern-day hand gestures.[ citation needed ]
The precise origin of hand gestures as a popular component of Italian communication is still contested. De Jorio interprets the endurance of hand gestures in Southern Italy in particular as a cultural legacy of the Romans, who used the art of chironomia in everyday communication and in oratory. [3]
The development of hand gestures is closely connected with a communicative phenomenon, [4] and as a non-verbal communication system, could not have been formed within a short period. Amid early urbanization in Italy, [5] the increasing demand for communication stimulated the wide use of hand gestures in Italy, as did colonization and the resulting cultural fusion and language barrier. Ancient Greek colonization of the Mediterranean coast, including southern Italy, can be traced back via research to the early eighth century BC. [6] After the fall of the Western Roman Empire, local languages did not assume a dominant position over one another due to the arrival of new immigrants and colonizers from other regions. [7] Data indicates seven main groups: the Carolingians, the Visigoths, the Normans, the Saracens, the Germanic tribes, the French, and the Austrians. [7] Additionally, an extant funeral stone from the 5th century BC (currently in the Pergamon Museum in Berlin) depicts two soldiers shaking hands. [8] This is believed to be proof of gestures in Ancient Greek culture, which passed to and affected Italian non-verbal communication through generations even more than spoken language. To the 21st century, around 250 hand gestures Italians use in everyday conversation have been identified. [9]
The irreplaceable role of gestures in medieval and Renaissance societies is referred to as "une civilisation du geste" ("a civilisation of gesture") by Jacques Le Goff. [10] As the Renaissance emphasized the restoration of human nature in the classical era with the aim of breaking the shackles of religion, [11] people became more willing to express themselves and attract others' attention. [12] Hand gestures allowed those using them to express themselves to a more satisfactory degree, making the Renaissance a vital era for the development of Italian hand gestures.
Hand gestures were particularly conspicuous in Italy during the early modern period. [3] This may be due to the emergence of large, highly populated city-states throughout Italy, such as Florence and Naples, in which people were compelled to make themselves more understood. [13] The more frequent usage of hand gestures by individuals living in, or raised in, Italian cities is still observable in a contemporary context.
A "gesture frontier" exists in Italy which separates the gestures used commonly in Southern Italy from those used in Northern Italy. [3] This frontier is evident in the differing meaning of the 'chin flick' gesture. In Northern Italy, this gesture generally means 'get lost', whereas in Southern Italy it simply means 'no'. [14] According to Morris, [14] this is due to the ancient Greek colonisation of Southern Italy, as Greeks also use the 'chin flick' gesture to mean 'no'. A study conducted in central Italy proved this gesture frontier to be true; despite the mobility of the Italian population and the existence of nationwide media, the majority of the northern Roman population used the 'chin flick' with the Northern meaning, and the southern Neapolitan population used the Southern meaning. [14]
This separation is evident between Northern and Southern Europe as well as within Italy; for instance, speakers of English and Dutch generally use gesticulations considerably less in their speech than Italians and Greeks. [3] The heavy use of gestures in communication has historically been considered indicative of a lack of civilisation in Southern European cultures by Northern Europeans. [3]
The continuation of hand gestures as a part of the Italian lexicon can be best understood as a form of cultural coding, as Italian children unconsciously imitate their parents and peers' behaviours, causing them to develop gesticulating during conversation as an involuntary habit. [15]
The use of hand gestures has always served a dual purpose in Italian culture; a substantive purpose which contributes expression to verbal communication and indicates emotion, and a pragmatic purpose which can serve as a substitute to verbal communication. [2]
In a contemporary context, hand gestures are primarily used amongst Italians as a form of expression to accompany conversation rather than a substitute for verbal communication. [16] The prevalence of hand gestures in communication in large Italian cities is thought to be due to competition, as individuals unconsciously wish to be more visible and take up more space in a busy urban setting by adding physical elements to their communication. [1]
Communicative gestures could also be referred to as "active" gestures, since they are performed on purpose by individuals. For example, a speaker who is enthusiastic to deliver important information to their audience might emphasize hand gestures rather than speech. [17] An example is J.M. Flagg's poster of Uncle Sam, who points his index finger directly towards the viewer in what is seen as a strong expression. [18]
Informative or "passive" gestures refer to hand movements that are not necessary or meaningful to the conversation, such as scratching, adjusting one's clothing, and tapping. [17] Since this part of gesture does not focus on communication, it usually does not involve extra verbal communication.
There are two main ways to classify Italian hand gestures. The first way is to distinguish them via their use cases, such as during religious rites, at gladiatorial arenas, and in daily conversation. [19] Another way is to differentiate communicative and informative hand gestures in the Italian language. [20] These two types of gestures might occur automatically, whereas the informative-communicative dichotomy is used to explore the actual intent of use behind the conversation. [20]
In the oldest surviving images of the Annunciation, the Archangel Gabriel is generally found raising his hand before mentioning something important, a gesture widely adopted by Roman rhetoricians for the same purpose. [21]
More recent research suggests that the thumbs-up and thumbs-down gestures originated from Roman gladiatorial arenas, being used to decide the destiny of the loser of a fight. [22] The loser would beg for mercy to the crowd, who would decide his fate by pointing their thumbs up or down. If the gladiator received more thumbs up than thumbs down, then he was to be spared. A majority of thumbs down, on the other hand, signified execution. [23] However, there is still controversy amongst scholars about the exact meanings of thumbs-up and thumbs-down in ancient Rome.
The habit of talking with one's hands in Italy has been reported to address and reinforce the meanings of various expressions. In normal conversation, gesturing helps in delivering the meaning and receiving information, an example being up-down movement of the hand. When begging for help, an Italian may press their palms together as if praying. Due to differences in local context and cultural background, Italian hand gestures vary among regions.
The following section introduces some common and useful gestures used regularly in Italian conversation with words described. [24]
This section and below may require copy editing for grammar, style, cohesion, tone, or spelling.(December 2024) |
The elaboration of hand and daily communication shows some advantages and the use of gestures help the Italian's expression more easy-understanding which is believed by psychologists. [27] There are some reasons to explain that.
Hand gesture act as a proxy to turn intangible thoughts into hand movements presenting the idea in a direct way. Recently, more researches have improved that there is a link between the cognition and action. [28] For instance, Broca's area a brain region functions an important role in speaking. In addition, this area is active at the same time when there is a hand movement. [29]
Effective communication, notably teaching, is a central application of cognitive psychology. Explaining processes that occur over time is especially challenging, primarily because of the complexity of the sequence of actions and their causes and consequences. Adding gestures that are crafted to congruently represent the actions to the verbal explanation deepens understanding of the actions and the system as a whole. Gestures are especially effective because they can both resemble and represent and also embody action. [30] As a consequence, gesturing is also regarded as a "second language". Italians use the hand movements in conjunction with their own language to convey the information, hence oral communication is supplemented by the gestures. [31]
There is a conducted experiment based on the effects about hand gestures to children, it is found that hand gestures used at 14 months was an important indicator of the size of vocabulary at 42 months, significantly outweigh the vocabulary size of normal children who only affected by the parents and child words at 14 months. [32] Not only for language system, early gesturing immersive environment has a potential effect on individual's personality. Until now there is not a supportable evidence to explain the relationship between gesturing habit and biological genes. Whereas, it is found that people who prefer to use gesturing during their conversation tend to be defined with warm, agreeable and energetic characteristic, while less animated speakers are relatively logical, cold and analytical. [33]
Symbolic communication is the exchange of messages that change a priori expectation of events. Examples of this are modern communication technology and the exchange of information amongst animals. By referring to objects and ideas not present at the time of communication, a world of possibility is opened. In humans, this process has been compounded to result in the current state of modernity. A symbol is anything one says or does to describe something, and that something can have an array of many meanings. Once the symbols are learned by a particular group, that symbol stays intact with the object. Symbolic communication includes gestures, body language and facial expressions, as well as vocal moans that can indicate what an individual wants without having to speak. Research argues that about 55% of all communication stems from nonverbal language. Symbolic communication ranges from sign language to braille to tactile communication skills.
An emblem is an abstract or representational pictorial image that represents a concept, like a moral truth, or an allegory, or a person, like a monarch or saint.
Body language is a type of nonverbal communication in which physical behaviors, as opposed to words, are used to express or convey information. Such behavior includes facial expressions, body posture, gestures, eye movement, touch and the use of space. Although body language is an important part of communication, most of it happens without conscious awareness. In social communication, body language often complements verbal communication. Nonverbal communication has a significant impact on doctor-patient relationships, as it affects how open patients are with their doctor. Having open body language, which is typically identified as having a relaxed posture, nodding, eye contact can contribute to patients having higher levels of trust with their doctors. According to, W.Y. Kee, patients who had a doctor that avoided eye contact by looking at a screen or had negative facial expressions contributed to patients feeling dissatisfied after their visit.
A gesture is a form of non-verbal communication or non-vocal communication in which visible bodily actions communicate particular messages, either in place of, or in conjunction with, speech. Gestures include movement of the hands, face, or other parts of the body. Gestures differ from physical non-verbal communication that does not communicate specific messages, such as purely expressive displays, proxemics, or displays of joint attention. Gestures allow individuals to communicate a variety of feelings and thoughts, from contempt and hostility to approval and affection, often together with body language in addition to words when they speak. Gesticulation and speech work independently of each other, but join to provide emphasis and meaning.
Nonverbal communication is the transmission of messages or signals through a nonverbal platform such as eye contact (oculesics), body language (kinesics), social distance (proxemics), touch (haptics), voice, physical environments/appearance, and use of objects. When communicating, we utilize nonverbal channels as means to convey different messages or signals, whereas others can interpret these message. The study of nonverbal communication started in 1872 with the publication of The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals by Charles Darwin. Darwin began to study nonverbal communication as he noticed the interactions between animals such as lions, tigers, dogs etc. and realized they also communicated by gestures and expressions. For the first time, nonverbal communication was studied and its relevance noted. Today, scholars argue that nonverbal communication can convey more meaning than verbal communication.
The American Manual Alphabet (AMA) is a manual alphabet that augments the vocabulary of American Sign Language.
Home sign is a gestural communication system, often invented spontaneously by a deaf child who lacks accessible linguistic input. Home sign systems often arise in families where a deaf child is raised by hearing parents and is isolated from the Deaf community. Because the deaf child does not receive signed or spoken language input, these children are referred to as linguistically isolated.
Chinese number gestures are a method to signify the natural numbers one through ten using one hand. This method may have been developed to bridge the many varieties of Chinese—for example, the numbers 4 and 10 are hard to distinguish in some dialects. Some suggest that it was also used by business people during bargaining when they wish for more privacy in a public place. These gestures are fully integrated into Chinese Sign Language.
The OK gesture, OK sign or ring gesture is a gesture performed by joining the thumb and index finger in a circle, and holding the other fingers straight or relaxed away from the palm. Commonly used by scuba divers, it signifies "I am OK" or "Are you OK?" when underwater. In most English-speaking countries it denotes approval, agreement, and that all is well or "okay". In other contexts or cultures, similar gestures may have different meanings including those that are negative, offensive, financial, numerical, devotional, political, or purely linguistic.
The sign of the horns is a hand gesture with a variety of meanings and uses in various cultures. It is formed by extending the index and little fingers while holding the middle and ring fingers down with the thumb.
A taunt is a battle cry, sarcastic remark, gesture, or insult intended to demoralize or antagonize the recipient. Taunting can exist as a form of social competition to gain control of the target's cultural capital. In sociological theory, the control of the three social capitals is used to produce an advantage in the social hierarchy, to enforce one's position in relation to others. This can also be used as a tactic to gain advantage of their opponent's irrational reaction. Taunting is committed by either directly or indirectly encouraging others to taunt the target. The target may give a response in kind to maintain status, as in fighting words and trash-talk.
American Sign Language (ASL), the sign language used by the deaf community throughout most of North America, has a rich vocabulary of terms, which include profanity. Within deaf culture, there is a distinction drawn between signs used to curse versus signs that are used to describe sexual acts. In usage, signs to describe detailed sexual behavior are highly taboo due to their graphic nature. As for the signs themselves, some signs do overlap, but they may also vary according to usage. For example, the sign for "shit" when used to curse is different from the sign for "shit" when used to describe the bodily function or the fecal matter.
The grammar of American Sign Language (ASL) has rules just like any other sign language or spoken language. ASL grammar studies date back to William Stokoe in the 1960s. This sign language consists of parameters that determine many other grammar rules. Typical word structure in ASL conforms to the SVO/OSV and topic-comment form, supplemented by a noun-adjective order and time-sequenced ordering of clauses. ASL has large CP and DP syntax systems, and also doesn't contain many conjunctions like some other languages do.
Gestures in language acquisition are a form of non-verbal communication involving movements of the hands, arms, and/or other parts of the body. Children can use gesture to communicate before they have the ability to use spoken words and phrases. In this way gestures can prepare children to learn a spoken language, creating a bridge from pre-verbal communication to speech. The onset of gesture has also been shown to predict and facilitate children's spoken language acquisition. Once children begin to use spoken words their gestures can be used in conjunction with these words to form phrases and eventually to express thoughts and complement vocalized ideas.
Añjali Mudrā is a hand gesture mainly associated with Indian religions and arts, encountered throughout Asia and beyond. It is a part of Indian classical dance postures such as Bharatanatyam, yoga practice, and forms part of the greeting Namaste. Among the performance arts, Anjali Mudra is a form of non-verbal, visual communication to the audience. It is one of 24 samyukta mudras of the Indian classical arts. There are several forms of the Anjali Mudra such as the brahmanjali.
Non-verbal leakage is a form of non-verbal behavior that occurs when a person verbalizes one thing, but their body language indicates another, common forms of which include facial movements and hand-to-face gestures. The term "non-verbal leakage" got its origin in literature in 1968, leading to many subsequent studies on the topic throughout the 1970s, with related studies continuing today.
An obscene gesture is a movement or position of the body, especially of the hands or arms, that is considered exceedingly offensive or vulgar in some particular cultures. Such gestures are often sexually suggestive.
Pointing is a gesture specifying a direction from a person's body, usually indicating a location, person, event, thing or idea. It typically is formed by extending the arm, hand, and index finger, although it may be functionally similar to other hand gestures. Types of pointing may be subdivided according to the intention of the person, as well as by the linguistic function it serves.
Jana Marie Iverson is a developmental psychologist known for her research on the development of gestures and motor skills in relation to communicative development. She has worked with various populations including children at high risk of autism spectrum disorder (ASD), blind individuals, and preterm infants. She is currently a professor of psychology at Boston University.
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