ABSTRACT
InHandAndMind:WhatGesturesRevealAboutThought,McNeill(1992) categorizesfivetypesofgesticulation:iconic,metaphoric,deictic,cohesive, andbeats.Iconicgesturesarepictorialand"bearacloseformalrelationship tothesemanticcontentofspeech."17AccordingtoMcNeill,iconicgestures revealnotonlythespeakers'memoryimages,butalsotheirpointsofviewas charactersorobserversintheirnarrative.Metaphoricgesturesarealsopictorial,butthepictorialcontentreferstoanabstractidearatherthanaconcrete objectorevent.Deicticgesturesarepointinggestures.Cohesivegesturesconnectideasandnarrativeevents.Finally,beatsarenotpictorialgestures,but rathershort,quickmotionsofthehandthatmoveinarhythmicbeatwith thespeech.Beatshavethesameformregardlessofthecontent.Theyareused toemphasizewords,notforsemanticreasons,butfordiscourse-relatedreasons.Beatsmarkspeechthatdepartsfromthenarratedchainofevents,and provideastructurewithintheplotasthestoryistold.
