ABSTRACT
This chapter examines cultural variation in pointing gestures and discusses what this reveals about cross-cultural differences in the semiotics of pointing. In particular, I use data from speakers of Arrernte, a central Australian (Pama-Nyungan) language, to challenge and clarify two widely held views: (a) that pointing with the index finger is a universal human behavior, and (b) that pointing with the index finger is not socially transmitted but is a basic (natural) form of reference. Although some Arrernte pointing forms, including an “index-finger point,” may look familiar to “Standard Average Europeans,” a close examination of the form and function of such pointing gestures reveals that they are, in fact, quite culture specific in the range and nature of allomorphic variants of the points, the range of possible interpretations given to the points, the body space they are deployed in, and typical contexts of use. In short, I utilize data from an Australian cultural group that appears to manifest index-finger pointing to argue that pointing with the index finger is not a universal in sociocultural and semiotic terms. Pivotal in this argument is the fact that the Arrernte have both a fixed metalanguage for talking about pointing, and they have their own native theory concerning how pointing is a structured semiotic that plays a critical role in interactive communication.
