ABSTRACT
In this chapter, we examine pointing, here understood as gestures that are specialized for indicating an object (or a location) of some kind. Such gestures are commonly done with the hands, but they may also be done with the head, by certain movements of the eyes, by protruding the lips (cf. Sherzer, 1972), by a movement of the elbow, and in some circumstances even with the foot. In this chapter, however, we deal only with pointing as it is accomplished by the hands. We describe six different kinds of manual pointing, distinguished in terms of the shape of the hand and the rotation position of the forearm. From a consideration of the discourse contexts in which we have observed them in use, we conclude that the form of pointing adopted by a speaker is systematically related to the way the object being referred to is presented in the speaker’s discourse. For example, if a speaker points to an object because it is to be an example of something, or because it illustrates a concept, then the form of pointing adopted will be different from the form adopted when the speaker points to an object when it is to be identified as something distinct from other objects. It as if the form of pointing adopted provides information about how the speaker wishes the object being indicated to be regarded.
