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==Typology of Gesture (Categories)==
[[File:Unclesamwantyou.jpg|right|thumb|250px|Pointing at another person with an extended finger is considered rude in many cultures.]]
{{main article|List of gestures}}
Although the scientific study of gesture is still in its infancy, some broad categories of gestures have been identified by researchers.
Although the scientific study of gesture is still in its infancy, some broad categories of gestures have been identified by researchers. The most familiar are the so-called emblems or quotable gestures. These are conventional, culture-specific gestures that can be used as replacement for words, such as the handwave used in the US for "hello" and "goodbye". A single emblematic gesture can have a very different significance in different cultural contexts, ranging from complimentary to highly offensive.<ref>Morris, Desmond, Collett, Peter, Marsh, Peter, O'Shaughnessy, Marie. 1979. Gestures, their origins and distribution. London. Cape</ref> The page [[List of gestures]] discusses emblematic gestures made with one hand, two hands, hand and other body parts, and body and facial gestures.▼
=== Communicative vs. Informative ===
===Beat===▼
The first way to distinguish between categories of gesture is to differentiate between Communicative Gesture and Informative gesture. While most gestures can be defined as possibly happening during the course of spoken utterances, the informative-communicative dichotomy focuses on intentionality of meaning and communication in co-speech gesture.
==== Informative: ====
Another broad category of gestures comprises those gestures used spontaneously when we speak. These gestures are closely coordinated with speech. The so-called beat gestures are used in conjunction with speech and keep time with the rhythm of speech to emphasize certain words or phrases.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.mpi.nl/departments/neurobiology-of-language/news/the-role-of-beat-gesture-and-pitch-accent-in-semantic-processing|title=The role of beat gesture and pitch accent in semantic processing — Neurobiology of Language — Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics|publisher=}}</ref> These types of gestures are integrally connected to [[Speech communication|speech]] and thought processes.<ref name=McNeill/>▼
Informative gestures are passive gestures that provide information about the speaker as a being and not about what the speaker is trying to communicate. Examples of informative gestures could include such actions as scratching an itch, adjusting clothing, or accessories, or interacting with object such as taking a drink or twirling a pen. These gestures can occur during speech, but they may also occur independently of communication, as they are not a part of active communication. While informative gestures may communicate information about the person speaking (e.g. itchy, uncomfortable, etc.), this communication is not engaged with any language being produced by the person gesturing.
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Communicative gestures are gestures that are not informative. These are gestures that are produced intentionally and meaningfully by a person as a way of intensifying or modifying speech produced in the vocal tract (in with the hands in the case of Sign Language), even though a speaker may not be actively aware that they are producing communicative gestures. The previous examples of informative gestures can become communicative when a speaker consciously uses them to communicate something about themselves or someone else.
== Manual vs. Non-Manual Communicative Gestures ==
Within the realm of communicative gestures, the first distinction to be made is between gestures made with the hands and arms, and gestures made with other parts of the body. Examples of Non-manual gestures may include head [[Nod (gesture)|nodding]] and [[Head shake|shaking]], [[Shrug|shoulder shrugging]], and [[facial expression]], among others. Non-manual gestures are attested in languages all around the world, but have not been the primary focus of most research regarding co-speech gesture<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Abner et. al.|first=Natasha|year=2015|title=Gesture for Linguists: A Handy Primer|url=https://goldin-meadow-lab.uchicago.edu/sites/goldin-meadow-lab.uchicago.edu/files/uploads/PDFs/2015_Abner,%20Cooperrider,%20Goldin-Meadow%20-%20Gesture%20for%20Linguists%20A%20Handy%20Primer.pdf|journal=Language and Linguistics Compass|volume=9|pages=437-449|via=Wiley & Sons}}</ref>.
=== Manual Gestures: ===
Manual Gestures are most commonly broken down into four distinct categories: Symbolic (Emblematic), [[Deixis|Deictic]] (Indexical), Motor (Beat), and Lexical (Iconic)
It is important to note that manual gesture in the sense of communicative co-speech gesture does not include the gesture-signs of [[Sign language|Sign Language]]<nowiki/>s, even though sign language is communicative and primarily produced using the hands, because the gestures in [[Sign language|Sign Language]] are not used to intensify or modify the speech produced by the vocal tract, rather they communicate fully productive language through a method alternative to the [[Vocal tract|vocal tract.]]
==== Symbolic (Emblematic) ====
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Symbolic gestures can occur either concurrently or independently of vocal speech. Symbolic gestures are iconic gestures that are widely recognized, fixed, and have conventionalized meanings.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal|last=Krauss et. al.|first=Robert M.|year=2001|title=Lexical Gestures and Lexical Access: A Process Model|url=|journal=Book: Language and Gesture by D. McNeill (Ed.) New York: Cambridge University Press|volume=|pages=261-283|via=}}</ref>
==== Deictic (Indexical) ====
Deictic gestures can occur simultaneously with vocal speech or in place of it. Deictic gestures are gestures that consist of indicative or pointing motions. These gestures often work in the same way as demonstrative words and pronouns like "this" or "that" <ref name=":0" />.
▲====Motor (Beat)====
Motor or Beat gestures usually consist of short, repetitive, rhythmic movements that are closely tied with [[Prosody (linguistics)|prosody]] in verbal speech. Unlike Symbolic and Deictic gestures, beat gestures cannot occur independently of verbal speech.
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====Lexical (Iconic)====
Other spontaneous gestures used during speech production known as iconic gestures are more full of content, and may echo, or elaborate, the meaning of the co-occurring speech. They depict aspects of spatial images, actions, people, or objects.<ref name="mayberry">{{cite journal|last=Mayberry|first=Rachel I.|title=Gesture Reflects Language Development: Evidence from Bilingual Children|journal=Current Directions in Psychological Science|date=December 2000|volume=9|issue=6|pages=192–196|jstor=20182668|doi=10.1111/1467-8721.00092}}</ref> For example, a gesture that depicts the act of throwing may be synchronous with the utterance, "He threw the ball right into the window."<ref name=McNeill>McNeill (1992). Hand and Mind. Chicago: University of Chicago Press</ref> Such gestures that are used along with speech tend to be universal.<ref>{{Cite book|title = Gesture: Visible Action as Utterance|last = Kendon|first = Adam|publisher = Cambridge University Press|year = 2004|isbn = 0-521-83525-9|location = UK|pages = }}</ref> For example, one describing that he/she is feeling cold due to a lack of proper clothing and/or a cold weather can accompany his/her verbal description with a visual one. This can be achieved through various gestures such as by demonstrating a shiver and/or by rubbing the hands together. In such cases, the language or verbal description of the person does not necessarily need to be understood as someone could at least take a hint at what's being communicated through the observation and interpretation of body language which serves as a gesture equivalent in meaning to what's being said through communicative speech.
The elaboration of lexical gestures falls on a spectrum of iconic-metaphorical in how closely tied they are to the lexico-semantic content of the verbal speech they coordinate with. More iconic gesture very obviously mirrors the words being spoken (such as drawing a jagged horizontal line in the air to describe mountains) whereas more metaphorical gestures clearly contain some spatial relation to the semantic content of the co-occuring verbal speech, but the relationship between the gesture and the speech might be more ambiguous.
Lexical gestures, like Motor gestures, cannot occur independently of verbal speech. The purpose of lexical gestures is still widely contested in the literature with some linguists arguing that lexical gestures serve to amplify or modulate the semantic content of lexical speech<ref name="Kendon" />, or that it serves a cognitive purpose in aiding in lexical access and retrieval <ref name=":0" /> or verbal working memory<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Gillespie et. al.|first=Maureen|year=2014|title=Verbal Working Memory Predicts Co-Speech Gesture: Evidence from Individual Differences|url=|journal=Cognition|volume=132|pages=174-180|via=}}</ref>. Most recent research suggests that lexical gestures serve a primarily socio-pragmatic role.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Holler et. al.|first=Judith|year=2012|title=It's On the Tip of My Fingers: Co-speech Gestures During Lexical Retrieval in Different Social Contexts|url=|journal=Language and Cognitive Processes|volume=|pages=|via=}}</ref>
==Language development==
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