Why Gestures Are Important (even in a pandemic)
Why Gestures Are Important (even in a pandemic)
Without even thinking about it, most of us make gestures all the time. We point at things, we draw imaginary lines, we wave our hands… but what really is a gesture? Can we just communicate through technology and live without them?
The technical definition of a gesture is a movement of some part of the body that conveys a specific meaning. Its poetic definition is the bodily expression of a message that doesn’t necessarily need words to be expressed. Gestures are different from the signs of a sign language, since they are used support what is being said vocally. They can convey anything from affection to insult, and they silently accompany most of our interactions.
There are many types of gestures. Waving your hand instead of saying hello, for instance, is called a “symbolic” gesture; one that can convey a meaning on its own, without uttering any words. When you are buying something at the market and you point at some vegetables, instead, you are making a “deictic” gesture; you are indicating something in the space around you. There are also “motor” gestures – the ones you do when, for instance, you get caught in a discussion and you start waving your hands in circle in order to underline your point. Finally, “iconic” gestures are also very common – that is, when you imitate the very thing you are talking about.
Gestures have fascinated linguists and neurologists for their peculiarity; they are associated with speech but they are not speech, they can involve hands, arms, facial muscles and different parts of the body, they add information to what is said in a way that might feel universal, yet that is culturally very specific.
Gestures, Interrupted
In a time when communication is happening more and more digitally, however, we risk losing an important part of meaning, that is linked to gestures. Attempts have been made to transcribe gestures into keyboards and messaging apps; this allows people to type in the gestures that they would have made, if the conversation wasn’t happening online. Add a further step, and you even get animated gifs, where somebody else can personify your bodily reaction to something.
However, that is hardly a substitute for direct face-to-face communication. A gesture is usually spontaneous and simultaneous to speech in a way that is complex, sometimes unexpected, and relational. The final message, in face-to-face conversations, is conveyed by the combination of gestures, voice and intonation, words, facial expressions, etc. The question we all need to ask about technological communication in COVID-19 times is: what are we missing about human contact?
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