Gestures are modulated by social context : a study of multimodal politeness across two cultures

Brown, Lucien; Kim, Hyunji; Hübscher, Iris; Winter, Bodo

doi:10.1075/gest.20034.bro

Publication type:	Article in scientific journal
Type of review:	Peer review (publication)
Title:	Gestures are modulated by social context : a study of multimodal politeness across two cultures
Authors:	Brown, Lucien Kim, Hyunji Hübscher, Iris Winter, Bodo
et. al:	No
DOI:	10.1075/gest.20034.bro
Published in:	Gesture
Volume(Issue):	21
Issue:	2-3
Page(s):	167
Pages to:	200
Issue Date:	2023
Publisher / Ed. Institution:	John Benjamins
ISSN:	1568-1475 1569-9773
Language:	English
Subjects:	Iconicity; Perspective; Pragmatics; Social deixis; Audience design; Social distance
Subject (DDC):	302.2: Communication
Abstract:	This paper investigates gesture as a resource for marking politeness-related meanings. We asked 14 Korean and 14 Catalan participants to retell a cartoon, once to an unknown superior and once to a close friend. Participants in both languages curtail gestures when interacting with a socially distant superior. Speakers of both languages produced fewer gestures when addressing the superior, reduced their gesture space, decreased the encoding of manner, and reduced the use of characterviewpoint gestures. We see the decrease in gesture frequency and the less frequent encoding of manner as indicators of lower levels of iconicity when talking with status superiors. Curtailing gesture marks a less playful communicative context, and a more serious and deferential persona. Altogether, our research speaks to the importance of politeness in gesture production, and the social nature of gestures in human communication.
URI:	https://digitalcollection.zhaw.ch/handle/11475/27047
Fulltext version:	Published version
License (according to publishing contract):	Licence according to publishing contract
Departement:	Applied Linguistics
Organisational Unit:	Institute of Language Competence (ILC)
Appears in collections:	Publikationen Angewandte Linguistik

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Brown, L., Kim, H., Hübscher, I., & Winter, B. (2023). Gestures are modulated by social context : a study of multimodal politeness across two cultures. Gesture, 21(2-3), 167–200. https://doi.org/10.1075/gest.20034.bro

Brown, L. et al. (2023) ‘Gestures are modulated by social context : a study of multimodal politeness across two cultures’, Gesture, 21(2-3), pp. 167–200. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1075/gest.20034.bro.

L. Brown, H. Kim, I. Hübscher, and B. Winter, “Gestures are modulated by social context : a study of multimodal politeness across two cultures,” Gesture, vol. 21, no. 2-3, pp. 167–200, 2023, doi: 10.1075/gest.20034.bro.

BROWN, Lucien, Hyunji KIM, Iris HÜBSCHER und Bodo WINTER, 2023. Gestures are modulated by social context : a study of multimodal politeness across two cultures. Gesture. 2023. Bd. 21, Nr. 2-3, S. 167–200. DOI 10.1075/gest.20034.bro

Brown, Lucien, Hyunji Kim, Iris Hübscher, and Bodo Winter. 2023. “Gestures Are Modulated by Social Context : A Study of Multimodal Politeness across Two Cultures.” Gesture 21 (2-3): 167–200. https://doi.org/10.1075/gest.20034.bro.

Brown, Lucien, et al. “Gestures Are Modulated by Social Context : A Study of Multimodal Politeness across Two Cultures.” Gesture, vol. 21, no. 2-3, 2023, pp. 167–200, https://doi.org/10.1075/gest.20034.bro.