17. Bilingualism and Gesture
- Tej K. Bhatia,
- William C. Ritchie
Published Online: 3 OCT 2012
DOI: 10.1002/9781118332382.ch17
Copyright © 2013 Blackwell Publishing, Ltd
Book Title
The Handbook of Bilingualism and Multilingualism, Second Edition
Additional Information
How to Cite
Gullberg, M. (2012) Bilingualism and Gesture, in The Handbook of Bilingualism and Multilingualism, Second Edition (eds T. K. Bhatia and W. C. Ritchie), John Wiley & Sons, Ltd, Chichester, UK. doi: 10.1002/9781118332382.ch17
Editor Information
Syracuse University, USA
Publication History
- Published Online: 3 OCT 2012
- Published Print: 7 NOV 2012
Book Series:
ISBN Information
Print ISBN: 9781444334906
Online ISBN: 9781118332382
- Summary
- Chapter
- References
Keywords:
- bi-modal bilingualism;
- bilingual adults;
- bilingual children;
- bilingualism;
- gesture use;
- language production;
- spoken language
Summary
This chapter outlines some areas where the study of gesture and bilingualism meet. Body movements performed during expressions are part of the linguistic and communicative behavior. Therefore, a number of theoretical issues that apply to the study of bilingualism in the spoken domain also apply to the multimodal behaviors of bilinguals. This chapter discusses gesture use in child and adult speakers with knowledge of more than one language, mainly focusing on issues of frequency and meaning. Just as for bilingual children, gestures also play a key role for bilingual adults. In contemporary gesture research, speech and gestures are increasingly seen as an integrated whole which is planned and processed together in comprehension, production, and development. The chapter finally talks about the role of gestures in bilingual language production, briefly touching on issues of comprehension.