David McNeill

Gestures are fundamental to the way we communicate, yet our understanding of this communicative impulse is clouded by a number of ingrained assumptions. Are gestures merely ornamentation to speech? Are they simply an 'add-on' to spoken language? Why do we gesture? These and other questions are addressed in this fascinating book. McNeill explains that the common view of language and gesture as separate entities is misinformed: language is inseparable from gesture. There is gesture-speech unity. Containing over 100 illustrations, Why We Gesture provides visual evidence to support the book's central argument that gestures orchestrate speech. This compelling book will be welcomed by students and researchers working in linguistics, psychology and communication.

The Surprising Role of Hand Movements in Communication

Why We Gesture

Human language is not the same as human speech. We use gestures and signs to communicate alongside, or instead of, speaking. Yet gestures and speech are processed in the same areas of the human brain, and the study of how both have evolved is central to research on the origins of human communication. Written by one of the pioneers of the field, this is the first book to explain how speech and gesture evolved together into a system that all humans possess. Nearly all theorizing about the origins of language either ignores gesture, views it as an add-on or supposes that language began in gesture and was later replaced by speech. David McNeill challenges the popular 'gesture-first' theory that language first emerged in a gesture-only form and proposes a groundbreaking theory of the evolution of language which explains how speech and gesture became unified.

Gesture and Speech in Human Evolution

How Language Began

Bringing together twenty-five years of research, Why We Gesture offers a radical new perspective on gesture-speech unity.

The Study of Developmental Psycholinguistics

The Acquisition of Language

Dreaming about living and working in Japan but not sure how to make it a reality? Just got a job in Japan and want to get prepared for the next step in your career? Passport to Working in Japan will give you the insights, knowledge, and resources you need to succeed in the Land of the Rising Sun! Based on the author's personal journey from the United States to Tokyo as well as insights from dozens of current Japan-based expats, you can learn how to succeed in Japan from people who have actually done it. From finding a job to becoming comfortable with the Japanese language and work culture, Passport to Working in Japan covers all the topics you need to know in order to begin the next exciting chapter of your career. Whether you are a student, recent graduate, experienced professional, or senior executive - if you want to live and work in Japan, this is the book for you! Topics Covered in this BookGetting a Job in JapanRegardless of where you are in your career, this book will provide you with the necessary advice, tips, and resources for you to find your ideal full-time job, part-time job, teaching position, or internship in Japan! Understanding Japanese Business CultureJapanese business practices are likely to be quite different from what you are used to in your home country. Discover how to excel within the Japanese office environment so that you will be best prepared to succeed in your new position! Learning JapaneseJapanese is one of the most difficult languages for English speakers to learn. Find out about the best tools, textbooks, study methods, practice partners, immersion programs, and proficiency tests to quickly improve your fluency in Japanese! Living in TokyoAs a foreigner, you will have the highest chance of finding work in Tokyo, so it is important for you to get acquainted with your new home. Discover the best areas to live in town, how to make local and expat friends, and what you need to do when you move to and leave Japan! ... And Much MoreAdditional topics covered include: Applying for Japanese Visas Starting a Company in Japan Finding Apartments Speaking Business Japanese Attending the Boston Career Forum Working with Recruiters in Japan Teaching English in the JET Programme Negotiating Work Contracts Learn More at Expat EmpireRead more about Passport to Working in Japan, download the first chapter of the book for free, and listen to podcasts, read blogs, and more from real expats around the world at expatempire.com!

Passport to Working in Japan

Cornelia Müller

Alan Cienki

Ellen Fricke

Silva Ladewig

Sedinha Tessendorf

Volume I of the handbook presents contemporary, multidisciplinary, historical, theoretical, and methodological aspects of how body movements relate to language. It documents how leading scholars from differenct disciplinary backgrounds conceptualize and analyze this complex relationship. Five chapters and a total of 72 articles, present current and past approaches, including multidisciplinary methods of analysis. The chapters cover: I. How the body relates to language and communication: Outlining the subject matter, II. Perspectives from different disciplines, III. Historical dimensions, IV. Contemporary approaches, V. Methods. Authors include: Michael Arbib, Janet Bavelas, Marino Bonaiuto, Paul Bouissac, Judee Burgoon, Martha Davis, Susan Duncan, Konrad Ehlich, Nick Enfield, Pierre Feyereisen, Raymond W. Gibbs, Susan Goldin-Meadow, Uri Hadar, Adam Kendon, Antja Kennedy, David McNeill, Lorenza Mondada, Fernando Poyatos, Klaus Scherer, Margret Selting, Jürgen Streeck, Sherman Wilcox, Jeffrey Wollock, Jordan Zlatev.

Body - Language - Communication

Lucy Birmingham

Blending history, science, and gripping storytelling, Strong in the Rain brings the 9.0 magnitude earthquake that struck Japan in 2011 and its immediate aftermath to life through the eyes of the men and women who experienced it. Following the narratives of six individuals, the book traces the shape of a disaster and the heroics it prompted, including that of David Chumreonlert, a Texan with Thai roots, trapped in his school's gymnasium with hundreds of students and teachers as it begins to flood, and Taro Watanabe, who thought nothing of returning to the Fukushima plant to fight the nuclear disaster, despite the effects that he knew would stay with him for the rest of his life. This is a beautifully written and moving account of how the Japanese experienced one of the worst earthquakes in history and endured its horrific consequences.

Surviving Japan's Earthquake, Tsunami, and Fukushima Nuclear Disaster

Strong in the Rain

Landmark study on the role of gestures in relation to speech and thought.

Language and Gesture

Gesturing is such an integral yet unconscious part of communication that we are mostly oblivious to it. But if you observe anyone in conversation, you are likely to see his or her fingers, hands, and arms in some form of spontaneous motion. Why? David McNeill, a pioneer in the ongoing study of the relationship between gesture and language, set about answering this question over twenty-five years ago. In Gesture and Thought he brings together years of this research, arguing that gesturing, an act which has been popularly understood as an accessory to speech, is actually a dialectical component of language. Gesture and Thought expands on McNeill’s acclaimed classic Hand and Mind. While that earlier work demonstrated what gestures reveal about thought, here gestures are shown to be active participants in both speaking and thinking. Expanding on an approach introduced by Lev Vygotsky in the 1930s, McNeill posits that gestures are key ingredients in an “imagery-language dialectic” that fuels both speech and thought. Gestures are both the “imagery” and components of “language.” The smallest element of this dialectic is the “growth point,” a snapshot of an utterance at its beginning psychological stage. Utilizing several innovative experiments he created and administered with subjects spanning several different age, gender, and language groups, McNeill shows how growth points organize themselves into utterances and extend to discourse at the moment of speaking. An ambitious project in the ongoing study of the relationship of human communication and thought, Gesture and Thought is a work of such consequence that it will influence all subsequent theory on the subject.

David McNeill

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