The study of gesture-the movements people make with their hands when talking-has grown into a well-established field and research is still being pushed into exciting new directions. Bringing together a team of leading scholars, this Handbook provides a comprehensive overview of gesture studies, combining historical overviews as well as current, concise snapshots of state-of-the-art, multidisciplinary research. Organised into five thematic parts, it considers the roles of both psychological and interactional processes in gesture use, and considers the status of gesture in relation to language. Attention is given to different theoretical and methodological frameworks for studying gesture, including semiotic, linguistic, cognitive, developmental, and phenomenological theories and observational, experimental, corpus linguistic, ethnographic, and computational methods. It also contains practical guidelines for gesture analysis along with surveys of empirical research. Wide ranging yet accessible, it is essential reading for academic researchers and students in linguistics and cognitive sciences.

‘Not long ago, gestures of the hand were considered of little interest, an ornament to humanity’s seemingly greater achievement, speech. This wide-ranging handbook demonstrates how profoundly this has changed. Gestures are studied in multiple disciplines, with a multitude of methods, and offer ever new insights into the nature, variety, and evolution of symbolic interaction, cooperation, and embodied cognition.’

Jürgen Streeck - The University of Texas at Austin