Gesture, or visible bodily action intimately involved in the activity of speaking, has long fascinated scholars and laymen alike. Written by a leading authority on the subject, this book draws on the analysis of everyday conversations to demonstrate the varied role of gestures in the construction of utterances. Publication of this definitive account of the topic marks a major development in semiotics as well as in the emerging field of gesture studies.

Adam Kendon, one of the world's leading authorities on gesture and communication conduct, is currently a guest of the Institute for Research in Cognitive Science, University of Pennsylvania.

1. The domain of gesture; 2. Visible action as gesture; 3. Western interest in gesture from classical antiquity to the eighteenth century; 4. Four contributions from the nineteenth century: Andrea de Jorio, Edward Tylor, Garrick Mallery and Wilhelm Wundt; 5. Gesture studies in the twentieth century: recession and return; 6. Classifying gestures; 7. Gesture units, gesture phrases and speech; 8. Deployments of gesture in the utterance; 9. Gesture and speech in semantic interaction; 10. Gesture and referential meaning; 11. On pointing; 12. Gestures of the 'precision-grip': topic, comment and question markers; 13. Two gesture families of the open hand; 14. Gesture without speech: the emergence of kinesic codes; 15. Gesture and sign on common ground; 16. Gesture, culture and the communication economy; 17. The status of gesture; Appendix I. Transcription conventions; Appendix II. The recordings.