TOGOG

P2 Bodily contact and pragmatic function: Action, ritualization, and abstraction in human and non-human primates... P4 Structures of meaning and reference: Referential gestures: how the concrete becomes abstract... We do not only talk with our mouths, but also with our hands. Gestures are an integral part of speech and language. The main focus of the interdisciplinary research project "Towards a grammar of gesture: evolution, brain, and linguistic structures" is the development of fundamentals for a multimodal grammar and its neurological and evolutionary foundation within specific sub-areas. One focus lies on the forms, structures, and functions of co-speech gestures alone, and another on the possible integration of co-speech gestures into theories of (vocal) grammar. The participating disciplines are linguistics and semiotics (Prof. Dr. Cornelia Müller, Dr. Ellen Fricke), neurology (Prof. Dr. Hedda Lausberg), and primatology (Dr. Katja Liebal). The Volkswagen Foundation is funding..

Primary location: Frankfurt Germany