The Complicated Origins of Hand Gestures

Some people may argue against the idea that hand gestures are used to communicate over a language barrier, on the basis that hand gestures are culture specific. as a result of this, people from two different cultures may have no idea what another gesture means. It is indeed true that many gestures are culture specific for example many of the hand gestures listed by William S. King required explanations as to what they means.

The “bull sign” is the same gesture as the mano cornuta. (See Andrea de Jorio, La mimica degli antichi investigata nel gestire napoletano [Naples, 1832].) The local gesture, made by closing the second and third fingers of the hand, leaving the index and little fingers extended, is used by the gesturer to indicate that his credulity is being tried. This symbol is supposed to represent the horns of a bull, and the gesture is often accompanied by the expression “Bull–.”

A fairly common symbol on this campus is made by pointing the forefingers of both hands and placing them along the temples, pointing upward. If the person to whom the gesture is directed is unaware of its meaning, he will invariably ask. The gesturer then relates the following story. “There was once a queen ant who sent out some workers to gather food for the winter. Two very diligent ants found a ball of horse manure and laboriously pushed it toward the nest. The queen ant saw them appear with their burden over the rise directly above the nest, and, fearing the load might get away from them and roll into the entrance-hole, excitedly waved her antennae. The signal she gave means in ant language ‘stop that —.’ ” The fingers along side of the head represent the queen ant’s antennae. This gesture, like the “bull sign,” is directed toward people suspected of stretching the truth.

Maurice H. Krout’s paper Understanding Human Gestures also provides examples of culture specific gestures

Gestural expression was common among North American Indians. They had thousands of signs to convey meaning without sound, but other peoples have also used gestures for this purpose. The natives of Timbuctoo place two fingers astride a finger of the other hand to indicate riding. Similarly, when they press a heavy head against an open hand, they mean “Go to sleep.” Closing the fist with the thumb between the index and middle fingers indicates derision among certain Europeans. Turning the back and lifting the skirt is a sign of disrespect among the French and others. Throwing the head back and making a chucking noise with the tongue signifies negation among Turks. Massaging the abdomen to show satisfaction was common among Indians, and is still imitated by our youngsters. The Ainus of Japan lightly tap the nose or the mouth to express surprise

Krout goes on to explain his view of how these more culture specific gestures came to be.

J.F. Dashiell has traced these conventional gestures to meaningful acts which were gradually reduced to a few simple movements for convenience in communication. Thus crossing fingers is probably the easiest way to symbolize a cross, and for that reason has been used to challenge the authority of the dark and evil powers. Shaking a finger at some one, likewise, originated from the act of shaking up offenders who had placed others in an angry mood. Clenching the fist is probably an abbreviation of the act of striking. Beckoning to some one is a remnant of the act of pulling people by force. Waving the hand sideways can be traced to the act of pushing others bodily aside. All these gestures are thus conveniences which are understood only because they had been fully expressed at one time.

It is true that cultures often have specific gestures which only they understand, but mountains of evidence gathered throughout time demonstrate that gestures can be used for a universal understanding.

The use of hand gestures in cross cultural interactions is well attested to throughout history.  Gordon W Hewes’s paper, Gesture Language in Culture Contact provides a good compilation of such examples.  Hewes reaches back to antiquity for his examples, such as this one from Xenophon’s The March Up Country about using hand gestures to communicate with locals:

When they reached Cheirosophos, they found them in their quarters, garlanded with hay and served by Armenian boys in their native costume; they made signs to the boys as if they were deaf and dumb to show what they wanted.

Hewes also provides various examples of European sailors coming into contact with indigenous peoples. Such examples are important as the demonstrate the usefulness of hand gestures even without an interpreter. For example, this quote from Don Ferdinand Columbus about his father Christopher’s encounter with “natives”: 

Some of them [the Indians] had scars or wounds on different parts, and being asked by signs how these had been got, they answered by signs that people from other islands came to take them away, and that they had been wounded in their own defence.

When they had completed those forty leagues they came to a small settlement of natives, but they had no interpreter to ask them what they wanted to know. When the natives saw the Spaniards with horses, they were terrified, got into their canoes, and from thence made signs and brought some of their food for the Spaniards. … By signs the natives said that there were no roads and no provisions further on.

All of the above points demonstrate that, while hand gestures may in some cases be specific to one culture, they can still be utilized to communicate across a language barrier.

References

Hewes, G. W. (1974, April 4). GESTURE LANGUAGE IN CULTURE CONTACT. Gallaudet University Press. https://www-jstor-org.ezproxy.rowan.edu/stable/pdf/26203092.pdf?refreqid=fastly-default%3A96a64e3c92470323313aebe843658f0e&ab_segments=0%2Fbasic_search_gsv2%2Fcontrol&origin=&initiator=search-results&acceptTC=1

King, W. S. (1949). Hand gestures. Western Folklore, 8(3), 263–264. https://doi.org/10.2307/1497931

Krout, M. H. (1939). Understanding Human Gestures. The Scientific Monthly, 49(2), 167–172. http://www.jstor.org/stable/17039

Pocock, N. S., Chan, Z., Loganathan, T., Suphanchaimat, R., Kosiyaporn, H., Allotey, P., Chan, W.-K., & Tan, D. (2020, April 6). Moving towards culturally competent health systems for migrants? applying systems thinking in a qualitative study in Malaysia and Thailand. PLOS ONE. https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0231154