International Society for Gesture Studies

[Nick Enfield]

This is to bring to attention of the sign language linguistics community
the establishment of the International Society for Gesture Studies
(ISGS). Gesture is intimately linked with speech and linguistic
structure, but linguists have only recently begun to see its relevance
to fundamental issues in linguistic theory and description. As one of
the editors of the new Benjamins journal "Gesture" writes, the ISGS is
founded as a response to the "growing recognition that the study of
'gesture' - visible bodily action that plays a role in explicit
communication - promises to throw much light on a range of issues that
are central for any understanding of language (broadly conceived), and
for an understanding of communication processes in human interaction."

See the journal 'Gesture', Volume 2 No. 1 for a brief history of the
ISGS, and for a membership application form. For further information,
contact President Juergen Streeck (jstreeck at mail.utexas.edu) or
Treasurer Gale Stam (GStam at nl.edu).

--
N. J. Enfield
Language and Cognition Group, Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics
PB 310, 6500 AH, Nijmegen, The Netherlands