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Article published In:
Anthropology of Gesture
Edited by Heather Brookes and Olivier Le Guen
[Gesture 18:2/3] 2019
► pp. 370–395

Embodying kin-based respect in speech, sign, and gesture

| The University of Melbourne

In Australian Indigenous societies the means for demonstrating kinship-based respect are rich and varied, and mastery of their ideological and contextual dimensions is highly valued and an indication of communicative expertise. Special speech registers, sometimes referred to as ‘mother-in-law’, ‘brother-in-law’, or ‘avoidance’ languages, are one aspect of this complexity. Another dimension of respect is afforded by Australian Indigenous sign languages, used in contexts where speech itself is disallowed as well as in everyday interactions where signing is practical and useful. What is lacking from the majority of accounts of these special semiotic repertoires is an investigation of the ways that speech and communicative actions, such as sign or gesture, may work together in such contexts. Also neglected is the possibility that the articulation of signs and gestures may be modified to indicate a respectful stance towards avoided kin. Drawing on both archival sources and recent fieldwork, this paper delineates some of the articulatory dimensions of signs and gestures used in this domain.

Keywords: respect registers, alternate sign languages, gesture, Australian Indigenous languages, kinship, semantics, multimodality
Article outline
  • Introduction
  • Respect in speech
  • Alternate sign
  • Enacting respect in Anmatyerr sign
  • Actions for respect in Land
  • Other indicators of respect
  • A comparative perspective on register in sign languages and gesture
  • Concluding remarks
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 17 February 2021
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/gest.20015.gre
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