Marcus Perlman

Perlman, Marcus 2017 Debunking two myths against vocal origins of language: Language is iconic and multimodal to the core Interaction and Iconicity in the Evolution of Language, Hartmann, Stefan, Michael Pleyer, James Winters and Jordan Zlatev (eds.), pp. 376–401 | Article

Gesture-first theories of language origins often raise two unsubstantiated arguments against vocal origins. First, they argue that great ape vocal behavior is highly constrained, limited to a fixed, species-typical repertoire of reflexive calls. Second, they argue that vocalizations lack any… read more

Winter, Bodo, Marcus Perlman, Lynn K. Perry and Gary Lupyan 2017 Which words are most iconic? Iconicity in English sensory words Interaction and Iconicity in the Evolution of Language, Hartmann, Stefan, Michael Pleyer, James Winters and Jordan Zlatev (eds.), pp. 443–464 | Article

Some spoken words are iconic, exhibiting a resemblance between form and meaning. We used native speaker ratings to assess the iconicity of 3001 English words, analyzing their iconicity in relation to part-of-speech differences and differences between the sensory domain they relate to (sight,… read more

Perlman, Marcus and Ashley A. Cain 2014 Iconicity in vocalization, comparisons with gesture, and implications for theories on the evolution of language Gesture 14:3, pp. 320–350 | Article

Scholars have often reasoned that vocalizations are extremely limited in their potential for iconic expression, especially in comparison to manual gestures (e.g., Armstrong & Wilcox, 2007; Tomasello, 2008). As evidence for an alternative view, we first review the growing body of research related to… read more

Winter, Bodo, Marcus Perlman and Teenie Matlock 2013 Using space to talk and gesture about numbers: Evidence from the TV News Archive Where do nouns come from?, Haviland, John B. (ed.), pp. 377–408 | Article

This paper examines naturally occurring gestures produced in descriptions of numbers and quantities in television newscasts. The results of our analysis show that gestures reveal the metaphorical and spatial nature of numerical thinking. That is, speakers’ hands mimic known spatial mappings… read more

Perlman, Marcus, Joanne E. Tanner and Barbara J. King 2012 A mother gorilla’s variable use of touch to guide her infant: Insights into iconicity and the relationship between gesture and action Developments in Primate Gesture Research, Pika, Simone and Katja Liebal (eds.), pp. 55–72 | Article

This chapter examines how gestures of the great apes are created from instrumental actions. Ape gestures are generally believed to form through phylogenetic or ontogenetic ritualization, or – at least in humans – “iconic” gestures are created spontaneously during online interaction. These… read more

Green, Kirsty R., Chloe Osei-Cobbina, Marcus Perlman and Sotaro Kita Infants can create iconic gestures during natural interactions with caregivers Gesture: Online-First Articles | Article

Adults across cultures produce iconic gestures, but little is known about the emergence of iconic gesturing in infants. This study aimed to identify plausible instances of infants’ earliest iconic gestures to learn more about their form and the interactional contexts in which they emerge. We… read more

Journal

Gesture (GEST)

Edited by Ruth Breckinridge Church