Silvi Tenjes
University of Tartu
Abstract. In the first part of the article, I focus my attention on nonverbal means in society and the new perspective of investigating communication through symbolic units. The theoretical part deals with problems related to the paradigm of imagistic language, which is connected with the research of gestures. In the second part, I concentrate on two types of gestures and their use in face-to-face interaction. Gestures of the first type appear during pauses or in word searches in the conversation, etc. Gestures of the second type are pointing gestures that accompany speech in the context of spatial relations. Both types of gestures are referred to as iconic gestures. The gestures share the quality of appearing before the concept in the sentence to which they relate in meaning. I also provide some examples and discussion about the onset of iconic gestures and their lexical affiliate.
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