Scientific projects
Together with Vinicius Macuch Silva, we analyze whether and which recurrent gestures co-occur with the modal particle eigentlich as part of the DFG Collaborative Research Program 2392 “Visual Communication. Theoretical, Empirical, and Applied Perspectives” (ViCom).
A key open question in this context is whether recurrent gestures systematically co-occur with verbal elements that express similar meanings, such as discourse particles. This question is at the core of our collaborative project. Based on interactional data from spoken German, we investigate the multimodal distribution of a verbal expression that is expected to co-occur with recurrent gestures marking pragmatic contrast.
The collaboration between the ViCom projects "StabiGest" and "MultIS" analyzes the use and meaning of recurring gestures in longer sequences. The study focuses on the prosodic analysis of Slicing gestures and their role in emphasizing and structuring discourse.
Working on the project: Frank Kügler (Goethe-Universität Frankfurt), Pilar Prieto Vives (Universität Pompeu Fabra), Alina Gregori (Goethe University Frankfurt), Paula Ginesa Sánchez Ramón (Goethe University Frankfurt).
Pilot corpus study on head movements in spoken and signed languages, together with Anastasia Bauer (University of Cologne) within the DFG Collaborative Research Program 2392 "Visual Communication" (ViCom).
Are recurrent non-manual movement also shared amongst spoken and signed language communities? This is where this collaborative project ties in. By focusing on interactional data from spoken and signed language corpora we will conduct a collaborative study of one non-manual recurrent movement and compare it cross-modally in German spoken langauge and DGS. We will concentrate on head nods, the most commonly produced bodily signals in interaction.
Project output:
Bauer, A. & S.H. Ladewig (in prep.). Recurrent head gestures in signed and spoken language, to be submitted to Open Linguistics, Special Issue "Gestural elements in signed and spoken languages", ed. by Elisabeth Engberg-Pedersen & Sandra Debreslioska.
Collaboration with Chiara Zulberti, Katja Liebal und Federica Amici (Compositional Structures in Chimpanzee Gestural Communication, University of Leipzig), within the DFG Collaborative Research Program 2392 "Visual Communication" (ViCom) and Jana Bressem (TU Chemnitz).
In this project, we aim to address these limitations by implementing a novel bottom-up form-based approach to reliably identify different gesture types in chimpanzee communication. This method will allow us to systematically assign gesture units to different categories based on their formal features, reducing the subjective bias of top-down classifications. Specifically, the hereby proposed collaboration has two main objectives:
- to develop a coding scheme that describes salient aspects and criteria of gestural forms in chimpanzees
- to apply this form-based coding scheme to the identification of chimpanzee gesture types
This approach will foster a comparative understanding of gestural communication, by developing and testing a form-based tool for the categorizations of gesture types in species other than humans.
Project output
Conference presentation: 5.-7. June 2024, EFP 2024, Lausanne, Schweiz. ChimpLASG: a form-based approach to the classification of chimpanzee gestures.
PI of the project "Stabilization processes in gestures. A media-specific and cross-modality approach" at Sign Lab Göttingen, as part of the DFG Collaborative Research Program 2329 "„Visuelle Kommunikation. Theoretische, empirische und angewandte Perspektiven (ViCom)“.
Recurrent gestures, which are often used with speech, show functional similarities to elements of spoken and signed languages and form culturally shared repertoires of meaning, but research has so far mainly focused on spontaneous gestures. The research project investigates stabilization processes of these gestures and compares them with lexicalization and grammaticalization processes in sign languages in order to describe stable gesture families and the dynamics of gesture sequences. It aims to formulate a medium-specific and cross-modality approach that identifies common and language-specific features of gestures and signs.
Project output:
Ladewig, Silva H. (2025). Embodied sharpness: exploring the slicing gesture in political talk shows, In: Frontiers in Psychology 15. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1494192
Ladewig, S. H. (2024). Recurrent Gestures: Cultural, Individual, and Linguistic Dimensions of Meaning Making. In A. Cienki (Ed.), The Cambridge Handbook of Gesture Studies. Cambridge University Press, 32-55.
Co-coordinator in the projced Multimodal Stancetaking: Expressive Movement and Affective Stance. Political Debates in the German Bundestag and the Polish Sejm (funded by Beethoven program of the DFG/NCN).
Comparative linguistic study of cyclic gesture (English, Farsi and German) together with Laura Hirrel (University of New Mexico, USA), funded by the Viadrina International Program for Graduates
This project investigated the relationship between cyclic gestures and aspectual expression in English, German and Persian (Farsi) to explore which aspectual constructions commonly accompany cyclic gestures and whether there are cross-linguistic similarities as well as language-specific patterns. The study found that cyclic gestures are commonly used with continuous, habitual and iterative aspects in all three languages, but there is no end-to-end stability of form, although language-specific features may influence formal variability. These results support the assumption that cyclic gestures are based on experienced cyclic movements and point to an interaction of language and gesture at the grammatical level that may lead to the formation of language-specific multimodal constructions.
Project output:
3.-7. Juli 2018, ISGS 8, Kapstadt, Südafrika, The embodied nature of aspect – a cross-linguistic comparison of the cyclic gesture in English, Farsi, and German
Chapter “Grammaticaliztion in gestures” in Ladewig, Silva H. (2020). Integrating Gestures. The Dimension of Multimodality in Cognitive Grammar. Berlin/Amsterdam: De Gruyter Mouton
Post-doc and co-head of the sub-project "Meaning Emergence in Language and Gesture", which is part of the BMBF joint project Body Language of Movement and Dance: Meaning Emergence, Linguization and Therapeutic Use.
The sub-project "Meaning Emergence in Language and Gesture" investigates how physical experiences of movement are transformed into linguistic and gestural forms of expression and how these forms of expression in turn are influenced. By analyzing dance trainings and workshops using ethnographic video recordings and linguistic gesture analysis, the reconstruction of body memory and the embodiment of experiences in language and gesture are examined. This approach promotes an interdisciplinary understanding of the translation processes between movement and language and touches on important topics such as linguistic theory, embodiment research and the philosophy of body memory.
Project output:
Kolter, A., Ladewig, S. H., Summa, M., Koch, S., Fuchs, T., & Müller, C. (2012). Body memory and emergence of metaphor in movement and speech. An interdisciplinary case study. In S. Koch, T. Fuchs, M. Summa, & C. Müller (Eds.), Body Memory, Metaphor, and Movement (pp. 201-226). John Benjamins.
Müller, C., & Ladewig, S. H. (2013). Metaphors for sensorimotor experiences. Gestures as embodied and dynamic conceptualizations of balance in dance lessons. In B. Dancygier, J. Hinnell, & M. Borkrent (Eds.), Language and the creative mind (pp. 295-324). CSLI.
Project:Towards a grammar of gesture: evolution, brain, and linguistic structures, funded by the VolkswagenStiftung.
The project aims to develop a grammar of gesture based on neuropsychology and evolutionary theory that provides insights for the humanities and natural sciences. It combines linguistics, semiotics, neurology and primatology to investigate language multimodality, the neuropsychological basis of gestures and language evolution. The aim is to use linguistic and semiotic analyses to create a coherent account of the structures of gestures that will serve as a basis for further research and highlight the multimodal nature of language and its consequences for linguistics.
Development of a linguistic approach to gesture analysis
Müller, C., Ladewig, S. H., & Bressem, J. (2013). Gesture and speech from a linguistic point of view. In C. Müller, A. Cienki, E. Fricke, S. H. Ladewig, D. McNeill, & S. Teßendorf (Eds.), Body – Language – Communication. An International Handbook on Multimodality in Human Interaction. (Handbooks of Linguistics and Communication Science 38.1.) (pp. 55-81). De Gruyter Mouton.
Müller, C., Bressem, J., & Ladewig, S. H. (2013). Towards a grammar of gesture: A form-based view. In C. Müller, A. Cienki, E. Fricke, S. H. Ladewig, D. McNeill, & S. Tessendorf (Eds.), Body – Language – Communication. An International Handbook on Multimodality in Interaction (pp. 707–733). De Gruyter Mouton.
Development of linguistic methods of gesture analysis
Bressem, J., Ladewig, S. H., & Müller, C. (2013). A linguistic annotation system for gestures (LASG). In C. Müller, A. Cienki, E. Fricke, S. H. Ladewig, D. McNeill, & S. Teßendorf (Eds.), Body – Language – Communication: An International Handbook on Multimodality in Human Interaction (pp. 1098-1125). De Gruyter Mouton.
Ladewig, S. H., & Bressem, J. (2013). Linguistic perspective on the notation of gesture phases. In C. Müller, A. Cienki, E. Fricke, S. H. Ladewig, D. McNeill, & S. Teßendorf (Eds.), Body – Language – Communication. An International Handbook on Multimodality in Human Interaction. (Handbooks of Linguistics and Communication Science 38.1.) (pp. 1060-1079). De Gruyter Mouton.
Ladewig, S. H., & Bressem, J. (2013). New insights into the medium hand – Discovering Structures in gestures based on the four parameters of sign language. Semiotica, 197, 203–231.