Nonverbal Communication, Interaction, and Gesture: Selections from Semiotica

The present volume is an excellent introduction to the study of human nonverbal communication, including interaction and gesture, for students and specialists in other disciplines, as well as a convenient compilation of significant contributions to the field for experts.
Part 1 includes four articles, the import of which is primarily theoretical or methodological. Part II comprises eight articles in which instances of interaction are examined and attempts are made to explain how the behavior that can be observed in them functions in the interaction process. Part III presents six articles on what may broadly be referred to as `gesture'. These articles deal with specific actions, mostly of the forelimbs, which are usually deemed to have specific communicational significance. In an introductory chapter, the volume editor, Adam Kendon, not only examines the various issues raised by the eighteen papers but also shows the relevance of each article as a contribution to the development of an understanding of how human visible behavior functions communicatively.
The introductory chapter - which will stand as a classic in its own right - provides the reader with an assessment of the present `state of the art' in this field.
Kendon gives an overview of the way in which the concept of `nonverbal communication' arose and suggests some of its drawbacks. He further examines both the question of how `communication' is to be conceived in the context of interaction and the important issue of deliberateness. This discussion is followed by a review of some of the problems attendant upon the description of behavior and identification of many of the leading matters of investigation in the structure of interaction. Finally, Kendon explores the phenomenon of `gesture' and some of the issues of coding that it raises. The introductory chapter closes with an extensive and up-to-date bibliography which gives the reader a useful guide to the literature in this field.
The articles collected in Nonverbal Communication, Interaction, and Gesture clearly demonstrate that this field of study is not only very active but also on the threshold of exciting theoretical and empirical explorations.