II

THE ICONIC AND CULTURAL
NATURE OF GESTURE

AN INTERCULTURAL EXPERIMENTAL STUDY

Goal

In order to verify the cultural nature of gesturing, the thirty-four French physical expressions (Table 1) were also presented to a small group of Hungarian students from Budapest³] (Calbris 1981) and a group of Japanese students from Tokyo.⁴ The general experimental procedure and the need for reformulating certain clichés were discussed in the previous chapter. Only the utterances differ here: each translator chose a verbal expression synonymous, or very nearly so, with the French signified. For example, the utterance: Il les avait à zéro! (lit. He had them at zero = He was scared stiff) became in Hungarian Inába szállt a bátorsága (lit. His courage went down into his legs) and in Japanese (Fear: He was very pale). For the translations and descriptions of the expressions in Lists 1 and 2, see Tables 11 and 12.

Comparison of results

Table 13 gives an overview of the test results. The thirty-four gestural expressions are presented in the order of decreasing scores by the French subjects. For each one, the raw scores are given, followed by the percentage scores, for the isolated gesture (p) and the full expression (F). The difference between cultures is clear: 85% correct identification by the French, 46% by the Hungarians, and only 29% by the Japanese. The drop in score is greater for the culture which differs more.

Table 11: Comparable expressions and gestures - List One *

* See Table 1.

Table 12: Comparable expressions and gestures - List Two *

* See Table 1.

The role of facial expression, weak when the gesture is already known (French: 85-83%) or when the culture is totally different (Japanese:29-28%), is relatively strong in the intermediate case (Hungarians: 46.5-34%). Certain facial expressions, shared with the French, seem to indicate to them the unknown attitude of the gesture. This observation, discussed in detail below, shows that facial expression is also conventional.

Identification of certain gestures

Gestural expressions identical with or highly similar to known gestures are well identified, on the condition that the familiar gestures have the same signification as those viewed. Among the gestures filmed, here are those familiar to the Hungarians:

IDENTICAL GESTURES: boring the forefinger into the temple in an allusion to madness, ‘He is crazy’ (Item 1); tracing a line over the head or above the eyes with one’s hand in a sign of exasperation, ‘I’ve had it up to here’ (12); the thumb rubbing the forefinger and middle finger as if to feel bills of money, ‘Gotta pay’ (15); lifting the forefinger and thumb, joined in a circle, off of pursed lips in a sign of avid admiration, ‘Delicious’ (20); raising the two forefingers behind the head to represent the horns carried by a husband whose wife has been unfaithful, ‘He’s a cuckold’ (22); shaking the raised forefinger backward and forward in a sign of menacing warning, ‘Watch it!’ (23).

Table 13. Raw scores (n/N subjects) and percentage scores by cultural group

___________________

* p: partial view, F: full view.

The gestures are listed in decreasing order of the score by the French subjects for the full view.

The numbers of the corresponding photos are given in brackets.

HIGHLY SIMILAR GESTURES: raising the forefinger (synonym for ‘attention’) accompanied by a facial expression of happy surprise for a great idea, ‘I have an idea’ (6); snapping the fingers with a quick, diagonal downward movement of the arm when one becomes aware of failure or something forgotten, ‘Rats!’ (14).

Among the expressions fairly well identified, three cases are observed. Here is an example of each:

IDENTICAL GESTURE WITH FAIRLY SIMILAR SIGNIFICATION. Item 8, ‘He loafs around all day,’ shows someone twiddling his thumbs. The gesture can be a substitute for the cliché ‘He twiddles his thumbs.’ Hungarians have their own cliché, ‘All day long, he sits with his hands in his lap,’ but no gesture to illustrate it. At the same time, twiddling one’s thumbs is for them a sign of impatience or idleness. Thus, since they did not see any utterance of impatience in the list proposed, they settled on the one that expressed idleness: 87% for the isolated gesture, 78% for the complete gesture.

ANALOGOUS GESTURE WITH IDENTICAL SIGNIFICATION. Consider Item 1, ‘He’s crazy.’ While there are gestural variants in French (tapping the temple or forehead with the forefinger, turning the hand near the temple), the gesture chosen as being the most typical was the forefinger boring against the temple. Among the thirty-four gestures shown, this was the one best understood by the French: 100% recognition for both the partial and full views. The Japanese also have a gesture near the temple alluding to madness. Optional and a possible substitute for speech, it is used between children or by adults addressing children. The forefinger repeatedly traces a circle next to the temple; then the clustered fingers open abruptly outward. Both cultures have a gesture in which the forefinger turns against the temple, and association is possible: 82% recognition. The addition of a smirk in the full view hindered the Japanese (67% recognition). Since for them the gesture is performed between or toward children, we may imagine that the associated facial expression is more playful, teasing, or amused.

VARIANT PRACTICED BY A SUBGROUP. Let us consider Item 6, ‘I have an idea.’ While in France the forefinger pops off the forehead, there exist in Japan three variants, each of which is associated with a specific group: (1) The right fist strikes the left palm (masculine gesture); (2) The hands are brought together and clasped (feminine gesture); (3) The fingers are snapped at head level and the arm is brought down diagonally (gesture performed by young people). The latter variant is the only one analogous with the French gesture, in the abrupt finger movement at head level. Moreover, practiced by Japanese youth, it is undoubtedly known by the subjects at the Foreign Language University of Tokyo. This would explain the 61% recognition score for the gesture shown from the back. The facial expression proved to have a positive influence and permitted 100% identification, an improvement of 39%. This difference suggests that the variant chosen, as well as the two others, expresses the abruptness of discovery, ‘That’s it’ (snapping of fingers; fist striking palm; hands clapped), more than the positive quality, carried by the facial expression of pleasant surprise.

Mismatches

The possible mismatches indicated by some of the French subjects were confirmed by the foreign subjects. At the level of the signified for example, the act of rubbing one’s fingers evokes bills of money (for the French and Japanese), money either to be paid (81% and 56%) or money refused (9% and 33%). At the level of both the signifier and signified, the fist knocking several times on the forehead signifies for all three subject groups stubbornness or stupidity, and for the two foreign groups stupidity of another or of oneself at the root of failure. This latter interpretation is absent among French subjects because they have a typical gesture to represent failure—the finger passing under the nose—whereas the Hungarians and Japanese do not. Why the possible confusion between stubbornness and stupidity? It can be explained on the level of the signified by a lack of flexibility or open-mindedness. It can also be explained on the motivational level. The head or forehead is the seat of both the will and the intelligence. The head is struck in one case in order to test its strength, its resistance, the stubbornness of the subject, and in the other case, because ‘nothing gets in’ or because it is defective. The confusion can also be explained at the level of the signifier. In the finger sliding below the nose to illustrate the verbal cliché filer sous le nez, certain subjects see an indication of the level of saturation, the threshold of exasperation: ‘I’m fed up.’

Positive role of facial expression

Facial expression, positive or negative, plays an even more positive role for foreign subjects whenever it lifts the ambiguity of an isolated gesture, or when it corroborates the information carried by the gesture (Table 14). For example:

‘WE WON.’ Seen from the back, the fist raised and shaken in a sign of victory is understood by one French subject and by 28% of the Hungarian subjects as a vulgar insult, ‘Fuck you.’ 28% of the Japanese subjects saw it as a threat, ‘Die.’ Given the joyous facial expression, the French and Hungarians unanimously chose the utterance ‘We won,’ and the Japanese score improved by 26%.

Table 14. Role of facial expression

‘STUBBORN AS A MULE.’Seen three-quarters from the back, this gesture, which consists in knocking several times on the forehead, is associated by all the subjects with stubbornness and stupidity.

The Hungarians and Japanese also associate it with failure, doubtless caused by stupidity. Yet the tense facial expression—squinting eyes, clenched teeth—which indicates some effort, is more appropriate to stubbornness than to stupidity. The utterance ‘Stubborn’ was chosen by 14% more of the French subjects, 15% more Japanese, and 37% more Hungarians.

‘LET’S GET OUT OF HERE, O.K.?’The isolated gesture of suggestion to depart is identified by 72% of the French subjects (and confused by 20% of them with the PHALLIC FOREARM JERK). This gesture is totally unknown to the Hungarians (0%) and Japanese (0%). However, the facial expression, with a movement of the head and eyes to the side (towards the exit) is explicit enough to lead to unanimity among the French (from 72% to 100% recognition) and to increase the scores of the Hungarians and Japanese to 27% and 28%, respectively.

Cultural nature of facial expression

Some facial expressions well interpreted by the Hungarians allowed them to find the attitude without knowing the corresponding gesture. This means that facial expression is also conventional. Some facial expressions shared by the French and Hungarians are not shared by the Japanese, or are not used in the same way (Table 15). This seems to be the case for squinting, laughing eyes found in the physical expressions of vengeful repartee (SIDEARM GUT PUNCH), mischievous triumph (TONGUE OUT), and amused refusal (THUMBNAIL-TOOTH FLICK). Blinking, a self-protection reflex, is transferred to the psychological plane. The eyes are half-closed in anticipation of the shock to be received by the other (role reversal). They become a sign of vengeance or opposition to someone else. The laughing aspect introduces the positive nuance of triumph or amusement. This is also true for the smirk of displeasure in the CHEEK SHAVE and HAND TRAP SHUT gestures recognized by the Hungarians, but not by the Japanese, as signs of denigration or exasperation.

Table 15. Contribution of facial expression for Hungarians and Japanese

Cultural and iconic nature of gesture

A comparison of the identification scores for the three groups confirms the cultural influence. While the French language is foreign to both Hungarians and Japanese, the Hungarian subjects identified the gestures better. Of the thirty-four proposed, the Japanese knew only six. The Hungarians knew eleven, or nearly twice as many. Even some facial expressions have the same signification for them as for the French, such as laughing, squinting eyes, and the smirk.

Gestures are not arbitrary signs but are conventional and motivated (Fónagy 1956, 1961—62): conventional in that they are not understood by all, and motivated in that some of them can be guessed at. They are unanimously considered motivated since the interpretations given by foreigners can be explained either by an assimilation with a known sign or by a search for motivation. But simply finding one motivation (an analogical link) among several possible ones does not constitute a successful interpretation. For example, drawing a transverse line at waist level to indicate privation (‘Nothing left!’), based on the cliché Ceinture! (lit. belt) (Illustration 2), seems to be interpreted by the Hungarians either as a line in front of the stomach (expected association with privation), or as a line at mid-height (Közeprohadtul [moderately rotten], the translation of Couci-couça), or, in relation to the ground, as an indication of a level not to be surpassed (aggravation: Unom a banánt [Enough bananas], translation of La barbe!). This same French gesture was associated by the Japanese with the gesture of hara-kiri, since it was interpreted as ‘It’s the end; there’s no more’ (equivalent to the expected utterance of privation, Plus rien!), and ‘Die!’ (vulgar insult equivalent to Va te faire enculer!).

Illustration 2. Ceinture! From Calbris 1987: 58, by Zaü

Through a classification of French gestures associated with speech, we will see that a given gesture can have several meanings and several motivations (Chapter 6, Plural motivation). The search for motivation, or for an assimilation with a known relationship between signifier and signified, resembles a lottery. However, gestures which illustrate clichés should logically be less well recognized, and this is in fact the case. Those that are based on a more universal motivation (nausea-disgust) or a commonly shared symbolism are more easily identifiable. As an example, for the French, Hungarians, and Japanese, all of the gestures referring to the brain (touching the skull, forehead, temple) evoke the following functions, performed well or poorly: memory or forgetting, intelligence-knowledge-idea, or stupidity, stubbornness, madness.

Less linked to a cliché, less symbolic, less polyvalent, motivation seems to be all the more natural and transparent as it approaches depiction, or simple reproduction of movement. It seems all the more direct as it is narrowly linked with what is concrete. This is the case, for example, with the gesture of closing one’s fingers in the form of a beak, depicting a jaw (‘Shut up!’) or with the imitative gesture which mimes the use of an object by repeating a concrete action (reference to money).

Motivation explains (a) the presence of gestures which are the same in two countries, and (b) the understanding of certain French gestures by Hungarians or Japanese despite the absence of an identical or analogous gesture. The conventional nature is evident in cases of misunderstanding in which a given gesture is associated with different meanings: the gesture of pulling down the skin below one’s eye—which in France is a sign of refusal or disbelief, ‘My eye!’—is for the Japanese an expression of childish derision, synonymous with the French Na na na!

___________________

3. In the Hungarian experiment, Iván Fónagy, research director at the CNRS (Centre National de Recherche Scientifique), served as translator and adviser, and A. Szabolcsi, researcher at the Institute of Linguistics of the Hungarian Academy of Science, performed the experimentation in Hungary.

4. The Japanese experiment was run by Jacques Montredon (then pedagogical adviser to the French Cultural Services of Tokyo), Tsutomu Nakagawa (instructor at the Tokyo Foreign Language University who served as translator and experimenter), and Hideko Tsubota (interpreter and adviser).