Ruce a svět: Merleau-Ponty, gesto a znakový jazyk : Hands and World: Merleau-Ponty, Gesture and Sign Language

Abstract

In the present article, the author examines the relevance of Merleau-Ponty’s thought in the realm of gesture studies and sign language linguistics. Merleau-Ponty’s reflection on the gestural nature of language, as presented in Phenomenology of Perception, represents a remarkable starting point for both gesture studies and deaf studies, insofar as it stresses the interrelatedness of the subject, his or her gestural expression and the world the subjects inhabits. In the second part of the paper, examples are presented to support the central thesis: Jürgen Streeck’s research on gestures in the natural environment and the example of Kata Kolok, a Balinese village sign language, and its particular way of treating spatial relations and structures.

Keywords

• gestures
• phenomenological philosophy
• sign language linguistics
• village sign languages
• fenomenologická filosofie
• gesta
• lingvistika znakových jazyků
• vesnické znakové jazyky