Most research on language takes speech as the main domain of investigation. However, in face to face communication we use language in a visual world. Speakers use not only speech but also meaningful hand movements called 'gestures' when they speak (pointing, iconic gestures etc). Furthermore, deaf communities use sign languages that are produced and perceived only in the visual-spatial modality. This course aims to give an interdisciplinary and state of the art overview of the role of the body and visual expression in the structuring, functioning and the development of the human language faculty. As such it offers a new window into our assumptions of language and its workings. The course will be presented in relation to discussions on embodied cognition and semantics, situated use of language, the links between language, action, space, memory, social cognition/interaction and their neural correlates.

• Introduction to gesture basics - definitions; structure; theories
• The role of gestures in processing of language - production and comprehension
• The role of gestures in cognition (social, memory, imagery)
• The role of gestures in language acquisition and development (first, second, bilingual)
• The role of gestures in interaction (dialogue, common ground)
• Gestures and the brain

• Introduction to sign language grammar
• Sign language processing/comparison with speech processing
• Acquisition of sign language (first, second, bimodal bilingual)
• Sign language and the brain
• Emerging language systems (in the wild/laboratory)
• The role of gesture or sign in language evolution

• Situated language use
• Language development
• Embodied cognition
• Relations between action, space, cognition and language