GESTURE AND

POSTURE
Language is part of every culture and nation on this planet. It is diverse and the sounds
produced are the basis of the language spoken in different countries and among different groups
of people. In addition to the spoken language, there is another important aspect of
communication and that is body language. It is body language that uses posture and gesture as its
basic communication medium. Postures and gestures can cross language barriers, but can also be
found to be specific to particular cultures.
Gesture is basically the movement of a specific body part especially hands or head and
signifies someone’s emotions.
Posture is something that involves the whole body and tells someone’s confidence level and
mood.
Examples: GESTURE
1. Waiving the hand while seeing off somebody (Bye-Bye) is a gesture.
2. Similarly nodding the head is another example.
POSTURE
1. While standing with arms crossed and looking at the stuffs around while talking is your
posture that signifies you are not attentive or not interested.

CATERGORIES OF POSTURE:
Posture can be categorized as open or closed and reflects emotion, attitude and intention.
Closed posture:
Closed is seen as a person guarding their space with arms folded, putting up a closed barrier with
crossed legs and turning away from another person in conversation. Eyes can either be averted
or a strong and challenging stare could be the mood of the pose.
Open posture:
Open posture is softer and more forgiving and gentle. Hands are apart, arms resting in the lap or
on the arms of the chair.
Mirroring, (when couples do the same thing) is a sign of mutual admiration. The mirroring of
their actions shows a special bond and approval of one another.
Personal space is an important part of posture. It is called proxemics and ranges from intimate
to public distance for the posture area.

Mapping body posture and gestures help psychologists and other persons interested in the
signals sent out by body language. People are constantly sending out messages about themselves
through their posture and gestures.
The skilled interviewer can learn a great deal about the candidate by their body language
and that is also true in police work as the interrogator watches for the body posture and facial
expressions of the suspect in the interview room. It is body language and gesture that forms the
rest of our interaction with other people. Some languages are more demonstrative than others. It
is body language and gesturing that actually starts the process of learning to understand one
another.

CATEGORIES OF GESTURES:
Gestures fall into different categories that help the skilled observer understand them and link
them to their meanings.
‘Emblems’ can be used instead of a word and it is these gestures that actually cross language
barriers.
A hand wave, finger beckoning, thumbs up or thumbs down are all emblems, gestures that have
specific meanings. Shrugging shoulders and shaking your head are also gestures that tell the
observer that that are not understood and everyone can read that emblem of body language.
‘Illustrators’ are gestures that accompany words. Nodding your head and agreeing at the same
time is an illustrator of agreement. Pointing a finger and giving directions at the same time is
another illustrator.

‘Animal gestures’ are important in the animal kingdom. There are many gestures that can help
trainers and people involved with animals understand the creatures in their care.

The face and facial expressions give the majority of a person’s gestures
 The eyes in particular can offer many gestures that communicate emotions like
happiness, sadness, anger, surprise, and disgust.
 The mouth has its share of gestures to add to the facial expressions as the expressions of
happiness through a smile or anger with a churlish gesture and a saddened gesture with
lips turned down.
 Gestures are also made with hands and in fact some people are unable to speak without
using their hands to make the point of their conversation and gesticulate in explanation.
 It is through signing that the deaf are able to ‘hear’ and signing has become a language in
its own right enabling the deaf to listen to television programmes, attend meetings and
services if there is a person able to sign for their benefit.