Il continuum azione-gesto-segno-parola . Oltre il concetto di doppia articolazione, verso una prospettiva multimodale del linguaggio

The article focuses on the study of sign languages as a special lens to better understand the continuity from action to spoken word through gesture. Very often traditional linguistic analysis, starting from the written rather than from the spoken form of the language, has considered prosodic or gestural elements as extralinguistic. A more careful study of oral language, spoken or signed, as used by humans in their social interaction gives the possibility to consider language as a multimodal (vocal and gestural) system, characterized by discreteness as well as gradience. Duality of patterning or double articulation should not be considered a necessary linguistic propriety of spoken or signed languages. The act of signifying grows out of more basic practical actions.