A presente pesquisa pretende elaborar um procedimento de montagem teatral, em um processo de criação artística, através do uso do gesto, para a construção da ação cênica, aplicando à tragédia grega Electra, de Sófocles, o gestual dos personagens brasileiros como descritos no romance Fogo Morto de José Lins do Rego. Utilizando exercícios de improvisação com a ação física e o gesto, buscando uma estética brasileira para os temas universais e fundamentais contidos na tragédia grega, para desenvolver um procedimento aplicável a outras encenações, que queiram mesclar a dramaturgia da peça a ser encenada com informações oriundas de uma obra literária não dramatúrgica. Resultando na criação de uma cena do espetáculo denominado Amarras, que adapte os conteúdos da obra teatral original através de uma linguagem essencialmente corporal, colhida de outra obra artística e agregue, nesta adaptação, também o universo de referências desta segunda obra. / This research aims to develop a procedure for stage production, a process of artistic creation, through the use of gesture, for the construction of scenic action, applying in the Greek tragedy Electra, by Sophocles, the sign of the Brazilian characters as described in the novel Fogo Morto (Fire Dead) by José Lins do Rego. Using improvisation exercises with physical action and gesture, seeking a Brazilian aesthetic for the fundamental and universal themes contained in the Greek tragedy, to develop a procedure applicable to other scenarios, that want to merge the dramaturgy of the piece to be performed with information from a literary work that is not a drama. Resulting in the creation of a scene from the show called Amarras (Moorings), adjusting the content of the original play mainly through body language, taken from another work of art and add, in this adaptation, so the universe of references from this second work.

Este trabalho tem como objetivo descrever e analisar os gestos produzidos em contexto de narrativa dançada, tomando como base os estudos dos gestos que acompanham a fala (Kendon 2004, McNeill 1992, Kita et al. 1998, Mittelberg 2006, Streeck 2009, entre outros). Para esse fim, adapto para o discurso dançado a proposta de estrutura tripartite de Poyatos (2002) para o discurso oral. Poyatos prevê os níveis linguístico (elementos segmentáveis), paralinguístico (elementos supressegmentais), e quinésico (postura e gestualidade). Os três níveis colaboram para a construção de sentido do discurso verbal. Mantenho a estrutura tripartite, propondo, para a dança, os níveis técnico (elementos segmentáveis, incluída a gestualidade convencionada pela técnica de dança), paraquinésico (elementos não-segmentáveis ligados à dinâmica do movimento), e gestual (postura e gestualidade ligada à comunicação cotidiana, incluída a pantomima). Gestos são considerados, então, quaisquer movimentos expressivos do corpo e/ou da face que não pertençam aos níveis técnico e paraquinésico. A interação entre os níveis para a construção do significado também fica mantida. Para poder verificar a pertinência da proposta, observo, entre outras, a cena do balcão e a cena final na versão de Romeu e Julieta, de William Shakespeare, coreografada por Kenneth MacMillan para o The Royal Ballet, e a cena final da versão de Rudolf Nureyev para o Ballet de LOpéra de Paris. O programa ELAN (EUDICO Language Annotator), versão 4.1.1, desenvolvido pelo Instituto Max Planck, e largamente usado na transcrição de línguas de sinais, foi utilizado para a transcrição dos dados em diferentes trilhas. Ele possibilita descrever de maneira mais abrangente os vários aspectos simultâneos dos gestos, como o movimento das mãos, traços de expressão facial (movimento de sobrancelhas, pálpebras, olhar e boca), entre outros. O objetivo do estudo dos gestos que acompanham a dança é corroborar a proposta da relação entre gesto e conceitualização, entendendo a contribuição do elemento gestual para a construção de significado em um discurso, seja ele oralizado, sinalizado ou dançado. / This work aims to describe and analyze gestures produced in a danced narrative, following the lines proposed in co-speech gesture studies (Kendon 2004, McNeill 1992, Kita et al. 1998, Mittelberg 2006, Streeck 2009, among others). To accomplish this goal, I adapt to the dance discourse Poyatoss proposal (2002) for verbal discourse. According to Poyatos, the verbal discourse is built upon a tripartite structure comprising a linguistic layer (with segmental elements), a paralinguistic layer (which includes suprasegmental elements) and a kinesic layer (including posture and gesture). He proposes that meaning construction in verbal discourse relies on the interaction of these three layers. My proposal is to maintain the triple structure to analyze dance discourse as well as the interaction between its specific layers: technical (which includes segmental elements of the dance technique), parakinesic (including non-segmental elements related to the dynamics of movement), and gestural (related to the posture of the body and gesture, including pantomime). Gesture will, then, be considered any expressive movement of body and/or face that is not part either of dance technique or of its dynamic elements. To verify the relevance of this proposal, I analyze a part of the balcony scene and the final one, among others, from Kenneth MacMillans version of Romeo and Juliet, by William Shakespeare, created for and performed by The Royal Ballet, and the final scene from Rudolf Nureyevs version for the Ballet de LOpéra de Paris. The Max Planck software, ELAN (EUDICO Language Annotator), version 4.1.1, largely used to transcribe sign languages, was used for the transcription of the data into several different tiers. This allows for a better description of the many simultaneous aspects of the gestures, such as hand movement and facial expressions features (eyebrows, eyelids, gaze and mouth movements), among others. The aim of studying gestures that accompany dance is to reinforce the proposal of correlation between gesture and conceptualization, understanding the contribution of the gestural element to meaning construction in a discourse, being it oral, signed or danced.

This thesis investigates a gesture segmentation and recognition scheme that employs a random forest classification model. A complete gesture recognition system should localize and classify each gesture from a given gesture vocabulary, within a continuous video stream. Thus, the system must determine the start and end points of each gesture in time, as well as accurately recognize the class label of each gesture. We propose a unified approach that performs the tasks of temporal segmentation and classification simultaneously. Our method trains a random forest classification model to recognize gestures from a given vocabulary, as presented in a training dataset of video plus 3D body joint locations, as well as out-of-vocabulary (non-gesture) instances. Given an input video stream, our trained model is applied to candidate gestures using sliding windows at multiple temporal scales. The class label with the highest classifier confidence is selected, and its corresponding scale is used to determine the segmentation boundaries in time. We evaluated our formulation in segmenting and recognizing gestures from two different benchmark datasets: the NATOPS dataset of 9,600 gesture instances from a vocabulary of 24 aircraft handling signals, and the CHALEARN dataset of 7,754 gesture instances from a vocabulary of 20 Italian communication gestures. The performance of our method compares favorably with state-of-the-art methods that employ Hidden Markov Models or Hidden Conditional Random Fields on the NATOPS dataset. We conclude with a discussion of the advantages of using our model.

Empathy is thought to involve cognitive processes that depend on the simulation of another's experiences. Embodiment has a key role for empathy as vehicle for recreating the experience of another. This thesis explores the validity of this claim by investigating what people do when communicating about their experiences. In particular, what is the contribution of our embodied resources such as gestures, postures and expressions to empathy and intersubjectivity? These questions are explored against two corpora of dyadic interactions. One features conversations of people describing recalled embodied experiences to each other, such as painful or pleasant bodily experiences like a headache or laughing. The other features a series of interactions designed to emulate informal conversations. The analysis uses hand coded gestures, feedback and clari cation questions, body movement data and a new approach to quantifying posture congruence. The analysis shows the embodied responses observed within these interactions are intentionally placed and formulated to facilitate the incremental process of a conversation as a joint activity. This is inconsistent with accounts that propose there is an automatic and non-conscious propensity for people to mimic each other in social interactions. Quantitative analysis show that patterns of gesture type and use, feedback form and posture di er systematically between interlocutors. Additionally, results show that resources provided by embodiment are allocated strategically. Nonverbal contributions increase in frequency and adjust their form responding to problems in conversation such as during clari cation questions and repair. Detailed qualitative analysis shows the instances that appear to display mimicry within the interaction function rather as embodied adaptations or paraphrases. In their contrast with the original contribution they demonstrate a speci c understanding of the type of experience being conveyed. This work shows that embodiment is an important resource for intersubjectivity and embodied communication is speci cally constructed to aid the collaborative, sequential and intersubjective progression of dialogue.

A presente tese traduz, imagina e transcria uma escola biografemática do gesto denominada Libriação. Este nome significa e deriva de Libras e de criação e vive por meio de biografemas (vidas de grafemar) curricularesdidáticas da arte, do gesto, do romance, do cenalário e da diferença. O texto compõe-se de procedimentos tradutórios de pensar-criar, desde signos e conceitos sentidos; funciona em elementos-atributos científicos-filosóficosartísticos; e traduz em três formas: de pesquisa, ensino e extensão, que não se separam, mas operam, de forma conjunta e transversalizada, em meio à educação e à vida. O primeiro bloco é formado pela biografemática de pesquisar-ensinar-extensionar sobre produções-efeitos de pensamentos e extensões educacionais-contemporâneas; o segundo bloco é escrito por cenalários da educação contemporânea; e o terceiro conclui em um eu pesquisador, um educador e um extensionador, impossíveis de ser definido, pois é resultante de possibilidades diárias-vivas de criar. / The present thesis translates, imagines and transcrires a biographical school of the gesture denominated Libriação. This name means and derives from Libras and creation and lives by means of biografemas (live of grafemar) curricular-didactics of the art, the gesture, the novel, the scenario and the difference. The text consists of translational procedures of thinkingcreating, from signs and concepts sense; Works on scientific-philosophicalartistic- attribute elements; and translates into three forms: research, teaching and extension, which do not separate, but operate, jointly and transversally, in the midst of education and life. The first block is formed by the biographemática of research-teach-extend about productions-effects of thoughts and educational extensions-contemporary; the second block is written by contemporary education cenarios; and the third concludes in a researcher, an educator and an extension worker, impossible to be defined, because it is the result of daily living possibilities to create.

Preschoolers can often rattle off a long sequence of numbers in order, but have problems in reporting the exact number of objects even in a small set, and have trouble in comparing numerical relation of two sets that differ by exactly 1 item. The present study showed that representing and highlighting sets by showing a circular, enclosed diagram around them with or without a grouping gesture helps children to enhance their understanding of cardinality and to improve their overall math competence. Nighty-three preschool students, ages ranging from 3years-10 months to 4 years-9months (M= 51.82 months, SD= 3.56 months), from three public schools in Harlem, New York participated in this study. Children from each school were ranked based on their pre-test score on the Test of Early Mathematics Ability (TEMA-3), and were then assigned randomly to one of the three math comparison groups or the reading control group. Children in diagram-plus-gesture math group, were asked to draw a bubble by making a grouping gesture around each of the two sets on a touch screen device, indicate the number of fish in each bubble, and judge whether there were the same number of fish in each bubble, and in case the number was not the same, indicate which set had more fish. Children in the diagram only condition simply saw bubbles around sets without the need to do a grouping gesture around them. Children in the no diagram- no gesture condition neither saw a bubble nor did a grouping gesture. All participants played on the software for 4 sessions within a two-week time period and the data were examined microgenetically. Results showed that all children in the math comparison groups improved in their math scores during the game-play and improved in their overall math competence from pre- to post-test, unlike the children in the reading control group. More importantly, children who saw the circular diagram (bubbles) around sets with or without the grouping gesture outperformed children who never saw bubbles nor made a grouping gesture in their accuracy, understanding of cardinality, and overall math competence from pre to post. Further, children with lower executive functioning skills benefitted from performing the grouping gesture in addition to seeing the circular diagram. Gestures can have the same form as diagrams, and hence, they may carry information that is redundant with diagrams. Such redundancy reinforces the message by presenting information in two modalities-- a redundancy that may not be necessary for some, but beneficial to others (i.e. children with low executive functioning skills). Finally, over the course of game-play children who did the grouping gesture never counted the two sets together as one set when asked to compare their numerical relation-- a mistake many preschoolers make; children in the other groups made that mistake occasionally. Because gestures are actions and dynamic by nature, they appear to be especially suited for changing actions and promoting early counting skills.

Gestures have been found to be helpful to people in many cognitive and daily activities, such as speaking, counting, learning, and problem solving. However, different gestures benefit people to different degrees, and people use gestures in different ways to assist thinking and learning. From an embodied cognition perspective, gesture is seen as a simulated action. Therefore, to further understand the mechanisms of gesture’s effects on thinking will directly help us harness embodied cognition theories to guide teaching and learning. In the literature, it is widely known that gesture not only reflects thinking, but also actively promotes thinking and learning. However, the mechanisms that account for gesture’s effects on cognition remained obscure to us. To better understand how different types of gestures benefit thinking and learning, Study 1 was conducted with 31 participants to investigate how teaching big (n=15) and small gestures (n=16) as a problem solving strategy influenced the actual gesture use and performance. The results suggested that the small gesture might possibly be a more effective gesture, because people who were taught small and used small gestures had the highest accuracy percentage on the primary task. However, using the small gesture did not significantly lower cognitive load compared to using the big gesture. Based on these findings, Study 2 was conducted with 100 adults to further investigate how teaching different types of gestures influenced learners’ gesture use, performance, learning, and cognitive load. In this study, the participants were randomly assigned to three groups, where they were taught to solve a molecular structure problem using small (n=25), big (n=50), or no gestures (n=25). Then they were left in a quiet room to solve 15 molecule questions independently. Their answers and time spent on each question were recorded. A dual-task paradigm was used as an objective measure of cognitive load, and a NASA Questionnaire was used as a subjective measure of cognitive load. At the end, participants were asked to answer some transfer questions. Throughout the study, all participants’ gestures and body movements were recorded by two cameras. The findings from the two studies suggested that teaching different types of gestures had some influence on people’s gesture use, performance, learning, and cognitive load. Specifically, small gestures taught as a problem-solving strategy were adopted more easily and more effectively used than big gestures and body movements. Questions that were answered through small gestures seemed to have a slightly higher accuracy percentage, but were not necessarily related to lowered cognitive load. The study also found that when people were taught gesture as a problem solving strategy and then asked to use it, they took some time at the very beginning to try and practice, and then gradually transitioned to using no gestures. In both studies, their thinking time, gesture time, gesturing density decreased gradually, without sacrificing accuracy. These findings contributed to both embodied cognition theories and gesture literature, and also shed light on instructional design in an educational setting.

People gesture every day and everywhere. They gesture in communication, speech, and for themselves while thinking. A large number of studies have explored the gestures in speech and communication under a variety of conditions. However, gestures for thinking did not draw much attention, yet they are natural and spontaneous behaviors of the human being and can reveal the way people process information. Gestures in thinking are also believed to be beneficial in comprehension and memory. Previous studies have demonstrated that people gesture for spatial thinking tasks such as map reading and text navigation test. Theories on embodied cognition and grounded cognition claim that gestures are needed when people visualize the models in mind. What if the models are not inherently spatial? Will people gesture for abstract information? Or on the contrary, what if the models are already presented in visual spatial form that you can simply copy the image, not build one on your own? Will people gesture for diagrams and maps? If so, what kind of gestures will they use? Will gesture improve comprehension and memory? This work provides evidence that people gesture for not inherently spatial models and spatial models that are presented in diagrammatic format. For information that is not inherently spatial, participants use representational gestures to facilitate the visualization. For instance, a temporal schedule can be visualized into a two-dimension table. For linear order text, people create a list of items that are organized by a certain order. When the spatial and not inherently spatial models are presented in maps or diagrams, representational gestures were still observed and beneficial for the memory test. Due to the limited sample size and other limitations of the lab setting experiment, these studies did not provide strong results that support the hypotheses that gestures help people comprehend and memorize information. Gestures were found beneficial for only one type of stimuli (mechanical systems) and an overall effect on memory test scores across text and diagram stimuli. Even though the effect of gestures was not significant between different types and formats of stimuli, it was in the right direction. Future research with more sensitive measurements could further explore gestures for thinking.

A presente pesquisa pretende elaborar um procedimento de montagem teatral, em um processo de criação artística, através do uso do gesto, para a construção da ação cênica, aplicando à tragédia grega Electra, de Sófocles, o gestual dos personagens brasileiros como descritos no romance Fogo Morto de José Lins do Rego. Utilizando exercícios de improvisação com a ação física e o gesto, buscando uma estética brasileira para os temas universais e fundamentais contidos na tragédia grega, para desenvolver um procedimento aplicável a outras encenações, que queiram mesclar a dramaturgia da peça a ser encenada com informações oriundas de uma obra literária não dramatúrgica. Resultando na criação de uma cena do espetáculo denominado Amarras, que adapte os conteúdos da obra teatral original através de uma linguagem essencialmente corporal, colhida de outra obra artística e agregue, nesta adaptação, também o universo de referências desta segunda obra. / This research aims to develop a procedure for stage production, a process of artistic creation, through the use of gesture, for the construction of scenic action, applying in the Greek tragedy Electra, by Sophocles, the sign of the Brazilian characters as described in the novel Fogo Morto (Fire Dead) by José Lins do Rego. Using improvisation exercises with physical action and gesture, seeking a Brazilian aesthetic for the fundamental and universal themes contained in the Greek tragedy, to develop a procedure applicable to other scenarios, that want to merge the dramaturgy of the piece to be performed with information from a literary work that is not a drama. Resulting in the creation of a scene from the show called Amarras (Moorings), adjusting the content of the original play mainly through body language, taken from another work of art and add, in this adaptation, so the universe of references from this second work.

The relationship between ideophones and gestures has only recently been studied and is not yet completely understood. The topic has been specifically addressed by Kita (1993), Klassen (1998), Dingemanse (2013), Mihas (2013), and Reiter (2013). Yet there has been little focus on onomatopoeic ideophones. Onomatopoeic ideophones have been set aside as different by many previous researchers (Klassen, 1998, pp. 28-31; Kilian-Hatz, 2001, pp. 161-163; Dingemanse, 2011, pp. 131, 165-167; Mihas, 2012, pp. 327-329; Reiter, 2013, pp. 9-10, 308). Being stigmatized as simple, they have been labeled as "sound mimicking words" (McGregor, 2002, p. 341), "non-linguistic sounds" (Güldemann, 2008, p. 283), or "imitative sounds" (Hinton et al., 1994, §2.1). This thesis specifically addresses the relationship between onomatopoeic ideophones and gestures in Pastaza Quichua (PQ). My data acquired from primary and secondary sources, consists of 69 interactions, comprising eight hours of video recordings collected in Tena, Ecuador. These recordings include traditional narratives, personal experience tellings, elicited descriptions of nature, short didactic explanations, and folksongs. My methodology consists of close examination, classification, and tagging of 435 ideophones in the PQ data for sensory class and gestural accompaniment, using McNeill's (1992) typology. This thesis demonstrates that onomatopoeic ideophones do not have the same relationship with gestures that synesthetic ideophones do. Synesthetic ideophones are consistently accompanied by gestures (94.4% of the time) while onomatopoeic ideophones are much less likely to be accompanied by gestures (27.0% of the time). The lack of gestures occurring with onomatopoeic ideophones is striking given that PQ speakers seem to be constantly gesturing during speech. The PQ data supports previous observations that most gestures accompanying ideophones are iconic (Kunene, 1965; Dingemanse, 2013; Reiter, 2013; Mihas, 2013; Kita, 1993). The data also supports McNeill's (2007, p. 11) statement that gestures are used to make an image more real and that repetition can lead to fading gestures. However, it challenges his prediction that a minimal departure from context is the cause of a conspicuous lack of gesture. Sensory type, that is whether an ideophone is onomatopoeic or not, seems to be the most important factor in predicting gestural behavior. This paper also contributes to a better understanding of the relationship between ideophones and gestures and, ultimately, between language and gesture.