Meaning After the Multimodal Revolution: Seven Things Signs and Gestures Teach Us About Meaning

ABSTRACT

Following a “multimodal revolution” in the language sciences, meaning is now studied not just in speech but also in sign languages (“sign”) and in gestures. Seven lessons can be drawn from recent semantic research. (1) Sometimes sign makes visible key logical elements that are covert in speech. (2) Sign combines the same meaning operations as speech with a richer depictive component. (3) Sign combines the same kind of syntax as speech with a dedicated syntax for its depictive elements. (4) Even the purely depictive component of sign is linguistically structured. (5) Gestures that replace words share some non‐trivial properties with signs—but unlike signs, they are not words. (6) Gestures that accompany predicates usually make backgrounded (non‐assertive) contributions. (7) Several of these properties apply beyond signs and gestures, suggesting that they have a deeper cognitive source, not a narrowly linguistic one. These lessons show that human meaning results from both discrete, logical‐like and gradient, iconic components, integrated through powerful cognitive mechanisms across sign, speech, and gestures.