Gesture and Environment: A Tentative Study of some of the Spatio-Temporal and ”Linguistic” Aspects of the Gestural Behavior of Eastern Jews and Southern Italians in New York City, Living Under Similar as Well as Different Environmental Conditions 9780231883085

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GESTURE

ANO

ENVIRONMENT

GESTURE AND A tentative "linguistic" and

study

aspects

Southern as well

Italians

ENVIRONMENT

of some of the

in New

as different

of the spatio-temporal

gestural York

behavior City,

environmental

of Eastern

living

under

conditions

By David Efron Sketches by Stuyvesant Van Veen

KING'S CROWN P R E S S MORNINGSIDE HEIGHTS, NEW YORK

1941

and Jews similar

Copyright, 19^1 David Efron Printed in the United Statea of America Z5-etaff, Napco-500

King'β Crown Press is a division of Columbia University Press organized for the purpose of making certain scholarly material available at minimum cost. Toward that end, the publishers have adopted every reasonable economy except such as would interfere with a legible format. The work is presented substantially as submitted by the author, without the usual editorial and typographical attention of Columbia University Press.

iv

A C K N O W L E D G M E N T S

For having made this investigation possible, and for having aided me continually with suggestions and invaluable criticisms, I am deeply indebted to Dr. Franz Boas, Professor EmerituB of Anthropology, Columbia University. For having given me most valuable advice in the preparation of the manuscript, I am further indebted to Robert M. Maclver, Lieber Professor of Political Philosophy and Sociology, Columbia University. To Stuyvesant Van Veen, for his skillful pictorial contribution to this investigation, I extend my deep gratitude. To Dr. John P. Foley, Jr., Associate Professor of Psychology, at the George Washington University, who, to my good fortune, cooperated in the construction of the graphs, I offer my sincere appreciation for his help. To Miss G. F. Shules, for her help in classifying the illustrations and checking the text and reference materials, I extend my hearty thanks. For their generouB assistance during my study of pantomimic gesture I wish to acknowledge my indebtedness to the Italian and Jewish actors, Miss Baldi, Mr. Sterni, and Mr. Migliaccio; and Messrs. Buloff and Ben-Ami. And finally I wish to pay tribute to Henry M. Silver 2d of King's Crown Press, and to his staff, for the dogged persistence with which they aided and abetted the author. David Efron

N O T E

The problem discussed in this dissertation has "been dealt with at greater length in a hook, Race and Gesture, prepared by the same author (in collaboration with the American painter, Stujnreaant Van Veen) under the auspices of the Council for Research in the Social Sciences of Columbia University. A copy of that book, containing numerous graphs, sketches, charts, and other illustrative material is available at the Department of Sociology, Columbia University. A bibliography on gesture and posture, containing nearly 1,000 items has also been compiled by the author under the auspices of this Council and will soon be published. The reader will please refer, whenever the phrase "op. cit." occurs within parentheses within the work and without other identification, to the Notes which may be found beginning on page 159.

•i

T A B L E

OF

C O N T E N T S

FOREWORD, by Franz Boas

ii

I. INTRODUCTION

1

H . A COMPARATIVE STUDY of the Gestures of Eastern Jews and. Southern Italians in New York City, living under similar as weil as different environmental conditions 1. The Problem, the Material, the Methods

1+0

2. Tendencies in the Gestural Behavior of "Traditional" Eastern Jews in New York City

1+3

A. Spatio-temporal Aspects B. "Inter-locutional" Aspects C. "Linguistic" Aspects 3. Tendencies in the Gestural Behavior of "Traditional" Southern Italians in New York City

79

A. Spatio-temporal Aspects B. "Inter-locutional" Aspects C. "Linguistic" Aspects !+. Table Summarizing Differences between Tendencies in the Gestural Behavior of "Traditional" Eastern Jews and "Traditional" Southern Italians

103

5. Tendencies in the Gestural Behavior of "Assimilated" Eastern Jews and Southern Italians in New York City

107

6. The "Hybrid" Gesture

131

III. CONCLUSIONS

I36

IV. ILLUSTRATIONS

139

V. NOTES AND REFERENCES

159 vii

F O R E W O R D The folloving discussion is part of a somewhat ertended investigation of the influence of race and environment upon bodily development and upon behavior, carried on by the Department of Anthropology of Columbia University. In the discussion of hereditary behavior the concepts of race and of biological descent have been confused, giving rise to the idea of a predominant influence of race. Since every so-called race contains a great many individuals of distinct genetic characteristics and since, furthermore, analogous genetic characteristics occur in various "races," more rigid methods are required. In every investigation of this kind the influence of environment and of genetic determination has to be clearly differentiated. From this point of view two methods of approach present themselves. On the one hand, the behavior of genetically identical individuals living under different conditions may be studied. This has been attempted in the investigation of identical twins in which, however, not enough etress has been laid upon the detailed investigation of social environment. The newer investigations which indicate an increasing variability of identical twins during the period of growth, and the recent Russian investigations which indicate a high variability in physiologlcr.l and psychological behavior, indicate that the influence of environment should be taken into consideration much more carefully than has been done heretofore. A second feasible method is to study the development and behavior of large groups of individuals and of their descendants in markedly different environments. This method has been pursued in the investigations on part of which the following report is based. The anatomical development and social behavior of the same group of people under different types of social and climatic environment have been studied. The tempo of motor habits, the frequency of various types of insanity, the distribution of types of crime have been subjects of our studies. The present publication deals with the problem of gesture habits from the point of view of their cultural or biological conditioning. The trend of this investigation as well as ix

that of the other subjects investigated indicate that, as far as physiological and psychological functioning of the body is concerned, the environment has such fundamental influence that in larger groups, particularly in sub-divisions of the White race, the genetic element may be ruled out entirely or almost entirely as a determining factor. This does not preclude that individually a biological element may be of importance in regard to many aspects of anatomical form and partly also of behavior, but the great variations of genetic characteristics in members of each group make it, so far as these are concerned, an insignificant factor. The behavior of the individual depends upon his own anatomical and phyoiological make-up, over which ie superimposed the important influence of social and geographic environment in which he lives.

Franz Boas

ζ

I.

I N T R O D U C T I O N

"Ja, die Errungschaften der Sittenlehre sollen uns den Schlüssel zu vielen mimischen Erscheinungen bieten." Henry Hughes, Die Mimik des Menschen, Frankfurt, Verlag von Johannes, 1900, p. 17. A.

Theoretical

The claim has been made that both the amount and the manner of gesticulation of an individual are basically determined by racial descent. Perhaps the most emphatic formulation of this claim is that of Hans Günther, one of the high priests of political "anthropology" in the Third Beich. Mankind, according to Günther, is composed of four distinct "races" (the Nordic, the Western, the Eastern, and the Dinaric), each having a specific and essential psychosomatic make-up. Among the bodily characteristics, long-headedness, for example, is claimed to be typical of all the members of the so-called Nordic race, shortheadedness of all those belonging to the Eastern. Similar absolute racial distinctions are established by Günther in terms of hair color, complexion, stature, etc. As to the psychological traits, "Nordic taciturnity and restraint, - reserve - coolness and stiffness" are contrasted with Western "emotionality, spiritual restlessness, and playfulness," etc. The "soul" of the Western race, we are told, is like its body; "slender, light, small" [sic]. In a similar vein, Günther contrasts Eastern "parsimony, - reserve, - slowness, and circumspection" with Dinaric "exactness" and "inclination to sudden outbursts" [sic]. These alleged psychosomatic traits predetermine in his opinion both the quantity and the quality of the gestural movements of the corresponding individuals. Thus the gestures (and also the walking motions) of the "Nordic" are described as racially "quiet" and "controlled." "The environment," he adds, "may pattern the racial characteristics of the Nordic movements, but cannot eradicate them entirely." The bodily movements of the Western "race" are said to be "rocking," "slightly swinging," and "soft," and denote "a 1

certain innate histrionic capacity." The Western man "takes great Joy in the spoken word and. in pleasing and lively movements [His] mental energies are all turned rather outwards, in the Nordic inwards Mediterranean ferment stands opposed to Nordic restraint." The gestures of the Eastern "race" are described as "not as fluent as those of the Western" and "not as clear" as those of the Nordic. Unlike the latter, it is also claimed, they show "a lack of integration" with the expression of the whole body. Finally, Dinaric man is described as "showing histrionic powers as a racial endowment," his gestures being full of "decision" and "energy," and betraying in general a certain "stinginess of movement" (Bewegungskargheit). Mr. Günther also deals separately and specifically with "Jewish" bodily movements, but this time we are confronted with a dichotomy of "acquired" versus "hereditary" gestures, although the former, we are told, also go back "somehow" to a hereditary disposition. The latter, he claims, are detectable in those movements which are "common to all Jewish groups." In those "half-Jews" whose bodily traits, as a result of racial miscegenation, appear to us as "non-Jewish," their "Jewishness," he asserts, is recognizable in their gestures.! In a subsequent paragraph we are told that the "Jewishness" of the Jewish gestures is not limited to the Jewish people, but is found also in some of the movements of all the human groups having a racial composition similar to that of the Jew, "such as the Mediterranean." The "Jewish" movements, we are apprised now, are "Mediterranean" movements in specific Jewish form (op. cit., p. 25*0. Mr. Günther leaves us entirely in the dark as to what this "form" may be. Furthermore, there is no empirical evidence in his books to this or to any of his other claims regarding the alleged racial determination of gesture. All his statements in this connection appear to be purely speculative in character. Fritz Lenz deals in a similar fashion with alleged psychological differences between various "races." According to him, the "Mediterranean" betrays an innate "restlessness" and "liveliness," "a taste for gesture and a fondness for the spectacle of lively and variegated movement," a "childish gayness" and a "strong impulse to manifest the feelings in words and gestures." In this, we are told, the Mediterranean resembles the Negro who also exhibits a "childish lack of the power of restraint," and "an oratorical gift . . . . 2

and liveliness....obviously an outcome of hereditary endowment." These "infantile" modes of behavior of the Mediterranean are, in Mr. Lenz' opinion, related to the more basic psycho-racial trait of "superficiality," in contrast to the "depth" of the "Nordic," which endows him with "an aristocratic power of self-restraint." As to the Near-Eastern "race," made up chiefly of "Jews, modern Greeks, and Armenians," . . . . "in oratorical faculty and in capacity for expressing thoughts and feelings by gesture and play of countenance, it excels all other races." In the same essay Mr. Lenz deals more specifically with the "racial" traits of the Jews, but this time he considers the latter as a separate "mental race." The distinction is no more between Mediterranean, Near-EaBtern, and Nordic, but between the Jew and the Gentile, the latter becoming synonymous with the "Teutonic." "Jewish volubility" is in marked contrast to "Teutonic taciturnity," Just as the "Jewish haste" contrasts with the "quietude" and the "slow mobility" of the Teuton. "Their marked imaginative insight . . . . makes the Jews bora actors. A position slightly milder than those of Lenz and Günther is taken by Walter Berger in a more recent publication on "the Jewish racial problem." Mr. Berger is ready to concede that in spite of the similarities in physical structure existing between an Alpine and a Jew, there are "extraordinary differences" in their bodily movements, which must be explained in terms of differences in tradition and life conditions of the corresponding groups. Like Günther he thinks, however, that also these differences "go back somehow to race." This "somehow" is described by Mr. 3erger in a compromise formula which runs as follows: what is "racial" in the Jewish expression (whether gestural, vocal, or linguistic) is "the general expressive energy," coming from "a strong Asiatic strain," whereas the specific "Jewish style" of this expression is conditioned by national factors.5 Like Mr. Günther, Mr. Berger also chooses to remain entirely silent aa to what the Jewish style of gesture may be. Again, neither in Mr. Berger's nor in Mr. Lenz' writings 1B there the slightest indication as to the data and the methods by which they have arrived at their rather startling discoveries. As in the case of Mr. Günther, their claims .ppear to be based more on fancy than on fact. In a book written by Mr. L. F. Clauss, together with an 3

elaborate account of the "resulta" of his "Investigations," there 1s a description of the procedure used in obtaining them. At the very outset we learn that in the study of race there is only one method that meets the requirements of good anthropological thinking. This Mr. Clause calls "the mimical method." We are soon warned, however, that this method is not available to everybody hut is rather "a certain intuitive capacity" (eine gewisse intuitive Begabung) found only in certain gifted individuals, which enables them to detect what is "typical" or "racial" in the bodily expression of a human being. A race, according to Mr. Clauss, is án "Idea," in the platonic sense of the word, and Just a,s there are people "blind to colour,· so are there people blind to "type" (ideenblinde), who will never be capable of doing "psychoracial theory." True anthropology, he further asserts, does not and cannot utilize the procedures of empirical observation and quantitative intercomparison, for these give us only an "external" view of the essential nature of an individual. What really counts in the study of racial characteristics is not the number of cases but their selection (Nicht die Zahl der Einzelfälle ist hier entscheidend, Bondern die Wahl), and this selection is not the result of logical inference, but of sympathetic intuition (Einfühlung);^ in order to discover what is "racial" in the gestural movements of a person one has to "co-experience" the psychical process (Erlebniss) which they reflect, and this "Erlebniss" is an immediate datum which cannot be studied objectively. According to Mr. Clauss, the human body is a "stage" on which the psycho-racial traits of the individual manifest themselves in the form, of facial movement, gesture, voice, etc. In each bodily motion there is an "expressive material" and an "expressive style," both of which are racially determined. Each "race" has its characteristic body and soul, and each racial body-soul its typical mode of expressive movement; the style of the body "must" harmonize (müss eins sein) with that of the expression, as well as with that of the "Erlebniss"; an "Erlebniss" of a "Nordic soul" cannot express itself through a non-Nordic body; thus, the gestural style of a Mediterranean is racially linked to "light hair" [!], for only such hair will swing around with the movements of a Mediterranean body [sic].5 There are, according to Mr. Clauss, six different "types" of Man, each of which is said to have distinct psychological characteristics. For example, there is the "Man of Achievement," corresponding to the "Nordic" race, whose psychical

traite are described as "self control," "taciturnity," "coolness," etc. Then there is the "Man of Offering," or "Mediterranean." race, who "worries ah out the impression he makes on the spectator," and whose life is like a "play" before an audience, like "a dance from the platform," etc. There is also the Orientaloide "type" which "does not control itself . . . . is sudden and impulsive"; and the NearEastern, which "lacks in natural elegance," is "essentially entangled," and "hores through" (hineiribohrt) objects and persons, in contrast to the Eastern which "shrinks back, snail-like, into its inner self, out of which it cautiously projects itB feelers." To these psycho-racial traits correspond, in Mr. Clausa' opinion, the following gestural (and postural) characteristics . The "Nordic gesture" is restrained; it shuns the sweep away from the body; every movement that reaches out "beyond the area actually necessary for the expression," strikes the Nordic m a n as uncontrolled, and, therefore as "unbecoming"; the "taciturnity" of the Nordic soul reflects itself in its gestures; in contrast to that of the Mediterranean, the gestural movement of the Nordic does not playfully exhibit itself, but is confined to the essential.® We are told also that the bending of the knees or the trunk in gesticulation, as well as the lateral motions of the bódy are alien to the "Nordic soul"; as a speaker the Nordic always keeps an upright posture, expressive of his "Kraft."7 The gestures of the "Phalic race" are described as "spatially constrained," "like the movements of a fleeing chicken" (Die Arme bewegen sich unlustig und gezwungen im Räume wie ein Huhn das fliegt, p. 166). Those of the Mediterranean are said to be "playful" and "graceful"; the Mediterranean "soul" requires and has a " s m a l l — , s l e n d e r — , cat-like body," fit for free motion; both it», gestures and postures are "theatrical"; just as the sounds Df the Mediterranean languages "swing and dance", ftn contrast to the Germanic ones which, according to Mr. Clauas, lave eliminated all sound that is not essentially meaningful ), so the bodily language of the Mediterranean is "a swinging and dancing of gestures." Mr. Clauss decides, by the way, that the inclination of the Mediterranean for the dancing profession is also racially determined (op. cit., pp. 138-9; cf. also sd. 1926, p. l M O .

5

To the gestural style of the "Orientaloide race," Mr. Clausa adjudges the characteristics of "explosiveness," and "lack of restraint." These are predetermined, he claims, by the bodily structure of the race, which is "flexible, excessively slender, and light" (Die Gestalt dee Rumpfes und der Glieder ist biegsam, überschlank und leicht: gleich aus druckefähig for rasches Auflodern des Lebens in zuckender Plötzlichkeit Op. cit., p. 58; also p. 63). In the Near-Eastern "race," Mr. Clauss finds a tendency to bend the knees in gesticulation, to throw the trunk around, and to perform lateral gestures. As a "proof" of these alleged characteristics, Mr. Clauss presents the reader with a photograph of an English Jewess addressing a crowd. As to the "Eastern race," he asserts that the structure of the head and neck of individuals belonging to this grouping does not permit them to perform head-gestures without violating the expressive style of the race.® Except for a collection of avowedly selected, and for the most part obviously posed, photographs, there is no evidence in Mr. Clause' book of any of his sweeping assertions regarding the relationship between gesture and race. As he himself confesses, his findings are the result of "intuition." A conception similar to that of Mr. Clauss has been set forth by Mr. Ottomar Rutz. HÍB is a kind of inverted racism, in which the "spiritual" element (das Seelisch-Geistige) is the basic determining factor- This element, he tells us, ia a metaphysical "expressive urge" (Ausdrucksdrang) which is transmitted from one individual to another through a channel Mr. Rutz does not care to describe. All we are told is that it is not biological and that it follows a heredity law of its own. Mr. Rutz believes in "spiritual archetypes" (Seelische Urtypen). These, he has found - how, he alone knows are four in number: the "Spherical," the "Parabolic," the "Pyramid!cal," and the "Polygonic," each of them endowed with innate psychological characteristics. Spherical Man is "playful," "easily excitable," "emotionally unstable," etc.; Parabolic Man is "hardly excitable," "slow," "full of measure and planning','; Pyramldical Man is very "tense" and shows a tendency for the "theatrical"; and Polygonic Man is "changeable," "highly tense," "planless," "chaotic," etc.9 To these spiritual traits correspond, according to Mr. Rutz, the following bodily characteristics. Spherical Man:

6

epherical head, round, skull, round face, convex nose, round eyes, short arms and legs, etc. Parabolic Man: lengthy siculi, face, and neck; long, concavely bent nose; lengthy arms, legs, hands and feet; lengthy eyes, etc. Pyramid leal Man: a prevalence of angular transitions; small and narrow head, with angular and sharp edges (eckig und scharf gekantet); singular nose, etc. Polygonlc Mah: monstrous built, polygonic head, angular forehead, lengthy skull, shapeless nose; face lengthy on upper-half, wide on lower; legs very thin; has the typical "Negro body" (Negergestalt).

Each of these four psycho-physical archetypes also has its characteristic hereditary bodily movements (and postures). Thus, "all the movements" of the Spherical Man follow the principle of the arc or the sphere (Alle Bewegungen des sphärischen Menschen haben die Tendenz zum Kreisbogen oder zur Gestaltung in Sinne der Kugel." Op. cit., p. 1+9); the arms and hands are held curved, and the resulting gestures are "round," "ewift," and "fluent"; so are his working motions, and his handwriting; the gestural movements are usually performed in a transversal or vertical plane; shows a tendency to turn his palms upwards in a round gesture; also shakes hands "mit einer rundlich schönen Geste"; his gait is typically "short," "swift," "restless" (the "Bersaglieristep"); similarly, his speech, song» and music have a swift tempo, and a "round melody." As to his postures, these too are "spherical" (cf. op. cit., p. 52 and 191). The gestures of the Parabolic Man are characterized by "long, parabolic twistings"; they are "slow" and "vigorous" ("Die Bewegungen des parabolischen Menschen haben die Neigung . . . . in lan#ezogenen, parabolischen Krunmun^en, mit Mächtigkeit und Langsamkeit zu verlaufen." Op. cit., p. 55); they tend to be elliptical in fora and as a rule take place in a vertical plane; the movement is usually "centrifugal," "far-reaching"; the palms are held "vertically"; his facial motions are slow and uniform; so are his working motions, which in addition "lack dynamic impetus"; his gait is "long," "alow," (the military, "Frederician step"); in hi3 music, both the adagio and the allegro are slower than those of the Spherical Man (cf. op. cit., pp. 55 and 191)· The gestures of the Pyramid!cai Man are "sharp," "elastic," "floret-like," "slow," "precise," and of "even tempo,"10 the finger tips point upwards; his gait is "energetic" and "sharp"; his voice has a "sharp rhythm"; in his posture the body is "drawn upward" (cf. op. cit., p. 110). Finally, the gestures of the Polygonic Man are: "taut to the breaking 7

point," "irregular," "floret-like," and "quickly changeable"; hia voice is "dirk," and "harsh"; 1 1 - his working motions "full of chaotic savagery" (voll chaotischer Wildheit; op. cit., p. 113). After having reconstructed to his satisfaction the psychophysico-gestural characteristics of the four human archetypes, in which "das Seelisch-Geistige" was the predetermining element, Mr. Rutz suddenly falls back into a conception not much different from that of the biological racialist. This takes place by the introduction of a new category, the "Volksindividualität," which our author makes synonymous with the notion of "blood relationship"; the reader is then presented with a classification of m o d e m nations which, except for the names used, is similar to those of Mr. Rutz' less "spiritualistic" colleagues. Thus, we are told, the ancient Romans, the contemporary Italians, Poles, and Roumanians, are predominantly "spherical nations"; the parabolic type comprehends chiefly the Germans, English, Dutch, Swedes, and Hindoos; the ancient Greeks, the modern French, the Goths, Vandals, and Mongolians, the nord-African peoples, the Jews, Arabs, Spaniards, and Portuguese are predominantly "pyramidical nations"; finally, the "polygonic" category covers the great majority of the Negro groups throughout the world (op. cit., pp. lUU-5, 1Ï8, 155-6, loi). In their behavior, gestural and otherwise, all these groups, claims Mr. Rutz, invariably follow their respective spiritual "type-law," regardless of the social milieu in which they live. The absence in his book of any sort of empirical evidence that might tend to substantiate such a sweeping statement, leads one to believe that Mr. Rutz, like Mr. Clauss, is one of those select few who know all through "eine gewisse intuitive Begabung" or, perhaps, through some kind of "Seelisch-Geistige" revelation. The earliest mento-racist theory of expressive bodily movement we have come across is contained in a book by Gehring (Albert). The book deals more generally with the "distinguishing traits of the Graeco-Latins and Teutons," but includes also some epecific statements in connection with motor behavior. According to Mr. Gehring, there is "an essential difference in the mental constitution of these races," which reflects itself in their bodily motions. Thus the "Graeco-Latins" (Italians, Spaniards, French, Portwruese) are "lively, quick tempered, ebullient . . . . talkative,

8

vivacious, and quick in their actions," whereas the "Teutons" (Germans, Englishmen) are, on the contrary, "taciturn and deliberative" in speech and movement. The reason for this difference is to be found in their distinct "racial mentalities." The "classic mind" is "a mind with few objects," and when an idea gains control, "the halo of inhibitory influences will form but imperfectly, and before we know it the trigger of the nerves has been pulled." Again, the ideas of the Graeco-Latins are "simple and unencumbered by a multitude of side thoughts" which makes them flow over easily into words and movements. In contraet to this, the Teutonic mind is "habitually filled with a multitude of opposing impulses or thoughts, and a deadlock prevails . . . .; thought translates itself into motor results but slowly [and] often there are no results at all Germanic taciturnity is due to wealth and complexity of thought. . . . . The thoughts of the Teuton . . . . are obliged to disentangle themselves from a crowd of connected ideas. The spiritual-racist theory of gestural behavior has also been propounded by the Catalonian, Rosseil i Vilar, and by the Frenchman, ^Neuville (Henri). According to both these authors, a race is not something biological, but "a mentality." For Rosseil i Vilar, who calls it also "an intellectual culture," it is an element which permeates the social life, art, and .science of a given human group, but is itself "of an impervious and eternal nature." The primary expression of this mind-race is its typical gestures. Morphological traits, more or less correlative to these gestures, are of secondary importance. Strictly speaking, a race is "a group of people having the same mentality and the same gestures," both of which, asserts Vilar, remain essentially unchanged under the impact of the social environment. Neuville, who endorses in general Vilar*s view, claims in addition that in the animal world there is a similar correlation between gestures and "mentality." A view somewhat analogous to that of Vilar and Neuville is held by the American sociologist, L. A. Boettiger, who claims that gesture and facial expression are "far more significant as marks of race than the usual bodily characters." Mr. Boettiger, like Mr. Clausa, believes also that in the study of race the method of "intuition" is a better guide than are comparative observation and measurement.!^ All these writers seem to be completely indifferent to the elementary question of empirical evidence. Like Mr. Günther and his followers, they appear to content themselves with speculative assertions.

9

In a book written by Wilhelm Bohle, an attempt is made to interpret gestural behavior from the fourfold standpoint of Kretschmer's "constitutional" theory, the neophrenological conception of the German painter, Huter, the doctrine of the ancient temperamentaliets, and the teachings of the biological racialists. According to Mr. Bohle, Gall did not go far enough when he postulated a correlation between bodily form and intellectual endowment. Instead of twenty-seven mental "faculties," with their corresponding cranial localizations, there are, in his opinion, no less than seventy "psychic zones," with their preestabliahed bodily regions. In every human being one haB to distinguish between somatic and psychic constitution; the latter consists of the "internal" processes of the mind, and the typical ways in which these processes "externalize" themselves in the material world; it is, following Carus, the visible symbol of the invisible "Idea" (cf. Clauss and Rutz). Human behavior, asserts Mr. Böhle, is little affected by the environment; it is, on the contrary, the "inner" character of an individual that patterns his experiences.-^ There are, according to this author, three different, fundamental psycho-bodily types: the "affective type" (Gemutstypus), the "motor type" (Bewegungstypus), and the "perceptive type" (Empfindungstypus). These correspond to Johannes Müller's trilogy of life-forces (vegetative, motor, and sensory), and to Kretschmer's pycnic, athletico-muscular, and asthenic types. Among the essential +raits of the "affective type," Mr. Böhle finds that "quietness" is the most characteristic. This kind of man follows "the golden middle-road" in life; in his affective behavior he is "neither expansive nor contemplative"; he is never extremistic in the manifestation of his feelings; he avoids the theatrical as well as the phlegmatic;15 he does not practice professions involving bodily movement, "because his bones and tissues lend themselves to very little activity." The Alpine race corresponds to this type of man, and, in Mr. Böhle1s opinion, the Eastern Jew is a good example of it (cf. op. cit., pp. 1^2, 11+7, 150, 1 9 7 ) . In the "motor type" Mr. Böhle finds two constitutional sub-varieties: the phlegmatic, corresponding to the "Nordic" race, and the sanguine, corresponding to the "Mediterranean" one (Southern French, Spaniards, Italians, and "Sephardic" Jews). The former he describes as "calculatingly cold," "measured," "sober," "emotionless," "stiff," "self-restrained"; these traita are reflected in his bodily movements, which are characterized as "slow sind parsimoni10

oufl," and in an absence of gesticulation.^ The latter, on the contrary, is "vivacious"; "all his words are accompanied by lively gestures, and in the expression of his feelings and ideas the entire body speaks This, according to Mr. Böhle, is due to an "expressive faculty" (Ausdrucksvermögen) he is congenitally endowed with. In fact, there is always, he claims, a disparity between the intensity of the psychic life of this type of man and the gestural expression of that life; the latter contains more movement than that which is actually necessary (Ausdrucksiibertreibung; cf. Günther); the gestures are "theatrical." Mr. Böhle ascribes the alleged difference between the gestural behavior of the two subvarieties of the "motor type" to a difference in the structure of their skeletons. In both groups the "motor urge" (Bewegungsdrang) is, according to him, equally strong, but in the phlegmatic the nature of the bones hinders muscular movement, whereas in the sanguine it facilitates it (op. cit., pp. 167, 199-201). Finally, in the "perceptive type" the "internal" affective life is "strong" and "spasmodic," but the expressive capacity "weak"; he "swallows dora" his emotions, because "he lacks the ability of extroverting himself"; gesticulation, adds Mr. Böhle, does not agree with his weak skeleton (p. 1 6 8 ) . Mr. Böhle offers no evidence whatever in substantiation of any of his statements. Karl Skraup postulates five different determining factors of bodily motion (gestural and othervise), namely: "intellect,·" "occupation," "temperament," "culture," and "race." First of all he sees a general correlation between liveliness of mind and liveliness of movement: the greater the former, the greater the latter;-*-" corroborative of this, he thinks, is the "fact" that in the peasant, gesticulation is less frequent and vivacious than in the inhabitant of a little town, while in the latter it is less common and lively than in the resident of a big city. Within this general distinction, based on degree of mental responsiveness, Mr. Skraup sees a more specific gestural differentiation in the urban groups in terms of occupation;19 thus, the movements are "slow," "measured," and "fixed" in the scholar, "light, elastic, and full of plasticity" in the artist, "energetic" in the military leader, "angular" in the office-man, "ample and vigorous" in the blacksmith, "short" in the tailor, etc. In the country people the movements are, on the contrary, uniform: "angular and awkward" (cf. op. cit., pp. 216-221). ThiB description promptly gives way to a new one, based on "race." The criterion of "intellect" is used again, but this 11

time the level of mentality, not the liveliness, becomes the determinine factor. Thus, ve are told, "the wilder and less intelligent" people are, the more "animal-like" their bodily expression will be. Within the European "race" he finds the following intra-group differences in the "strength" and the "form" of the bodily expression. G r o u p

E x p r e s s i o n

Italian, French, Roumanian German, Dutch, Flemish English, Scandinavian, Danish Polish, Czech Russian Spanish, Portuguese, Bulgarian, Serbian, Albanian, Armenian

Strength

Form

extreme medium moderate little little

rich very rich rich very rich poor

extreme

poor

The racial characterization is immediately followed by another, based on "temperament." Thus, the movements of the sanguine type are "lively, fast, and round"; those of the choleric, "angular"; those of the phlegmatic, "short and lazy"; and those of the melancholy type, "slow" (op. cit., p. 228). Skraup tells us next that every "culture," like every "race," has its own facial and gestural e x p r e s s i o n . 2 0 Thus the movements of the ancient Hindoos, Babylonians, Egyptians, and Phoenicians were, in Mr. Skraup1s opinion, "large and careful"; those of the Greeks and Romans of the Golden Age "very expressive," and "very round"; after the orientali ζation of Greece and the Germanization of Rome, the movements of the Greeks became "soft," those of the Romans "wild" and "rough." The movements of the Teutons, adds Mr. Skraup, were like their character: 'btrong" and "determined." Under the influence of Christianity and Mediterranean ceremonialism they later became "refined, soft, and multiform" (op. cit., pp. 230-2I+3). All this may be ascertained, Mr. Skraup assures us, from a study of their works of art. The "racial," "temperamental," occupational and cultural determinants of gestural expression are secondary, however, rules Mr. Skraup, to the more "basic" one of "intellect" (op. cit., p. 223). Except for a few rather keen observations regarding occupational movement, Mr. Skraup's characterizations are speculative in character. Ernest Kretschmer claims that the form of the bodily 12

movements (gestural and otherwise) of an individual iβ determined by his "constitution" and his "character" (or "temperament") . The former he defines as "the collection of all physical qualities which depend on heredity," the latter as "the mass of affective and volitional reactive possibilities . . . . which include not only hereditary dispositions but also physical and psychical influences derived from environment." He claims in addition that both "constitution" and "character" are determined, in turn, by "racial" descent. Kretschmer classifies human beings under four distinct physical categories, namely: the "pyknic," the "athletic," the "leptosome," and the "dysplastic." These alleged bodily types he describes as follows: Pyknic : short, thick-set, with a large trunk, short legs, round chest, round shoulders, and short hands and feet; Athletic : a proportionate development of trunk and limbs, with wide shoulders and large hands and feet; Leptosome : tall, slender, with a narrow chest, long legs, elongated face, and long, narrow hands and feet; Dysplastic: disproportionate, to the point of abnormality. To these four constitutional "types" correspond, in his opinion, two fundamentally different "temperamental" types: the "cycloid" and the "schizoid." These are conceived by Mr. Kretschmer as normal types, the extreme (abnormal) cases of which would be the so-called manic-depressive and the schizophrenic, respectively. The normal "types" are also called "cyclothyme" and "schizothyme." Behaviorally the former is described as "lively" and "social," the latter ae "quiet," "reserved," and "shut-in." According to Kretschmer, the pyknic individual is as a rule cyclothymic, the leptosome usually schizothymic. "Racially" the pyknic-cyclothyme is predominantly found, in his opinion, among "Mediterraneans," the leptosome-schizothyme among "Nordics." The bodily movements of the former are described by Kretschmer as "rounded," "smooth," "fluid," "natural," and "adequate to stimulus"; those of the latter as "restrained," "lamed," "measured," "angular," "stiff," and "Inadequate to stimulus." "Restrained quality in gesture" and "military stiffness in expression and movement" are, he claims, "inherited peculiarities in schizoid families, even in circumstances v.'here such things are not cultivated . . . . or are actually avoided."-·'- There is no empirical evidence in Kretschmer's book which would tend to substantiate these categorical statements.

13

An earlier attempt to "explain" differences in gestural behavior from the manifold standpoint of "race," "constitution," "temperament," "character," and environment was made by the French writer, Fouillée (Alfred) in his Esquisse Psychologique des Peuples Européens, Paris, Alean, 1903. Each nation, according to Fouillee, has its peculiar "natural character," which is determined by its "tenqperament" and "constitution"; these are, in turn, conditioned by "racial origin" and physical environment. At the same time he distinguishes, however, in each nation an "innate character," which he calls psycho-physiological, and an acquired one, which he terms psycho-social. These distinctions soon give way to an affective-gestural characterization of nations based on the theory of the "temperaments" of the ancients. Thus the Italians are said to be predominantly of a "bilious" temperament, which predisposes them to an "innate violence and impulsiveness," and consequently to verbal and gestural rhetorics. The Englishmen and the Germans have, on the contrary, Fouillée asserts, a "phlegmatic" temperament, which is "in natural harmony" with the climate of their countries. These two factors, claims Fouillée, account for the "obtuse sensibility" of these people, as contrasted with the "emotional explosiveness" of the Italians, and the emotional "expansiveness" of the French. The factors of "temperament" and climate, adds Fouillée, are in this case less important, however, than that of "racial heredity. n¿¿ Finally, the French are said to have a "sanguine" temperament, which would account for their "lively and mobile passions"; the emotions of the French people "run swiftly throughout the entire organism," thereby producing "those gestures which immediately betray the internal impressions" (op. cit., p. 457). A theory similar to that of Fouillée -..'as advanced in 1867 by the German linguist, Viktor Hehn, in his book, Italien. Hehn ascribes the differences in gestural behavior to differences in the structure of the skeleton and in "blood temperature." Thus "the Italian skeleton" is said to be "lighter" and "more delicate" than the German, thereby facilitating the responses of the neuro-motor system; again, the mental processes as veil as the accompanying gestures of the "lymphatic German" are described as "alow" and "laborious," in contrast to the "lively responsiveness" of the "hot-blooded" Italian.2-

111

The preceding summaries constitute a sufficient basis for an appraisal of the objective validity of the racist "explanation" of gestural behavior. Quotation has saved comment. Many of the statements quoted are unworthy of serious consideration. Some appear to be the result of emotional, (political?) bias; others, in their irrationality, closely resemble the products of oneiric phantasy. To speak, for example, of racially Jewish gestures in "half-Jewish bodies", (Günther); of "racial" chairs, landscapes, and wearing apparel, (Clause); of "polygonic bodies," "elliptical souls," and "spherical postures," (Rutz); etc., makes the world look very picturesque, indeed, but also makes very little sense. Such expressions are more indicative of the poetical gifts of the authors concerned than of their fitness to engage in factual research, and one is bound to wonder whether these authors might not have been a bit more convinciirg had they managed to remain faithful to the "racial taciturnity" which their fancy has ascribed to the ethnic group to which they happen to belong. The following two fundamental objections to their approach may be raised: (l) Most of their claims regarding the alleged gestural characteristics of the "racial" groups mentioned in their writings are purely speculative. Empirically these authors have nothing to go by but some vague Impressions which they have turned into typological categories by a process of logical abstraction. Except for a few "selected" photographs, in the case of Mr. Clauss, no evidence is set forth in substantiation of any of their assertions. Nor is there any hint in their books as to the use of the techniques of empirical observation, description, and quantitative intercomparison. In fact, in some cases these objective procedures are brazenly scoffed at in the name of irrational "methods" such as "a certain subconscious Intuitive capacity" (Clause); a metaphysical perception of "inner forces" and "archetypes" (Rutz), and the like. Occasionally their characterizations appear to be loose generalizations baaed on the observation of isolated cases. To give an example, Mr. Gunther seems to have observed in certain Eastern Jews a tendency to gesticulate chiefly from the elbow, with the upper-arm kept close to the body and held relatively motionless (cf. Rasaenkunde, p. 327). As will be shown below, this observation happens to be correct as far as a certain particular Eastern Jewish sub-group is concerned. Mr. Günther, however, without

15

advancing any proof, emphatically rules that the said tendency is characteristic not only of all Eastern Jews, hut of "all individual Jewish groups" as well. (2) Their theories of "race" are plagued with conceptual fictions that have no place in scientific reasoning ["soul" (Günther, Clause), "promethean character" (Lenz), "spiritual heredity" (Rutz), etc., etc.]. Moreover the obscurity resulting from their metaphysical terminology is increased by a tendency to freely interchange one conceptual fiction for another. An added element of confusion results from a further tendency on their part to interchange mutually exclusive biological, psychological, and cultural notions. Thus, Mr. Berger draws first a distinction between what he calls "expressive energy" and "expressive style," and rules that the former is hereditary whereas the latter is acquired. But ipso facto this distinction gives way to the illogical notion that the acquired gestural style is also "somehow" hereditary. Mr. Lenz conceives first of the Jews as part of a physical "race" (the Near-Eastern), but in the next paragraph he defines them as a "mental race" in themselves, and this time the distinction is no more between the so-called Near-Eastern race and the other alleged "races" but between the Jew and the Gentile.

Any serious attempt to correlate "race" with a given form of human behavior (gesture in this case) must comply with two fundamental requirements: (a) it must prove that the individuals of any of the groups selected for study belong to a uniform so-called racial type, and (b) it must investigate empirically, under similar as well as different environmental conditions, the specific form of behavior chosen, and set forth the data used and the results obtained. It has already been pointed out that none of the authors quoted has fulfilled the latter condition. Their gestural "descriptions" and classifications are for the most part generalizations based on the observation of isolated cases. This fact alone would be a sufficient reason to dismiss their claims that gesture is racially determined. Moreover, their concepts of race or "type" are vague and contradictory, when not entirely meaningless. The notion of race as "a platonic Idea," for instance (Clause), or as a "spiritual archetype" (Rutz) are a-logical, and fall under the Jurisdiction of the mythologist, if not of the psychiatrist. As to the others, 16

they seem to be hardly more than producta of logical abstraction. The physical criteria used by Mr. Günther, for example, in his "racial" classifications have repeatedly been employed by physical anthropologists: stature, volume of skull, shape of nose, protrusion of the Jaw, texture and color of the hair, and pigmentation of the eyes. All these traits have proved to be unreliable. Some, like pigmentation of the eyes and hair color, because of their many shadings, are not susceptible of quantitative intercomparison. This applies also to skin color. Furthermore, it has been demonstrated that the same pigments enter in the composition of almost all human skins, and that a slight difference in the proportion of the composing pigments may produce a noticeable difference in skin color. The volume of the skull is likely to vary with the eize of the entire organism. The other traits used by Mr. Günther as "race"-criteria are perhaps less unsatisfactory from the standpoint of measurability, but have been shown to be equally fallacious in the face of two facts of a different order, (a) there is a wide variability within any and all so-called European races with regard to any and all the traits mentioned, (b) there is wide overlapping between these groups in any of the traits. As Boas has pointed out, the common observation of outstanding morphological differences between certain so-called racial groups is likely to make us disregard the existence of marked differences within each of the groups chosen. It ÌB easier to distinguish, for example, a Swede from a Negro of Central Africa than from a North German or from another Swede; it is easier to distinguish a Negro from a White than from another Negro. A more careful examination indicates, however, that there is a wide diversity in physical structure within the Swedish and Negro populations. There is hardly a single human group that is not the result of "racial" intercrossings. This is particularly true with regard to the European groups discussed by Mr. Günther and Co. All of these are hybrid products of biological intermixtures that have been taking place from time immemorial owing to migrations and invasions of all kinds. Thus, the southern Italian of today carries Greek, Phoenician, and North-African "racial" strains in his veins; in Spain we find mixtures of Basque, Oriental, Celtic, Ronan, Teutonic, Moorish, and Jewish elements; the ''types" found today in England are the results of Welsh, Irish, Celtic, Roman, Anglo-Saxon, and Scandinavian acbiixtures; the Jews are products of Oriental, Mediterranean, Hanitic, Negro, and "Nordic" intercrossings; among the so-called Nordics we find combinations of at least seven different "racial" strains: originally the Ger17

manic tribes occupied an area between the Black and North seas; they later invaded western and southern Europe, down to North Africa, intermingling with the conquered populatione; during their absence Slavic groups occupied the territory which the Germanic ones had vacated; upon the return of the latter an additional intermixture took place between these and the Slavs, etc.; one finds consequently a wide physical variation within the German population today; narrow ae well as broad faces, hooked aa well as turned up nosee; tall as well as short bodily builds, etc.; in the North blond people with long heads predominate, whereas in the South one encounters a great many darker and short-headed individuals. The history of Germany, and the history of Europe in general, is the history of miscegenation. During the last four centuries the process of biological hybridization has relented, but has never stopped entirely. Any attempt, therefore, to extricate out of that heterogeneous biological compound that is the European population today a distinct "racial" type is a hopeless task. The racial classifications of Mr. Günther, et al., are based on an illogical interchange of biological and linguistic notions. As has been pointed out by Max Müller, an ethnologist who speaks of a Nordic (or a Semitic) race is comparable to a linguist who Bpeaks of a dolichocephalic (long-headed) dictionary or a brachycephalic (broad-headed) grammar. A physical trait could be taken as a valid criterion of "race" only if it were proven that it is an exclusive characteristic of all the individuals allegedly belonging to a uniform biological type. There is no single morphological trait that meets this requirement, particularly when one considers large groups of people. Such a situation is only found, perhaps, in certain small, isolated communities where interbreeding has been taking place for a long time. Strictly speaking it occurs only in the case of identical twins, although even then there ie never morphological identity, only similarity. If instead of one, one takes, as Mr. Günther does, several traits, the variability within a given group and the overlapping between groups become utterly confusing. The more criteria one uses, the less consistency one finds. In other words, the individuals conforming to the combination of traits become proportionately fewer. "If the majority of a people are tall, long-headed, of light complexion, with narraw faces and straight noses, we construct this combination of features as a type Supposing that the features under consideration are mutually independent, one-half of the

18

population will have one of the typical traits; one-half of this (that is, one-quarter) will have two combined, traits; one-half of this, that is one-eighth, will have three of the typical traits combined; so that when ten such traits are counted, only one in 102U individuáis will combine all the typical traits. The type is not an individual but an abstraction." It could also be said that the greater the number of traits used, the more the picture of a "race" will approach the description of a single individual. On the other hand, depending on the number of traits chosen as "racial" criteria, a given individual will be found to belong to one or more "races." Again, any change in the combination of criteria used in each case will necessarily yield a different "race." Thus, Huxley found five "races," Deniker twenty-nine, Haeckel thirty-three, etc. All this aside from the important consideration that it still remains to be proven that any of the traits used as racial criteria possess diagnostic significance. "Nobody haa tried to answer the question why certain measurements vere taken [and] why they were considered significant." (Boas) The history of racial taxonomy offers an interesting comment on the arbitrary character of the criteria used: traits that were considered basic at one time were viewed as less important at another; thus, Blumenbach ascribed primary significance to the form of the Bkull; subsequently the form of the nose came to be regarded as more important; etc. An additional vitiating element in the morphological characterizations of races is the fact that no anatomical trait is entirely impervious to environmental influence. Climate, altitude, diet, exercise, posture, etc., may change the form as well as the physiological functions of the human organism. The results of Boas' comparative measurements (more recently confirmed by those of Guthe and Hirsch) of the cephalic indices of American-born and foreign-born boys of eastern Jewish and southern Italian extraction are examples in point. The factor of age also has to be considered. It is clear, therefore, that before any attempt is made to classify human beings in terms of allegedly inherited morphological characteristics, one has to settle first, not only the question of what features are to be measured and how the measurement is going to be done, but also the question of how much and in what way the particular trait chosen has been conditioned by extra-organic factors. As far as we know, this has never been done satisfactorily, and it is far from certain that such a thing is always feasible. At any rate, there is no indication 19

in Mr. Günther'8 writings, nor in those of the other authors under discussion, of their having ever tackled these problems. Mr. Günther's four European "racial" types are obviously the results of logical abstraction. As to Mr. Clause's and Mr. Rutz's "archetypes," the following analysis by Boas will explain why they can hardly be taken as more than figments of imagination. "All attempts to reconstruct the component elements of a population of mixed ancestry are destined to fail. Sup-nosing, for instance, that we did not know a White race and a Negro race, but only Mulattoes. Could we reconstruct a White race and a Negro race? If we knew the laws of inheritance of each individual trait, their interrelations and the changes that may occur owing to mixture; if furthermore we knew what the influences of environment and selection had been, this might seem possible; but these intricate mechanisms Eire very imperfectly known, and the task would be like that of a person who ÌB to solve a single equation with many unknown quantities and with hardly any guide in the selection of quantities that would fulfill the conditions of the original equation" (Op. cit., pp. 70-71). All this, we may add, on the unproved (and unprovable) assumption that there originally was such a biological "equation" or "racial archetype." The preceding considerations appear to indicate that at their best "physical classifications of race merely attempt to delimit groups of approximate physical uniformity, with a restricted assumption of similar heredity" (E. H. Hooton, Apea, Men, and Morons, Putnam's Sons, New York, 1937)· The contention of Mr. Günther et al. that the large human groups included in their "racial" categories are also endowed with distinct innate psychological characteristics is no more valid than their assumption that there is an inherited morphological uniformity within each particular group and a marked dissimilarity between one group and another. From a methodological standpoint, if it is hazardous to make such claim in regard to bodily structure (because of the difficulties involved in deciding what and when to measure and how to measure it), how much more hazardous it is to make it in the case of psychological make-up, where there is often strong disagreement as to what constitutes a "trait," or as to whether there exists any adequate way of describing it, let alone any technique of measuring it! Aa a natter of fact, the descriptions given by the authors in question of the alleged mento-racial characteristics of the groups under discussion are for the most part so vague that it is practically 20

impossible to detect what vas meant by them. Some are coachec In a metaphorical terminology that only adds more obscurity to an already obscure problem. In certain cases it is rather doubtful whether the author himself had any notion of what he was referring to. Thus, Mr. Günther speaks of "slenderriess of soul," Mr. Lenz of spiritual "depth," Mr. Clause of "a certain heaviness of mind," of "souls" that are "entangled" and "bore through," etc. It is hardly necessary to point out that there is little sense in talking of psychological similarities or differences when one is in no position to describe objectively the traits that one seeks to compare or to contrast. Strictly speaking, the psychological categories listed by these authors are, w i t h a few exceptions, merely hypostases of abetract n o u n s . B e this as it may, from a theoreticostatistical standpoint, to claim that a single psychological trait is common to all the individuals of any of the alleged "races" in question (actually millions of people in each case^ and is not found in any of the individuals of any of the other "races," is already a daring assumption. To assert, moreover, as these authors do, that this holds true not only with a given single trait, but with an entire set of them, sometimeΒ running as high as t e n in number, is, to say the least, a statistical impossibility. Furthermore, it runs counter to one of the most elementary and indisputable findings of ethnology and history, namely that in the huge populations in question there is, a n d there always was, a tremendous variability of behavior within each group, a n d overlappings between groups, due to environmental factors of all kinds (national, religious, occupational, etc.). In the face of the wide behavioral and morphological variabilities which are found i n any given large group of human beings, to claim moreover, as Mr. Günther, et al., do, that each of their alleged "racial" types is endowed not only w i t h a distinct set of psychological and gestural traits, b u t also with an equally distinct and corresponding combination of biological characteristics, is, at its best, a figment of the imagination. A n interdependence of bodily structure and behavior may be said to exist perhaps only in certain cases of inherited constitutional abnormality, b u t it has never b e e n proved that these cases have anything to do with "racial" origin.

21

Β.

Historical

The problem of determining the factors that condition the gestural behavior of a given human group cannot be solved by speculative assumptions nor by vague generalizations. There are only two legitimate ways of approaching It: (a) the experimental, (b) the historical. Space forbids description of all the historical material on gestural conduct we have been able to assemble. Tempting as it is, Buch a description would make up a book in itself. All we can do now is to give a few examples.26 Foreigners talk with their arms and hands as auxiliaries to the voice. The custom is considered vulgar by us calm Englishmen You have no need to act with the hands, but, if you use them at all, it should be very slightly and gracefully, never bringing down a fist upon the table, nor slapping one hand upon another, nor poking your fingers at your interlocutor. Pointing, too, is a habit to be avoided, especially pointing with the thumb over the shoulder, which is an inelegant action You should not be too lively in your actions Thus reads a passage in a treatise on good manners of the Victorian period.Similar passages may be found in many other social codes of that period. Unlike Mr. Günther, et al., the English gentleman of I87O does not seem to have considered gesticulation an innate Impropriety, characteristic only of certain non-"Nordic" groups, but merely a "foreign" vulgar custom, disliked by "us calm Englishmen." He seems to have assumed, however, that all Englishmen of all times were as calm and parsimonious in their expressive bodily motions as were apparently the habitués of his club. Had he spent some time looking through the window of history, instead of leisurely watching from his club window the sidewalks of an exclusive section of Victorian London, he might have learned that a good many of his ancestors of the Georgiern epoch used to gesticulate as warmly as the "foreigners" of his own lifetime. Again, had he taken the pains of visiting the British Parliament in the seventies, his belief might have been weakened before the large amount and the forcefulness of gestural movement displayed by the leading 22

oratore of that house. This may be ascertained from documents like the following. The first is an eicerpt from a satirical description by Steele of a tendency apparently prevalent among the habitués of the coffee-houses of his time to manipulate the wearing apparel of the conversational partner, and to bring him over "by force of arms." It is taken from The Guardian, June 13 and 15, 1713. There is a silly habit among many of our minor oratore, who display their eloquence in the several coffee-houseB

of this fair city, to the no small annoyance of considerable numbers of her majesty's spruce and loving subjects, and that is a humour they have got of twisting off your buttons. These ingenious gentlemen are not able to advance three words until they have got faet hold of one of your buttons; but as soon as they have procured such an excellent handle for discourse, they will indeed proceed with great elocution. I know not how well same may have escaped, but for my part I have often met with them to my cost; having I believe within these three years last past been argued out of several dozens; insomuch that I have for sometime ordered my taylor to bring me home with every suit a dozen of spare ones, to supply the place of such as from time to time are detached as an help to discourse by the vehement gentlemen before mentioned. This way of holding a man in discourse is much practised in the coffeehouses within the city, and does not indeed so much prevail at the politer end of the town. It is likewise more frequently made use of among the small politicians, than any other body of men; I am therefore something cautious of entering into a controversy with this species of statesmen, especially the younger fry; for if you offer in the least to dissent from any thing that one of these advances, he Immediately steps up to you, takes hold of one of your buttons, and indeed will soon convince you of the strength of his argumentations Besides the gentlemen before mentioned, there are others who are no less active in their harangues, but with gentle services rather than robberies. These while they are improving your understanding, are at the same time setting off your person; they will new-plait and adjust your neckcloth. But though I can bear with this kind of orator, who is so humble as to aim at the good will of his hearer by being 23

his valet de chambre, I must rebel against another sort of them. There are some, sir, that do not stick to take a man by the collar when they have a mind to persuade him. It is your business, I humbly presume, Mr. Ironside, to interpose that man is not brought over his opponent by force of arms. It were requisite therefore that you should name a certain interval, which ought to be preserved between the speaker and him to whom he speaks. For eure no man has a right, because I am not of his opinion, to take any of my clothes from me, or dress me according to his own liking. I am of the opinion that no orator or speaker in public or private has any right to meddle with anybody's clothes but his own. I indulge men in the liberty of playing with their own hats, fumbling in their own pockets, settling their own periwigs, tossing or twisting their heads, and all other gesticulations which may contribute to their elocution; but pronounce it an infringement of the English liberty of a man to keep his neighbour's person in custody in order to force a hearing; and further declare, that all assent given by an auditor under such constraint, is void and of no effect. That the gestural behavior of many of the habitués of the London coffee-houses of Steele's time was not restricted to button-twisting and to the manipulation of the interlocutor's wearing apparel we learn from several sketches of some of these people, drawn from life by William Hogarth. Several of these will be found in Samuel Ireland's Graphic Illustrations of Hogarth (Vol. I, London, 179*1·). An examination of some of Hogarth's other productions indicates that gesticulation was quite prevalent among the Londoners of his time, regardless of social station. There Beams to be little doubt that, in general, Hogarth drew or painted what he actually saw before h i m . H e must have observed a great deal of gestural, movement around him to think that "action is a sort of language which perhaps one time or other may come to be taught by a kind of grammar rules" (see his Analysis of Beauty, p. 139). His pictures are a "series of plates in natural history" (Hazlitt), portraying the behavior of Englishmen of various social strata. Humours of Oxford, 1729, is one of the most telling. (Fig. 2) It repreeents a scene in which a Vice-Chancellor of the said university is admonishing two students caught drinking in a tavern. The gesture of recrimination of the former (pointing with 2k

palm up) is ae expansive as the exclamatory movements of the latter. Polling at the Hustings, plate No. 3, is equally expressive. Note the pleading gesture (of Roman origin) of one of the advocates (extreme left), putting in a protest against the vote of a soldier who, having lost his right arm in Flanders, is unable to lay it on the book, according to law; the exclamatory gesture of the other member of the black robe (center), defending the soldier (hand obliquely up and out, with palms up), and the pointing and tactile gestures of some of the other characters. Oratory Chapel (Fig. l) portrays a scene in one of the worship houses of the famous English preacher, Dr. Henley, a sort of l8th century Anglo-Saxon forerunner of Father Divine, who reintroduced in the English pulpit the expressive delivery of the popular sectaries of of 1650.^® Note the simultaneous gesturing of preacher and auditors: Henley gesticulates from the pulpit, while several people in the audience shout and gesture at each other and at the speaker. No doubt Pope was recalling a scene of this sort when he wrote in his Third Dunelad the following verses: Inbrown'd with native bronze, li! Henley stands Tuning his voice and balancing his hands. The great majority of Hogarth's other pictures are also full of gestural movement. Attention is called particularly to the following: Industry and Idleness (plates 5, 7, 9> ll)> Pit Ticket, Rake's Progress (prison Bcene), Marriage à la mode (plates 2 and Harlot's Progress (plate 1), and The Election (plate 2). Hogarth's, Wood's (cf. footnote 30), and Steele's testimonies indicate that at least some groups of "us calm Englishmen" of the first half of the l8th century did not consider gesticulation "a foreign, vulgar custom," but that they gesticulated rather vehemently. The same seems to have been the case with certain English groups of the second half of that century, the so-called "Georgian epoch." We shall this time draw our examples from the gestural behavior of outstanding English parliamentary speakers of that period. In a book published in 186^, David A. Harsha, assembled a number of direct observations made by several writers of the Georgian epoch. These observations indicate that gesticulation was a rather common occurrence among the leading political figures of that period. Thus, Josiah Quincey, in his Diary, relates that he attended the debates in the House of 25

Lords when the removal of the British troops from Boston waa being aired in Parliament. On January 20, 1776, he witnessed Lord Chatham's famous speech on that subject. "Good fortune," he says, "gave me one of the best places for hearing. Lord Chatham rose like Marcellus. His language, voice, and gesture were more pathetic than ever" (quoted by Harsha, in his Orators and Statesmen, p. 9*0· Goodrich, in his British Eloquence, speaks of Charles James Fox's "ungainly gestures." According to Wraiall, in his Posthumous Memoirs, Lord Brakine was "animated in gesture; . . . .his movements were all rapid" (Cf. Harsha, pp. 205 and 225). Charles Phillips speaks of Grattan's body "swaying like a pendulum; . . . . he seemed always in thought, and each thought provoked an attendant gesticulation . . . .; he bent his body almost to the ground, swung his arms over his head, up and down, and around him " (Cf. Harsha, p. 183)· Daniel O'Connell's gesticulation was "redundant, never commonplace, strictly sui generis . . . .; it could hardly have been more illustrative; he threw himself into a great variety of attitudes . . . . ; now he stands bolt upright, like a grenadier; then he assumes the port and bearing of a pugilist " (Observation made by an American whose name is not disclosed, cf. Harsha, p. 297).·^ Similar remarks will be found in a book by Earl Curzon of Kedleston, who examined the statements of several eyewitnesses. ThuB, "Burke was angular and awkward in his gestures. Pitt used to saw the air with his arms like a windmill . . . ., Grat can indulged in very violent gestures, and swayed his body to and fro . . . ., Lord Macaulay went off at the speed of an express train, [and] his action was ungainly . . . .," etc.32 The "great manner" in parliamentary gestural eloquence also greatly influenced the American orators of that period. In some cases the British manner was assimilated by the American public speakers during their visits to Vestmlnster Hall. There is a wealth of historical material dealing with the gestural behavior of the outstanding representatives of the "Golden Age" of American oratory. Only a small part of it can be quoted here. In a book by Edward C. Parker, published in the middle of the 19th century, we find detailed eye-witness descriptions of the gestural style of the American parliamentary speakers of the same period. Thus, Henry Clay, "a natural orator," had a "very warm temperament [which] spoke to the heart"; his vas 26

"the eloquence of blood," his "long-sweeping arms . . . . swinging about in gesture pliantly His hands played always naturally Sometimes he held in his hand a great red handkerchief . . . . and often forgetting to put it in his pocket, in his rising raptures, that red bandanna would flourish about, with a sort of Jubilant triumph of motion When the inward storm of his temper was upon his heart . . . . his long arms would sweep round his lefty head, and . . . . in their revolving, the little finger of his right hand would catch the little lock of hair on his right temple . . . . flurring it upward and backward His by-play was capital . . . . his whole expression, by face, fingers, and arms, added prodigiously to the effect of what he was saying " Fisher Ames had "a temperament absolutely tropical . . . . he was swept along by a blazing tide of emotions [and his thoughts were] pronounced in all the variety of tones and gestures, which the most impassioned sensibility could dictate to a form " Even Daniel Webster, with his "bilious and phlegmatic temperament," and his "rigorously reasoning" mind, in whom "decorum reigned supreme," and who used to say "I never use a long word when I can find a short one," displayed a rather lively gesticulation. "His gestures," we learn, "were the gestures of enforcing rather than of describing; the pointing finger, the vigorous bringing down of the arm, the easy sidewise wave of all, these were much his variety." Attorney General Pinkney, who for several years had resided in England in a diplomatic capacity, was "a natural orator," with "fierce, unusually warm" temperament. In his delivery he emulated William Pitt, whom he saw orating in the British Parliament. "He had the European manner," and "his action was immensely vehement." Edward Everett's gestural behavior is vividly described by Parker: . . . . as he advances, his arm comes out and his open palm appeals; soon his shut hand and pointing finger moves up and down a little, and rising in mood, his tightly closed hand or both arms uplifted tell of the spirit lightening up within him; at last the movements of the arms and the easy swing of the form blend quickly into each other, and all separate noticeable gesture is lost in one general appearance of life and movement The base and the pediment of the statue is firm, the superior parts swing and play Single impulsive gestures may sometimes seem a little angular or vertical, under a strong inpulse of vigour . . . .; he often shows great momentary energy in action No scattering discharges of power break the concentrated force of his whole artillery of action, striking on the central

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sentiment. [The] external traite of his oratory . . . . strike the casual hearer of Everett most forcibly. Both Edvin H. Chapin and Henry Ward Beecher, "the consummate flower of New England pulpit theology," are eaid to have teen "temperament orators" who gesticulated freely. ". . . . Whether moving their legs or brandishing their arms, passion pulls the pulleys When their arms fly up or heat down, they no more know than they know whether their tongue goes to the roof or to the bottom of their mouth Ardors like theirs are superior to any schoolmaster." Parker depicts Chapin's bodily motions in a speech he heard him deliver in old Faneuil Hall in Boston. "Often he spoke with doubled fists, his form rocking and bending and trembling . . . . with prodigious passion, and in tone which shook us all like a mimic earthquake At moments . . . .his frame heaved with its most irresponsible emotion. "3b Parker's description of Henry Clay's gesticulation is corroborated by the observation of two other contemporaries of the fiery Kentuckian. The attributes of Mr. Clay's eloquence, [says Colton, in his Life and Times of Henry Clay, published before Clay's death] extend to a wider range than that of the voice; his arms, now hanging side by side, now outstretched, now uplifted, now waving with grace or striking with the vehemence of passion; his finger pointing where his piercing thoughts direct; the easy, or quiet, or violent movements of his whole frame; the bending of his body forward, or sidewise, or backward [quoted by Hasha, op. cit., p. 593]· A manifest harmony existed between the suggestions of Mr. Clay's mind and the movements of his limbs Whenever he was in earnest, he talked all over, and there was a language in his limbs which said as clearly as that of the lips He gesticulated all over. As he spoke he stepped forward and backward with effect, and the nodding of his head . . . his arms, hands, fingers, feet, and even his spectacles and blue handkerchief aided him in debate. [Cf. Harsha, pp. 313 and 391.] John C. Calhoun's delivery was also accompanied by gestures. "His action is quick, and both in society and in the senate very expressive" (from a sketch drawn by a foreigner, quoted by Harsha, p. 1*21).

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The "grand manner" in public gestural delivery laeted in England until about the middle of the 19th century, and was still in bloom during the early Victorian period. This may be ascertained from eye-witness descriptions such as those of the Earl Curzon of Kedleston, himself a member of the British Parliament for several years. Thus, according to Curzon*s observations (op. cit., pp. 5U, 55, 69, 69), Gladstone's bodily movements vere "restless and eager"; he was often Been "thundering in vehement declamation, [with] his dramatic gestures His gestures in speech were astonishing in their variety of freedom. He would lean on the table with his right elbow, and point his finger in scorn at the object of his invective or attack. He would smite his right hand on the open palm of his left hand with resounding blows. He would bang the table and the box on it with his clenched fist." Lord Randolph Churchill "gesticulated much with his hands." The Earl of Rosebery was also a great gesticulator, "bold and dramatic, perhaps even at times histrionic." Sir Robert Peel used "animated gestures." R. L. Sheil was "an histrionic speaker, both in action and in voice." Similar observations were made by S. M. Holden in connection with Gladstone, as well as with several more contemporary English parliamentary speakers. At a session attended by Holden in I85I, Gladstone was seen "the right arm in the air in gesticulating action, then the left enforcing a point . . . . . ." Lord Balfour "was brilliant in debate, with . . . . much gesticulation." Winston Churchill "is full of energy and action when addressing an election meeting. He uses his hands and arma freely " Ramsay MacDonald was often seen "gesticulating and walking to and fro on the stage like an actor." Amusingly enough—and with reference to the racist theory of gestural behavior propounded by Messrs. Günther, et al.— the Jew Disraeli, in contrast to a good many of his "Nordic" parliamentary colleagues, "indulged in little gesticulation He would hook his fingers in his armholes while s p e a k i n g . A s a matter of fact, it was precisely Lord Beaconsfield who introduced the "Victorian" style of public delivery--that of "matter-of-factness--which in years to come made of gestural taciturnity an oratorical virtue.

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According to some of the proponents of the racist interpretation of gesture, the French people have a natural propensity to accompany their speech with lively bodily motions. This tendency, they claim, is determined by a hereditary emotional overtnese, as contrasted with what they consider a congenital affective restraint in the Anglo-Saxons. It is rather amusing to learn that a diametrically opposite "natural" theory was held by a prominent French linguist of the l6th century. We are referring to Henri Estienne who, in his hook on the "italianization" of the French language, makes the categorical statement that "Frenchmen are not gesturers by nature and dislike gesticulation." Estienne was engaged at that time in fustigating the upper circles of French society for having succumbed to the Italian idioms and manners which were imported into France (particularly into the court of Henri II) by the Florentine retinue of Catherine de Medici. The two satirical dialogues which he wrote to that effect deal also with gestural assimilation. The document is especially interesting in that it indicates that the French courtiers, and apparently also the Frenchmen of other social strata, of the preceding period, considered gesticulation an impolite and "vulgar" form of behavior. The habit of the upper class Frenchmen of Catherine's time to use gestural movement in conversation is resentfully ascribed by Estienne to the strong influence exerted in Paris by the forms of social demeanor of the Italian courtiers of the niece of Clement VII. This may be gathered from statements like the following: Celtophile.- Voulez-vous dire qu'il-y-a du changement es personnes, non seulement en ce qui concerne le corps, mais aussi quant à l'esprit? Philasvone.- Oui, quant a plusieurs, et principalement des courtisans. Car ils n'ont pas seulement changé d'habits ... mais aussi de gestes et contenance, mesmement d'alleure, et quasi de toutes façons de faire visitées en la conversation ordinaire. Voire ils en sont venue Jusques k faire de grands vices des vsrtus, et de vertus en faire des vices. Et s'est faicte une telle revolution en leurs cerveaux qu'ils aiment ce qu'ils ont hay, et hayssent ce qu'Ile ont aimé. Vela pourquoi il ne vous faudra pas estonner quand vous serez h la 30

court, si vous voyez que plusieurs choses qui estoyent trouvés fort inciuiles le temps passé, et qui aussi vraiment sentent leur grobianiame, y sont maintenant les fort bien venues. Celtophile.- Et les françois italianizent-ils en [les] gestes? Philasvone.- ... ie-ay souuenance de ce que ie vous vay dir: c'est que plusieurs s'accomodent à la mine ItaJLiennée. Like the Victorian gentleman, the patriotic Frenchman thought that only "foreigners" talk with their hands. Had he lived long enough to witness the development of the "honnête homme" and the "société polie" in France, with their "bienséances du corps," and their norma of moderate and graceful gestural conduct, he would have probably been greatly shocked by the fact that also in that case the change was due to no small extent to Italian influence, although of an opposite character, namely: the tradition of "regola e misura" in exexpressive movement, transplanted into the upper layers of 17th century French society.through the translated works on courteous demeanor of Castiglione, Guazzo, Grimaldi, della Casa, etc.57 His belief in the "natural" disinclination of the French people to gestural movement would have strongly been shaken, on the other hand, had he been able to foresee the enthusiastic liking for manual rhetorics of his conationals of the revolutionary and the post-Napoleonic periods, when no foreign influence was operative in that respect at all. The gestural behavior of the "honnête homme" is best portrayed by Faret, in his treatise on courtly demeanor. Voice, facial expression, bodily carriage, and gesture must always remain, we learn, within the boundaries of "une juste situation de tout le corps"; they must neither be "outre mesure,." nor artificially overexact; "... les gestes doivent estre fort moderéz ... Le comble de ces choses consiste en une certaine grâce naturelle, qui en tous ses exercices et jusques à ses moindres actions doit reluire . The standards of emotional sslf-restralnt and of moderation in gestural movement of the "honnête homme" of the 17th century continued to be in high favor in the aristocratic circles 31

under Louis XTV, Louis IV, and part of Louie XVI'a reigns. In the course of the latter period, particularly during the years of strong social unrest preceding the revolution, an extraordinary change in the norms of emotional conduct and in the actual affective behavior of some of these circles made itself apparent; the "honnête homme" gave way to the "âme sensible."39 The taste for overt emotionalism of the "sensible man" found a reflection in his gestural conduct. Both his standards of espressive bodily movement, as well as his actual expressive bodily motions, were strikingly different from those of hie self-restrained ancestor of the "société polie." This may be ascertained from quotations as the following: Les femmes ne gesticuloient point autrefois. On trouvait que leur maintien devoit toujours être calme, et que des gestes en parlant etoient la douceur et la modestie. L'intérêt qu'elles ont pris depuis aux affaires publiques les rendent plus animées dans la conversation; mais une vivacité, causée par de vives discussions, ne salirait, surtout dans les femmes s'allier avec la grâce. [Comtesse de Genlis, Dictionnaire des Etiquettes, chapter "Gestes," vol. 1, p. 2ÏÔT] A similar contrast is found between the new style of theatrical delivery and action and that of the Ancient Regime. Perhaps the most telling document contrasting the emotional and gestural standards of the "honnête homme" with those of the "âme sensible" is an eye-witness account by the Comte de Vaublanc, a habitué of the Parisian stage during the reigns of Louis XTV, Louis XVI, and the Restoration. Je Jugeais les acteurs d'après m o n goût naturel, et non d'après ce qu'on appelait le goût public. Dans le tragique je les trouvais tous bien mauvais, excepté Talma, qui commençait à paraître. La première fois que Je vis mademoiselle Raucourt, Je crus que sa manière de déclamer était une mauvaise plaisanterie, qu'elle avait parle de faire leB gestes extraordinaires qui m'etonnalent. E n effet, quelle fut ma surprise de la voir, dans la sublime imprécation de Camille contre Rome, en disant ce vers: "Que l'Orient contre elle à l'Occident g'allie," tendre è. sa droite une main, tendre l'autre à sa gauche, et les unir ensemble par un mouvement singulier, qui semblait unir l'Orient et 1'Occident. A cet autre vere, Et de ses propres mains

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déchirer ΘΘΒ entrailles," elle portait sea mains sur son ventre, et lui imprimait u n mouvement d'autant plus desagréable qu'il était alora d'une grosseur u n peu démesurée. Je vis mademoiselle Fleury, dans le beau rôle d'Andromaque, le défigurer par une pantomime de cette eapèce. ... A ces mots: "Ensanglantant 1'autel qu'il tenait embrassé," elle fit le geste d'embrasser; et quand elle vint à ce vers: "Et trainé sans honneur autour de nos murailles," elle appuya longuement sur ce mot traîné, et, reculant d'un pas, en repoussant sa longue robe, elle fit avec ses bras u n geste circulaire, pour exprimer autour de nos murailles. Ce dégoûtant spectacle mettait les loges dans u n enthouaiasme impossible à rendre. ... Larive lui-même, qui souvent était heureux dans sa déclamation se conformait quelquefois à ce goût. ... Apres avoir entendu ces mots: "Que vouliez-vous qu'il fit contre trois?" il fit une pause, serra les dents, ferma ses poings mis en avant, leva la jambe droite comme a'11 voulait donner u n coup de pied à son Interlocuteur, et, de ce meme pied, frappant la terre avec force, il cria enfin le "Qu'il mourût" dans u n véritable accès de fureur. M a fille et moi nous n e pûmes y tenir, et nous nous retirâmes, au bruit des applaudissements forcenés. ... Je sais bien que cette noble simplicité ne plairait pas aux bons Parisiens; mais malheur au poëte et à l'acteur qui se conforment à leur goût. Longues années après les temps dont Je parle, mademoiselle Duchesnois donna de nouveaux exemples de cette manière détaillée et imitative. Dans le rôle de Phèdre, à ces vers: "Pourquoi, trop jeune encor, ne pûtes-vous alors, Entrer dans le vaisseau qui le mit sur nos bords?" elle fit u n seste très-expressif pour exprimer l'action d'entrer, et allongea le m o t entrer tant qu'elle put, en appuyant surtout sur la première syllabe. ... D'où vint ce faux goût des acteurs? De ce qu'ils ne peuvent pas se borner à ne voir dans les plus beaux roles, même ceux de Racine, que ce qu'ils renferment effectivement. Ce n'est pas assez pour eux; ila veulent voir et exprimer a u delà, et cet au delà enfanté par eux est bien choquant, quoiqu'il fasse trépigner le parterre. ... A u reste, Je suis convaincu que tous ces hurlements, ces beuglements, ces efforts convulsifs, en accoutumant le spectateur à ce hideux spectacle ont engendré insensiblement la tourbe des dramaturges et toutes ces représentations que nous voyons depuis les dernières années de la Restauration. Il me semble facile de prouver que la déclamation et le jeu des acteurB etaient bien différents sous Louis XIV et du tempa de Racine. ... Reviendrons-nous Jamais à Racine pour 33

le langage et pour le récit! Non, non, très-certainement, h moins qu'un prince, doué comme Louis XIV de l'instinct des choses grandes et nobles, ne témoigne, comme il l'a fait, le goût de ces belles choses et le dégoût des choses contraires A similar passage is found in the Memoirs of the Comtesse de Genii s, who, like Vaublane, lived through the Revolution and the Restoration.^ The preceding material, inconclusive as it is (for further examples cf. our book) does not seem to lend any strength to the view that'gestural behavior is determined by "racial" descent. At least some groups of "us calm Englishmen" of the 17th and the first half of the 19th centuries were much less reticent in their gestural movements than their descendants of the mid-Victorian period. Similarly, three groups of "those lively Frenchmen," of approximately the same biological origin but of different historical setting, were quite different in their gestural conduct; (a) the French courtiers, before the arrival of Catherine de Medici, gesturing little and considering gesticulation a vulgar form of demeanor, but soon viewing it as a token of high civility when the Florentine nobility brings it into France, (b) the "honnete gens" (those French Victorians of the first half of the 17th century), showing considerable restraint in their expressive bodily notions, and (c) the "âmes sensibles" of the restoration, indulging rather freely in gesticulation. These differences suggest rather that gestural behavior is conditioned by environmental factors. In the following chapters the reader will find the results of an experimental investigation of the gestural behavior of two other so-called "racial" groups, living in elmilar as well as different environmental conditions: Eastern Jews and Southern Italians. More than any other, these groups are strongly associated in the popular mind with the notion of a frequent and lively gesticulation. The view commonly held is that most, if not all, Eastern Jews and Southern Italians, regardless of their ethnic background or social status, will often, if not always, utilize bodily movement as an adjunct of the spoken word. It will be shown that such a view has no objective foundation, and that it applies only to particular sub-groups within the Eastern Jewish and Southern Italian populations, namely "traditional" Lithuanian and Polish Jews, and "traditional" Neapolitans and Sicilians.

The frequency with which Eastern "ghetto-Jews" use gesture in conversation has not escaped the attention of these Jews themselves. Numerous are, in effect, their stories, anecdotes, and witticisms concerning their own gestural tendencies. The following will serve as examples. Two Jews and one Englishman sail together on a business trip. Being unskilled in swimming, the former become at once entangled in a heated argument &B to what they should do in case the "boat sinks. The discussion takes place with such a great display of manual movement that the Englishman finds it necessary to retreat to a certain distance in order to save his physical integrity. All óf a sudden the boat collides with a rock and starts sinking. With the exception of the Jews, who, confounded by the panic, manage only to increase the number and speed of their gestures, all the passengers Jump overboard. After an arduous effort, the Englishman reaches the shore. To his great astonishment, the two Jews, whom he had thought irremediably drowned, welcome him there with exhalted gestural merriment. Stupefied by the miracle, he asks them how in the world they managed to save themselves. "We haven't the slightest idea," answers one of the Jews; "we just kept on talking in the water." The joke about the Jew who refuses to take a walk with his friend in a winter night, "because you can't talk outside," or the one about the Jew who is unable to converse over the telephone because his two hands are taken up with the apparatus, betray a similar wit. It is interesting to note in this connection that any ghetto Jew who is skilled in the technique of gestural persuasion, knows that the most effective way of leaving his interlocutor out of combat is that of grasping his two wrists. "You don't let me speak" is the habitual response of the victim A story quite popular among ghetto Jews is that of a Lithuanian "maguid" (religious orator) who on a certain occasion sadly warned his audience that, owing to an attack of rheumatism, he was in no position to make an articulate speech. "My arm is very hoarse today," he is reported to have said. The jocular spirit in which ghetto Jews have taken cognizance of their tendency to gesticulate in conversation is also reflected in a number of their popular dictums. "He propels himself in the length and in the width." "He throws his words 35

out with the hands," "Do not let him put it over you with the hand." "He talis my arm off," etc. The follov/ing story ig currently told by Lithuanian Jews. "The students of the famous talmudist, Rabbi Jonathan Eibeschutz, of Prague, once invited over to his 'Yeshiva' (religious academy) a gentile student of the university of that city. The guest, whose racial descent was unknown to the Rabbi, and whose physique and dress could be taken as 'Jewish,' nastered the Hebrew language to perfection, being also familiar with the problems and subtleties of taLmudic law. Of both his linguistic ability and his erudition he gave ample proof in the discussion of the day. After the meeting, the students asked Rabbi Jonathan what he *hought of the visitor. 'A great scholar, indeed,' he replied. 'It is a pity, however, that he is not a Jew. Throughout the session he sat quietly on his chair, and it is contrary to the mores of the children of Israel to argue without moving around their body and arms in an animated manner.1" (cf. J. P. Vendrovski, Mores of the House of Israel, New York, in Hebrew). The Eastern ghetto Jew also has a reputation of displaying a large amount of bodily movement in prayer as well as in study. The tendency is equally prevalent among orthodox "Sephardic" (Spanish) Jews, and has a long tradition behind it. In our book, soon to be published, the reader will find a number of quotations from biblical and post-biblical sources dealing with this phenomenon. One of the most instructive is that found in the Mahzor Vitri, a liturgical Jewish text composed in France in the 12th century. This book contains, among other things, a description of several customs that were prevalent at that time among orthodox Jews in France and Germany. One of the passages deals with teaching methods. From this passage we learn that the children were trained in school to shake their bodies. Part of the text reads as follows: "And from the beginning they teach him to move hi G body ir study" (cf. op. cit., p. 628, first edition of the Oxford manuscript, by J. Hurwitz, Berlin, 1393; also Sources for the History of Education among Jews, by S. Asaf, Tel-Aviv, 1925, both in Hebrew). The tendency of '-he Eastern ghetto Jew to gesticulate in conversation has frequently been the subject-matter of Jewish, and also of non-Jewish, painters and caricaturists. We may refer to Maimón's "Discussion over a passage of the Talmud," Hirszenberg's "Politics" and "Saturday noon," Aschkenazi's

36

"Pharisees," Budko's "Maguid" (Preacher), and "Pilpul" (Dialectics), Kolnik's "Jewish Scene" and Grossman's "Jüdisches Theater." The reader will find reproductions of the latter two works on page 1^0. Of particular interest are the caricatures of gesturing ghetto Jews by Artur Szyk, contained in his book, "Le Juif qui rit," (Paris, Michel, 1925). Reproductions of two of Szyk's sketches will be found on page 1^0. Perhaps the most telling characterization of the gestural behavior of the ghetto Jew is that given by the Russian-Jewish sculptor, Antokolski, (1842-1902), in his celebrated work, "Jews at an Argument." Elias Gunzberg, one of Antokolski's pupils, has described it accurately when he said that "the eyes of the two interlocutors are alert and full of life, their facial muscles in tension, their lips protuding, and their hands intercross each other other in apace in sharp movements of indication, demonstration, and admonition." There also sire numerous pictorial representations of the gestural behavior of traditional Neapolitans and Sicilians. Examples of these may be found in the pantomimic plates contained in Andrea di Jorio's "La Mimica degli Antichi investigata nel Gestire Napoletano," published in Naples in I852, and in the book of gestural sketches by the Italian artist, Leone Augusto Rosa, published twelve years ago: "Espressione e Mimica" (Hoepli, Milano, 1929). More will be said about them in one of the subsequent chapters. Traditional Neapolitans and Sicilians have the reputation not only of gesturing a great deal in conversation, but also of using gesture as an exclusive means of intercommunication. The latter tendency has been repeatedly described by Italian as well as non-Italian writers. The following quotations are of historical interest. Une autre propriété particulière, c'est 1 usage deB gestes et des signes dont on se sert ici communément et dont le langage est si expressif pour les nationaux qu'à une distance considerable, au milieu d'une compagnie nombreuse, deux personnes sans ouvrir la bouche se comprennent mutuellement, se communiquent leurs pensées l'une à l'autre. Ces signes et ces gestes ne sont pas seulement généraux. Une femme en a plusiers et de différentes espèces, les uns destinés pour son mari, d'autres pour son amant, d'autres enfin pour ses amis. Cette différence d'alphabet produit trois diverses langues pour ainsi dire, dont la mène personne se sert avec tout la facilite'desirable. On remarque 37

la même habilité chez les enfanta qui, des l'âge le plus tendre, commencent deja à composer avec leurs camarades une suite de signes propres à eux seuls. Cela provient du penchant que la nation a pour les gestes. U n Sicilien ne peut pas dire une parole, même la plus insignifiante, sans l'accompagner tout de suite d'un geste expressif. On croit que ces gestes et ces signes datent encore de Denys l'Ancien, dont la tyrannie, defendant l'usage de la parole à ses sujects, les obligea d'inventer de nouveaux moyens pour se communiquer leurs pensées et pour se consoler dans leur malheur. [Le Comte de Borch, Lettres sur la Sicile et l'Ile de Malta, Vol. 2, Lettre 20, Turin, 1 7 8 2 ] Λ 2 Tale e la vivacità e lo spirito del Siciliano, uomo o donna che sia, che non pronunzia una parola senza un grande accompagnamento di gesti; sovente anche la precedono. Spesso il solo gesto vale l'espressione di un pensiero, e dopo una convenzione si fa anche un discorso a gesti. U n forestiere si sforzerà invarno a comprendere due siciliani che si parlano a gesti. [Ab Ferrara, Guida dei viaggiatori agli oggetti più interesanti a vedersi in Sicilia. Pantomima, Palermo, 1822, pn. 287-8.] Meta de ragionamenti e discorsi del siciliano sono muti e mimici; anzi ti accadra non di rado di sentir cominciare u n discorso con parole e di vederlo compiuto con gesti che suppongono frasi taciute, preternesse e poi legate pe' gesti medesimi ... Natura lo porta a risparmiar di parole quanto gli e agevole di manifestare con gli atti e se tu non sei tutto occhi a guardarlo in viso e nelle mani, non intenderai una buccicata de' suoi discorsi. [Pitre, Biblioteca delle Tradizioni popolari Siciliane, cap. "I Gesti," Yol. 15, Palermo, 1 8 8 9 J Pitre's statement is followed by a "dictionary" of the pantomimic signs and symbols used in Sicily at the end of the 19th century. Several of these are still used by traditional Sicilians in Italy as well as in the. United States. In Sicily, in which island gesticulation hae arrived at a higher degree of perfection than in Italy itself, the people find little difficulty in holding an intelligible intercourse, or communicating a practicable scheme, without the intervention of a single word. [Blunt, Vestiges, I 8 2 3 , Chapter XV, p. 282.]

38

Similar statements have been made by Cardinal Wiseman, in his Essays on Various Subjects, (London, 1855, Vol. 3, pp. 533-555)» and by Alexander Dumas (père) in his Voyages en Italie. The legend has it that all the details of the bloody "Veepro Siciliano" (Sicilian Eve), 1282, in which the people of Palermo massacred several thousand officers and soldiers of the French army of occupation, were discussed and arranged on the streets by means of gestural signs and symbols only. An exhaustive description of the gestural "vocabulary" of the traditional Neapolitan at the beginnings of the 19th century is found in the book by Dì Jorio already mentioned. Many of the gestures described by Di Jorio are still in use among contemporary Neapolitans in Italy as well as in the United States (cf. below). Several of these gestures go back to ancient Greece and Rome. This has been established by Di Jorio himself, as well as by other vriters, such as Giovanni Bonifaccio (L'Arte de Cenni, Vicenza, l6l6) and Karl Sittl (Die Gebärden der Griechen und Börner, Teubner, Leipzig, I89O).

Ve pass now to an account of the results obtained in our experimental investigation.

39

II.

E X P E R I M E N T A L

A comparative study of the gestural behavior of Eastern Jews and. Southern Italiana in New York City, living under similar as well as different environmental conditions. 1. THE PROBLEM The object of our investigation was (a) to discover whether there are any standardized group differences in the gestural behavior of two different "racial" groups, and if so, (b) to determine what becomes of these gestural patterns in members and descendants of the same groups under the impact of social assimilation. TEE MATERIAL The scene of our investigation was chiefly New York City. Part of the study was also carried out at several summer resorts in the Adirondacks, the Catakills, and the town of Saratoga. Among the various groups available for study the following were selected: Eastern Jews (of Lithuanian and Polish origin) and Southern Italians (from the vicinity of Naples and from Sicily). In each case the specific ethnic extraction of the individual was established by noting the particular dialect used. In doubtful cases this was supplemented by direct interrogation after the gestural behavior had been recorded. For the first of the two questions involved in our inquiry, "traditional"·'- Jewish and Italian subjects were used. For the second, "assimilated"^ individuals of the same descent. All our material was obtained in absolutely spontaneous situations in the everyday environments of the people concerned, who never knew that they were subjects of an investigation. The material was secured at the following places: "Tradito

tlonal" Jews: the lower East Side (streets, parks, markets, theatres, synagogues, homes, restaurants and. social meetings); also the orthodox Jewish "Yeshiva College" (Amsterdam Avenue and l88th Street). "Traditional" Italians: "Little Italy" (streets, parks, markets, restaurants, social meetings, homes and public games); also Southern Italian meetings at the "Teatro Venezia" (7th Avenue at 59th Street). "Assimilated" Jews : summer resorts in the Adirondacks and the Catskills, Saratoga race track and hotels, Columbia University (students and professors), City College (students), Townsend Harris High School (students), Fieldston Ethical Culture School (students), Syracuse University (students), Temple Emanu-El, New York City (Junior Society), West Side Jewish restaurants, social gatherings, homes, political meetings (Jewish-American speakers), and the Board of Aldermen (Jewish-American speakers). "Assimilated" Italians: Columbia University (students), Casa Italiana, Columbia University (student fraternity meetings and gatherings of Italian-American societies), City College (students), homes, political gatherings (italoAme r i can sp eaker s ).

THE METHOD The investigation was carried out by means of a fourfold method, namely: (l) direct observation of gestural behavior in natural situations, (2) sketches drawn from life by the American painter, Mr. Stuyvesant Van Veen of New York City, under the same conditions, (3) rough counting, (4) motion pictures studied by (a) observations and Judgments of naive observers, and (b) graphs and charts, together with measurements and tabulations of the same. The graphs were obtained in the following manner: the film, taken at speeds varying from sixteen to sixty-four frames per second, was projected frame by frame upon coordinate paper. The position of motile bodily parts, such as wrist, elbow and head, was marked in successive frame projections. When Joined, these sequential positions gave a precise representation of the fluent gestural movement. It will be noted that in most of our graphs there are two distinct lines of motion portrayed for each arm, the continuous line representing the path of movement of the wrist, while the broken one depicts the accompanying motion of the respective elbow. Other types of line are occasionally used for .the portrayal of head- and fingergestures. The numbers in each case indicate the direction of In

the movement, each number representing the position of the given bodily part in a given frame projection. Skipped numbers indicate absence of motion during the corresponding time period, to wit, static parts or stages of a gesture pattern. In some cases the changes in manual position and shape, within a single gesture pattern, are indicated b y full drawings of hands and fingers in discontinuous frame projections. In others, when the original graph represents a side-view picture of a gestural movement, a front version of the same movement is offered as well. The graphic technique Just summarized, together with the other methods used in our study, will be explained in greater detail in the various sections devoted to our findings. These are based upon an analysis of approximately 5,000 feet of film, taken and studied over a period of two years, and about 2,000 sketches. The cinematographic material contains gestural behavior of approximately 750 subjects of both sexes. Nearly one-third of this material has been graphed. In addition to this the gestural movements of fifteen hundred individuals were studied by method No. 1. The tentative results obtained by the latter procedure were subjected to a more objective test by means of techniques No. 7 and l·. This wa3 supplemented by method No. 2. The subjects studied through the graphs were not the same as those used for the film records. The sketches represent the gestural behavior of 600 individuals, which gives a total number of 2810 subjects studied. Of these 850 were "traditional" Jews, 700 "traditional" Italians, 600 "assimilated" Jews, and UOO "assimilated" Italians. A study of the curves gained by method No. Ij·, as well as a consideration of the data obtained by the other more qualitative procedures enumerated above, yielded the following result s : RESULTS We shall give first a description of what appear to be the tendencies in the gestural movement of the "traditional" Eastern-Jewish and Southern-Italian groups. This will be followed by a description of the tendencies found in the gestural behavior of the corresponding "assimilated" groups. The gestures of each group will be dealt with separately from a twofold point of view: (a) with regard to their spatio1+2

temporal aspects, i.e., gesture simply considered as "movement/' Tb) from the standpoint of their referential aspects, i.e., gesture envisaged as "language." 2. TENDENCIES IN THE GESTURAL BEHAVIOR OF "TRADITIONAL" EASTERN JEWS IN NEW YORK CITY A. Spatlo-Temporal Aspects 1. Radius Method No. 1 : Preliminary observations (Notes taken from field-work notebook). The radius of the gestures of the ghetto Jew seems to be much mare confined than that of the Southern Italian. . . . A great deal of his gestural activity appears to be taking place within the immediate area of his chest and face. . . Whereas in the Italian the gestural swe^p often coincides with his arms' length, in the Jew it very seldom reaches a limit above his head or below his hips In the ghetto Jew the upper-arm participates seldom in the movemen'-, and often is more or less rigid and attached to the side of the body The axis of gestural motion is often centered at the elbow. Method No. j. Rough Counting The test consisted in roughly counting, with a stop-watch, the number of unit movements performed in a given period of time by the gesturers in an area above their heads, below their hips, or with a sweep coinciding approximately with the full lateral extension of their arms. Whenever a movement of this kind was executed more than once in a continuous manner, each unit-motion-' was counted as a separate instance. One hundred "traditional" Jews were used for this purpose. The gestures of ninety additional subjects were observed in the same manner, with reference to the relative frequency of movement with point of leverage at shoulder and elbow. The following results regarding radius were obtained:

Area of gestural movement Vertical plane Transversal and

No. of Subjects

Time of gestural movements

100

500 minutes

Above head 52 u.m.

Below hips

frontal planea Approximately arms ' length

u.m.

165 u.m.

Total: 291 u.m.

Average number of wide radius unit-motions per minute of gestural movement: O.58. The average number of unit-motions performed per minute by thirty-five of these subjects was roughly calculated. The figure 20.9 was obtained. Method No. U"b : Graphing. The exceedingly small proportion of full-swing gestural motions obtained by this rough procedure called for a more objective test of our preliminary observations. This was accomplished by the graphic technique already described in general terms. Motion pictures of gestural movements of 100 "traditional" Jews wore projected frame by frame upon chart paper, the body of the gesturer being sketched in in most cases, directly from the film, at the beginning of each graph. The graphs were then reduced to a common size, so as to make them comparable. The comparison was made by means of a diagram of the same size drawn on celluloid consisting of a series of concentric circles with numerical values ranging between 10 and 100 (fully extended arm). By superimposing it on each graph (the center of the circle corresponding to the manubrium of the gesturer, i.e. the point of intersection of the medial plane of the body and that of the shoulders' level), it was possible to read directly the maximum and minimum radii in each case.^ By adding up all the maximal and all the minimal numerical values corresponding to these positions, and dividing them by the number of cases, two quantities representing the maximal and minimal average radii were obtained." An examination of 75 kinographs yielded the following results. (Fig. No. 7 is a reproduction of one of these graphs.) Possible perimeter of motion Average maximum radius Average minimum radius Average radius Ult

H>h . 4 27-1

100 1+0.7 (7)

A subsequent measurement of another set of 50 graphs yielded similar results:

53.5

Average maximum radius Average minimum radius Average radius

26.2

In the direct estimate (Method No. 3) of the relative frequency of gestural motions with fulcrum at elbow, as against movements with axis at shoulder, the following data were recorded. The procedure used was to count roughly the number of unit motions performed by each subject from the shoulder (our hypothesis being that this modality is the less prevalent among "traditional" Jews) in a given time. Knowing approximately the average number of unit motions that the type of Jew studied is likely to perform per minute of gestural movement, a general idea of the ratio of gestures from the elbow was obtained. Average number of unit motions from shoulder per minute of gestural movement Average number of unit motions per minute of gestural movement

U.5 20.9

It is clear that the majority of gestural motions was performed with axis at the elbow. As to the gestures with axis at the wrist, no computation of their frequency was made, because of the difficulty involved in keeping track simultaneously of the movements from the elbow and the wrist. An additional difficulty arose from the fact that the wrist motions are too minute in area to permit their being counted by units. A n even rougher procedure had to be used, therefore, in this case. The gestural movements of 100 subjects were observed during a period of time ranging between two and five minutes, and the wrist motions were simply classified under the categories of "much," "little," and "nothing." The results obtained read as follows : Number of Subjects 100

Movement from the Wrist Much Little Nothing

55

22

These figures seem to indicate that the wrist-gesture ie not exceptional among "traditional" Jews. In spite of the qualitative nature of the method used here, they become quite significant when compared to those obtained in the case of 100 "traditional" Italiana (see below). An examination of 100 kinographs with reference to fulcrum of gestural movement yielded the following results: Number of Graphs 100

Axis at Shoulder 18

Axis at Elbow

At Both 8

Method Ilo. 2 An additional confirmation of our findings regarding limitation of gestural radius, and displacement of axis of gesture from shoulder to elbow and wrist, in the "traditional" Jew, presented itself upon an inspection of the data collected independently by our co-worker, Mr. Van Veen. These data consist of nearly five hundred sketches of gestural movements of three hundred and ninety-six Jewish subjects, drawn from life in the lower East Side in absolutely spontaneous situations, together with marginal notes by the artist written while he was registering pictorially his observations. In the great majority of his notes, as well as in the drawings proper, we find references both to spatial confinement of gestural movement, and to relative immobility of the upper-arm in gesticulation. The following quotations are illustrative samples of his material: One of the first things I became conscious of in observing the immigrant Jew who has maintained his Old World traits or mannerisms was how preponderantly the elbow is kept within a very narrow area, close to the body. Most gesticulation has the elbow as its pivot. This, quite logically, limits the physical possibilities in the sweep of gesture to the area from the waistline up to the shoulders, and as far back as the side-plane of the body The exceptions to this limitation of gestural sweep arc most often noted in the pointing motions, when the forearm is moved forward from the body sufficiently to permit having the forefinger in the face of the conversee, poking, etc Whether this cramped characteristic is due to ar. origin ir. close quarters as the ghettos are, or occupational influence,

h6

euch as hunched study over hooka, gesticulation while studying, tailoring (an activity'involving chiefly manual movement from the wrist and the elbow), etc., I do not pretend to know. (From Mr. Van Veen's files). Fig. No. 7 is a reproduction of one of Mr. Veen's sketches illustrating confined gestural radius in the ghetto Jew. Cf. also Mr. Szyk's caricatures on page 140.1* 2. Form Method No. 1. - The following impressions were recorded during the first stage of our inquiry : The gestural movements of the "traditional" Jew seem totoemore complex in design than those of any of the other groups observed so far. Apparently this effect is brought about by a tendency on his part to pass often from one plane of motion to another As a rule the gestures of the ghetto Jew appear to exhibit an angular change in direction, resulting in a series of zigzag motions which, when reproduced on paper, present the appearance of an intricate embroidery Each stroke gives the impression of being a part or unit of a cornered arabesque. One might call this kind of pattern a composite gesture. This is not always the case, however. Not infrequently the change in direction appears to be sinuous in character. The motion thus produced is in such a case unitary in its design, although still quite complex One of the most striking examples of this sinuous type of gestural embroidering is that resembling roughly a figure 8 in general form. . . . These tendencies in the form of the gestural movements of the Eastern ghetto Jew stand out in sharp contrast when compared to those of the "traditional" Italian, who seems to be inclined to continue in the same direction until the gestural pattern has been completed. This, together with the Italian's tendency to gesticulate chiefly in a spherical surface plane, creates an effect of relative simplicity in the form of his movements. The gesture is likely to present roughly an elliptical shape. Method No. :. Due to the practical impossibility of counting quickly enough the swift and often very minute unitmotions of the composite angular gestures and owing also to the difficulty involved in establishing a relatively safe criterion of pattern in this type of embroidered movement, Method No. 5 (counting) could only partially be applied in this case. Oar 3cope was limited to calculate roughly the

proportion of sinuous versus elliptical gesture-patterns during a given period of time. The straight, eingle-unit motions, aa well as the composite angular ones had to be ignored. Inasmuch as we knew approximately the average number of unit-movements that a ghetto-Jewish subject is likely to perform per minute, it was thought that it might be possible to obtain also, indirectly, by means of this procedure, a rough idea of the relative proportion of these two other types of gestural form not included in our tabulation. 100 subjects were observed. The inspection yielded the following results : Time of gestural movement

Sinuous gestures

Elliptical gestures

500 minutes

772 unit motions

817 unit motions

Note: By "sinuous" gestures we do not mean only those movements which present an intricate embroidered design, like, for example that of Fig. No. 9, but also simpler forms, such as /""N^O etc. The complex sinuoue gestures are relatively rare. Average number of sinuous gestures per minute - 1.5 Average number of elliptical gestures per minute - 1.6 20.9 being approximately the average number of unit motions a "traditional" Jew is likely to perform per minute, there remain 17-8 movements for both the composite angular, and the straight unitary forms. There is no way of estimating from our data the relative proportion of these two types of gestural design. The general impression gathered by the observer during his inspection was that the first was by far the most prevalent. It is recorded here for what it may be worth. Method No• i+b. In our attempts to test more objectively, by means of the kinographs, our impressions regarding form of gestural movement, we were immediately faced with a technical difficulty of a different nature. It was practically impossible in a good number of cases to Judge, directly from the graphs, whether a movement was sinuous or angular in form, for, owing to the method of discontinuous photography by frames, even a fluid motion may appear definitely angular U8

in its static projection. Furthermore, the factor of foreshortening is likely to produce sometimes an additional distortion in the line. It is only in a minority of cases (when the change in direction is either very swift and pronounced or fairly gradual) that the actual form of the movement can he safely grasped by the eye. Moreover, even when the degree of line distortion brought about b y the two factors Just mentioned appears to be unimportant and can be corrected at sight, an additional element may vitiate the Judgment in some cases, namely, the fact that a repeated uni-dimensional gesture, the unit-motions of which are not exactly alike in plane or in position (when they are executed in the same plane), will present the appearance of a two-dimensional, composite gestural embroidery when the successive positions of the wrist are Joined on the g r a p h . ^ a slight mechanical error in the marking of these positions is likely to accentuate such an illusion. The most practical way of ruling out all these possible sources of error in the Judgments is to check in the dubious cases the graph with its corresponding movement in the film; that is to say, to project the latter on the screen and see what actually happened. This was done with 27 graphs out of a set of 100 used in this connection. The results obtained regarding gestural form in the ghetto Jew read as follows: Number of graphB 100

Sinuous 26

Form of Movement Angular Elliptical 51

20

Straight 19 ^ ^

The predominance of angular movements seems to be clear. As to the number of sinuous gestural forms, although it does not (as in the case of the test of rough direct counting) differ much from that of the elliptical ones, it becomes rather significant when one takes into account the fact that among "traditional" Italians or among "assimilated" Jews this kind of gestural pattern is almost entirely absent. As was already pointed out in connection with radius, the limited number of graphs used does not Justify, however, more than a tentative conclusion from the results obtained here. Perhaps the following consideration gives in the present case some additional strength to our findings. During the process of checking the dubious graphs with their corresponding movements on the film, it was found that as a rule a given gestural form was repeated, in a sequential 1*9

manner, several times by each subject. This was also observed in the case of rough counting (Method No. 3), as well as in the repeated projections of our films. Although we have no vay of telling the relative frequency of that repetition from these observations, it is our impression that one could safely multiply the quantities obtained from the examination of our graphs by an average of t h r e e . ^ We would then have the following figures: Sinuous 78, Angular 153> Elliptical 60, Straight 57· We give them here for what they may be worth. Figs. Nos. 9 and 10 are graphs illustrating sinuosity of form in the gestures of the ghetto Jew. Method No. lia. A more qualitative test carried out at an earlier stage of our investigation, would also seem to strengthen our hypothesis regarding the morphological traits of the gestural motions of the "traditional" Jews studied. Film material of the movements of eighty-five ghetto Jews was projected before two persons, with the request that they register on paper their general impressions concerning the form of these movements. No mention wae made, of course, of any of the morphological categories used in our own description. As will be seen from Tables No. 1 and 2, the attention of the two observers was particularly struck by the qualities of sinuosity and angularity of the gestures. Remarks such as "gestures look like entangled thread," "curly movements," "sharp changes in direction," and the highly picturesque one "the hand of this fellow Jumps around like a squirrel," seem to refer to what we ourselves have described as gestural zigzags and undulations. Other expressions, such as "argumentative quality," and "line of thought?" would seem to indicate that the observers were in same cases under the impression that the movement was ideographic in character.(cf. below, page 69). TABUS NO. 1 Form Observer Ζ Number of Subjects 2 2 2

Remarks Neat movements. Sharp changes in direction. Ditto. Some of the gestures have a knittinglike quality, very difficult to describe. 50

TABLE NO. 1 (Cont'd) Form Observer Ζ Number of Sub jecta 2 3 2 5 3 2 2 1+ 2 3 Ij· 2 3 3 U 2 2 h 2 2 2 2 2 3 3 2 3 2 2 2

Remark a (l) Jumpy. (2) Asymmetrical. None. Unable to Judge. Bodies too close, gestures too short. (l) Seems to be outlining something in the air. (2) Wavy movements, very neat in form. (3) Jumpy movements. Finger boring through air. Extremely Jerky. Line of thought? None. Fingers very mobile. None. (l) Crooked movements. (2) Grasping wrist of friend, all gesturing at the same time. None. None. (1) Fluidity. (2) Sharpness. (3) Neat. (l) Spiral movements. (2) Jumpy. (3) Ditto. None. Both very Jumpy. Gesturing at the same time. (l) Smooth round movements. (2) Jerky. (l) Boring with index. (2) Jerky movements. None. Round, wholesome gestures. Sharp changes in direction. (l) Sinuous movements. (2) Jerky. None. (l) Irregular gestures. (2) Jumpy. None. Boring with index. (l) Circular gestures. ( 2 ) Extremely Jerky. Sharp changea in direction.

51

TABLE NO. 2 Form Observer Y Number of Subjects 2 2 2 2 3 2 5 3 2 2 U 2 3 ^ 2 • 3 3 1+ 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 3 3

Remarks None. The gestures of one of the fellows have a fencing-like quality. Edgy. Searching movements (?) Smooth. The other, angular and irregular in direction. Nothing particular. Hard to tell. People too close to each other. (l) Curly movements. (2) Sharp, cornered gestures . None. The hand of this fellow Jumps around like a squirrel '. Argumentative quality. (l) Edgy movements. Others too close to each other. Nothing striking. Curly gestures. Cannot tell. People too close, and simultaneous gesturing. Yery funny! None. Nothing particular. (l) Gestures look like entangled thread. (2) Angular. Boring quality. The others, sharp. Nothing particular. Serpentine movement. The other, very abrupt. Don't they ever listen to each other? Round movements. None. Cubistic quality. Swift and sharp. The other, harmonious. Complex gestures. Movements oblique to each other. Serpentine gestures. The other, abrupt, edgy. The third, gestures with head (funny). Simultaneous gesturing, (l) Circular gestures. (2) Angular. (3) Nothing striking. 52

TABEB HO. 2 (Cont'd) Form Observer Y Number of Subjects 2 3 2 2 2

Remarks Indirect. Smooth, round, unlike others. Curly gestures. Seems to depict something. The other, very irregular. Spiral quality, but not quite so. (l) Mechanical quality, movements not integrated, incomplete. (2) Oblique, entangled gestures.

Notes : The descriptions of the two observers do not always refer form of movement. In some cases they are related to other aspects of the gestural behavior of the "traditional" Jew, such as simultaneous gesturing and ways of grouping, treated separately in the text (cf. pages 66-67). In several cases there is only one remark for more than one gesturer, so that we do not really know whether the impressions of the two observers refer to the same subject. These impressione have only a general qualitative value. Method No. 2. Finally, the observations made independently by Mr. Van Veen would seem to constitute an additional confirmation of our impressions regarding the gestural form of the "traditional" Jew. His pictorial and written records contain numerous references to sinuousity and angularity in the movements of the subjects sketched. The following quotations and Fig. No. 11 are taken at random from his files: It seems only logical that if an "artificial" pivot for movement of the arm (the elbow) is maintained, the gesture will be less free and round. Smaller gestures occur within smaller areas, and one observes much broken motion in assorted and singular shapes The movements often seem to be in the form of curved "writing, " that becomes larger as the excitement grows, and smaller as the point is more carefully developed, often punctuation appearing in Jabs, or indications in the direction of the chest and shoulders, or even the face, of the conversee, as the conclusion is

53

reached. Sometimes, the thumb is dug down, and brought up with the concluding point It occurs that, since the upper arm remains relavively stationary, the wrist becomes a very Tnuch used pivot for manual gesture, and the angles formed by hand and forearm are numerous and pronounced. 3. Plane Some of our early observations concerning this heading read as follows : The Eastern ghetto Jew exhibits a tendency to gesticulate chiefly in the vertical and the frontal planes of his body In contrast to the "traditional" Italian, who is more likely to execute his gestural motions in a latero-transversal space-segment, i.e., at either side of his body, the Jew appears to perform most of his movements either in an up-and-down direction or in a direction towards the interlocutor The gestures of the ghetto Jew seem to deviate seldom from the medial plane of the human figure. . . . Whereas the Italian most frequently seems + o gesticulate centrifugally in a surface plane away from his body, the Jewish gestures appear to involve more often a plane of depth, being more centripetal with regard to the body of the gesturer. Rhetorically one might characterize the gesture of the "traditional" Jew as a gesture of address, that of the "traditional" Italian as a gesture of display. Method No. 3 · As in the case of radius, our first attempt to subject these impressions to a quantitative test was made by means of the procedure of rough counting. The gestural behavior of 100 "traditional" Jews was observed in natural situations, for a period of time ranging between 5 and 10 minutes for each subject, and their unit-motions were tabulated with reference to the three following possibilities: sideways (transversal) movement, towards-the-auditor (frontal) movement, and up-and-down (vertical) movement. Here again, whenever one of these kinds of movement was executed more than once in a successive fashion in the same plane, each unit-motion was counted as a separate instance. The fairly oblique motions were ignored. Our inspection yielded the following results :

5U

Number of Subjects 50

Time of gestural movement a 3^0 minutes

Average number of unit motions per minute

Sideways

Towards auditor

682 u.m.

2550 u.m. 2867 u.m.

2

Up and down

7·5

8.U

A more qualitative experiment was carried out with film material. Films containing gestural motions of 75 ghetto Jews were projected before two observers, who were asked merely to check in each case whether they thought the movements of the subject were predominantly lateral, frontal or vertical. The results seem to confirm those of the test of rough counting. Observer Y Number of Subjects

Plane

of

Movement

Predom.lateral

Predoni.frontal

9

26

75^5 )

Predom.vertical 1+0

Observer Ζ Number of Subjects

Predom.lateral

Plane of Movement Predom.frontal Predom.vertical

15

30

30

Method No. 1+b. As to our graphic material, an examination of 100 kinographs yielded the following results: Number of graphs 100

Plane of Movement LateroPred. Pred. Fred. transversal Frontal Vertical l.t. fr. vert. 9

28

52

2

3

6

The tendency of the ghetto Jew to gesture in the vertical plane is illustrated by Figs. Nos. 8 and 12. Fig. 13 is a Van Veen sketch showing frontal gesticulation in the same type of Jew.

55

If. Bodily Parts Involved In Gesticulation and Vaya In Which They Are Employed Method No. 1. Early observations: As a rule the "traditional" Jew while gesturing seems to use the various parts of the body in a more or less functionally differentiated way. Whereas the "traditional" Italian appears to exhibit a rather marked synergy in the use of the three parts of his arm (his upper-arm, forearm, and hand moving from the shoulder in a concerted manner), the ghetto Jew is more likely to employ them independently, either in a sequential or in a simultaneous fashion, with the axis of motion generally centered at the elbow and/or the wrist The movement with the point of leverage at the elbow (forearm gesture) or at the wrist (hand-gesture) seems to be characteristic of this type of Jew ^ In contrast to the "traditional" Italian, the "traditional" Jew also frequently exhibits gestural motions from the neck (head-gestures) and from the carplai articulations (digital gestures) ' The role played by the head in the gestures of the ghetto Jew is quite remarkable. Its mobility is sometimes as pronounced as that of the hand itself Not infrequently the head accompanies in quick and minute motions the more ample gestures of the arm On occasions the ghetto Jew seems to be using his head-gestures as a substitute for the manual one. The arm remains relatively inactive, while the head alone appears to reënact the pauses, accents and inflections of the corresponding speech process. The effect thus produced is highly pictureeque. To use an expression as irreverent aerit la ingenious, proposed by our co-worker (Mr. Vein Veen), these head-motions of the "traditional" Jew present a "turtle-like" character As far as the digital gestures of this type of Jew are concerned, they are very seldom used for descriptive purposes. On occasions the swift moving fingers give the impression that the gesturer is "typing" or flashing his ideas in the air In the course of the movement (whether digital, manual or involving the whole arm), the ghetto Jew shows a tendency to keep his hand at an angle to the forearm, in contrast to the Italian who is more likely to hold it in a straight line with his arm. Furthermore, while in the Italian the palm usually appears curved and prone, in the Jew it ia metre often held flat and in a supine position. In general, the Jew exhibits a much greater variety in both the positions and the shapes of his hand while gesturing

56

The "traditional" Jew seldom seems to use simultaneously both arms for the same movement (bilateral gesture). As a rule, only one arm is gesturing at a time, while the other either remains inactive or intervenes sporadically, as a second instrument so to say, to give force or accent to the recitative of the first one. This is likely to happen in situations of emphatic rejection, acquiescence, or doubt When using both arms for the same gesture, ghetto Jews are likely to employ them in a sequential rather than simultaneous fashion: one arm makes a "step," which is followed b y a similar movement with the other arm, which is in turn followed b y a new gestural step with the first arm. This sequential transference of motion from one arm to the other may be figuratively termed "ambulatory gesture," or "gestural locomotion" of discourse When both arms are used simultaneously, the movements performed are sometimes highly non-symmetrical, that is to say, different in radius, direction or form In marked contrast to all this, the Italian gestures appear to be usually bilateral; the two arms are often used simultaneously in a concerted movement, and the effect thus produced is likely to be highly symmetrical in character. Head gestures The gestural behavior of 100 "traditional" Jews was observed, during a period of time of approximately 3 minutes in each case, with the attention focuseed on the degree of participation of the head in the generai bodily movement. Due to the fact that the area of head motion is very small, and the movements usually very swift, it was practically impossible to estimate that degree in terms of unit-motions per given unit of time. We had to content ourselves with a more qualitative estimate in terms of much, little, and nothing. Coincident observation was also made of the cases in which the head movement was used as a substitute for the manual one. The results obtained read as follows: Number of Subjects 100

Much 25

Gesticulation with Head Little Nothing Head Movement Only k3

32

lU

These figures, perhaps inconclusive per se, become rather significant when contrasted with those obtained in the case of the "traditional" Italian, in whom the tendency to

57

gesticulate with the head is almost entirely absent. (Cf. below). Method A similar test was carried out with film material of 75 subjects, projected before two observers, with the following results: Much

Little

Nothing

Observer Y

16

25

¿b

Observer Ζ

15

27

53

(19)

As to our graphic records, an examination of 100 graphs showed that in l6 cases there was considerable head movement (cf. illustration on page lU2, Fig. No. 1*0 . Also in Mr. Van Veen's pictorial files there are numerous cases of head gesticulation among ghetto Jews. Fig. No. 15 is an example.

Digital Gestures, Variety of Positions and Shapes of Hands, Hand at Angle to Forearm, and Palm Flat and Supine in Gesticulation. Our early impressions regarding these "tendencies" in the gestural behavior of the "traditional" Jew, subsequently reinforced by repeated observations over a period of nearly one year, have not been tested quantitatively as yet. Figs. Nos. l6 (graph) and 17 (sketch) may serve as illustrations of our direct observations. The following quotation from Mr. Van Veen's file, portrays vividly 'che changes in hand position and shape: With many other people one sees the hand appear in one gestural position and continue through in that position. In the case of the unassimilated Eastern Jew one finds the form of the motion changing as the idea changes in conversation. Often one will see the thumb and forefinger start the discourse, or simply the index finger describing the lacy convolution of thought, suddenly concluded with the palm turned up, and the other hand brought in for supplemental gesture. Unllaterallty versus Bilaterality in the Movement Method No. ^a. The gestural behavior of 100 "traditional" 58

JewB was observed, over a period of time of approximately fire minutée in each case, and their movements roughly classified under the categories of "entirely unilateral," "entirely bilateral, " "predominantly unilateral," "predominantly bilateral," and "mixed."20 The inspection yielded the following results: Gestural Movement Number of Entirely Entirely Predom. Predom. Subjects Unilateral Bilateral Unilateral Bilateral Mixed 100

15

6

1+1

11

27

Method No. ha.. A less qualitative test was carried out with film material. The gestural motions of 1+7 and 35 "traditional" Jews were projected before two observers, who were instructed to mark the number of single-handed and doublehanded unit movements performed by each s u b j e c t . T h e results read as follows: Unllaterallty versus Bllaterality Observer Y Number of

Unit Movements Performed

Subjects

Single-handed

Double-handed

1+7

81+9

51+0

Observer Ζ 35 592 212 An examination of the corresponding tables shows that in the first test, out of 1+7 subjects 15 were entirely unilateral and 1 entirely bilateral in their gestures, whereas in the second test the proportion was 10 to 1+ (35 subjects). Method No. 1+b. An inspection of 100 kinographs gave the following results: Unilateral 8l Bilateral 19 Out of the 19 cases of bilateral gesture, 8 were predomi-

59

nantly unilateral, that ia to say, one hand was used more than the other. Ambulatory Gesture Method No. 3· The gestural behavior of 125 ghetto Jews was observed over a period of time ranging between two and five minutes, arid their unilateral movements roughly classified from the standpoint of "transfer of motion from one hand to the other" versus "continuous gesturing with the same hand." In addition, those cases falling under the first of these two categories were in turn classified in terms of "frequent" versus "sporadic." The results read as follows:

Number of Subjects 125

Unilateral Gesticulation Transfer of motion from Continuous gesticulaone hand to the other tion with the same hand Frequent Sporadic H (22)

Í4.7

¿h

Method No. ^a. Two similar tests were carried out with film material representing the gestural motions of 100 ghetto Jews, projected before two observers, each observer Judging a separate group of 50 subjects. The following results were obtained:

Observer

Unilateral Gesticulation Transfer of motion Continuous gesNumber of from one hand to ticulation with Subjects the other the Bame hand Frequent Sporadic

y

50

îU

18

18

Z

50

15

21

lU

Due to the shortness of our kinographs, it was not possible to study the phenomenon of "ambulatory" gesture by means of the graphic technique. Obviously a transfer of movement from one hand to the other will, as a rule, involve a time longer than that represented by our lengthiest graph. Only when the graphing was started shortly before a shifting of hands vas about to take place, would the transfer of motion appear in the topographic measurement. We possess only four cases of this sort. 60

Method No. 2. The following remarka taken from Mr. Van Veen'Β records fall in line with our findings: Among ghetto Jews there is no set use of "both hands at once, expression moving from one to the other, sometimes in an uneven counterpoint to speech, at times in rapid enough sequence to impress one with the contemporaneous use of the hands in two different gestures. Quite frequently one notes that, compatibly with the controversial or expository burden of the conversation, there appears a side-to-side phenomenon of coupterpointed gesticulation, hands alternating as the tone of voice and tenor of argument vary. Fig. No. 18 illustrates Mr. Van Veen's observations. 5. Tempo Method No. 1. Our early impressions regarding the phenomenon discussed under this heading read as follows: As a rule, the tempo of the gestural movements of the "traditional" Jew appears to be very irregular. Whereas in the "traditional" Italian a gestural pattern is likely to be composed of a series of unit-motions which flow one into another with a more or less even speed, or in a "crescendo" or "diminuendo," - when there is a change in speed, - in the ghetto Jew the unit-movements often seem to pass Jerkily from one speed to another. These abrupt and dischronic transitions usually give an effect similar to that produced by the artificial motions of a marionette. All of a sudden, the "beat" of the movement seems to "shrink," so to say, or to "expand, " as if the arm were unexpectedly contracted or released by a spring. This is especially apparent when an emphatic transition from one part of the speech process to another occurs, and also at an exclamatory "finale" of a sentence. The frequent puppetlike and, on occasions, almost spasmodic change in speed within one and the same gesture-pattern, gives a kind of inter Jectional quality to most of the gestures of the "traditional" Jew. This temporal incongruity in the movements accounts perhaps for the "comic" character of the "Jewish" gesture, as pointed out by some, writers. In contrast to this, the tempo of the gestural motions of the "traditional" Italian gives an impression of smoothness and regularity. Now, when attempting to deal objectively with the problem

61

of gestural tempo, we were immediately confronted with a theoretical question, and also with some technical difficulties. The former concerned the objective definition of tempo. This definition was dependent upon the specific unit of measurement chosen, which in turn was conditioned by the nature of the material at our command. Thus tempo of gestural movement could be defined as the relationship between the speeds of sequential unit-movements; or else - and with reference to the data obtained by means of our graphing technique - it could be defined as the relationship between the speeds of successive film-frames of continuous motion. In other words, the criterion could be either the unit of movement or the unit of frame. Of course, the ideal procedure would have been to use the single criterion of unit movement in both our rough counting and in our analysis of the graphs. Unfortunately this proved to be unfeasible in the latter case, owing to the fact that the graphing technique does not allow a clear projection on a single film-drawing of a segment of film long enough to make possible the study of relationships between one unit-movement and the next. It has already been pointed out that for the sake of clarity in the drawings it was necessary to limit the length of each gestural graph to a number of frames ranging between 16 and 6b (i.e., to movements, or sections of movement,, performed in a period of time ranging between 1 and ^ s e c o n d s ) . I t is easy to understand that in such minute "slices" of gesture, the chances of finding a sufficient number of unitmotions in each graph are very slight. Furthermore, it is sometimes extremely difficult to determine satisfactorily the exact limits of a unit-motion in a graph, for sinuous motions may appear definitely angular in the drawing owing to the method of discontinuous photography by frames. It was possible to use the criterion of unit of frame. However, this possibility was discarded in view of the fact that the presence of a change of speed in a gestural movement very seldom makes itself apparent within the period of time involved in the execution of each gestural stroke, or section of it, taken separately (as represented topographically by any of our graphs), but rather occurs, as a rule, only between one stroke and another. Our study of gestural tempo was, therefore, limited to the application of the method of rough counting, using the criterion of unit-movement. The following three varieties of gestural stroke were separately used as criteria of units of gesture: (l) a stroke of motion followed by an actual pause; (2) a movement limited

62

by an angular change in direction (when there was only a Blowing down in the apeed); and (3) a full single, round, elliptical, or ainuoua form. ^

Method No. 3. The method of rough counting of gestural tempo conaiated merely of noting the number of jerky tranai tiona from one speed to another in the moTement within a given time. The following results were obtained: Number of Subjects

Time of gestural movement

No. of unit motions

50

295 min.

5380

No. of jerky transitions from one apeed to another

The term "jerky transition" is used only for those cases in which the observer felt that there was a definite jump, so to say, of the hand in space. Cases where the Jerky transition was comparatively slight were ignored. Although the results thus obtained are quite tentative, owing to the qualitative nature of the method used, they stand out in rather sharp contrast when compared with those obtained in observing "traditional" Italians, or Americanized Jews (cf. below). Still, in spite of this contrast, the temporal aspect of gesture, more than any other aspect of gestural behavior studied in this report, requires further, more quantitative analysis. Method No. 1. The following quotation from several of Mr. Tan Veen's marginal notes would seem to fall in line with our observations regarding gestural tempo in the "traditional" Eastern Jew of New York City: One notes that the spacing of each movement in the ghetto Jew usually varies with the- "burden of the expression. Quite naturally this creates an irregular, disjoined, often staccato timing in the gestures, though there may be great rapidity in the movement. Β. "Interlocutional" Aspects Topographic-gestural Relationships Between Speaker and Auditor The three phenomena described in the present section differ somewhat from those already discussed, in the sense that they 63

refer to aspects of gestural behavior in which the "communi cational" element (address, responsiveness, verbo-gestural "intimacy," etc.) plays a more noticeable role. NeedlesB to say, this element is more or less present in all aspects of gestural movement, even in the more strictly "spatial" features of it, such as plane or radius. In other words, one is never confronted with a purely physical movement in gesture, but always with gestural movement, i.e., meaningful movement, whether strictly "linguistic" or "discursive"Cef. page 70). To be sure, the tendency of the ghetto Jew, for example, to perform a great part of his gestural activity in a frontal plane (i.e., towards the auditor), can be profitably described in purely spatial terms; but it is clear that for the student of human behavior the real significance of the phenomenon lies, not in the fact that the movement is frontal, but in the fact that it goes, so to say, towards the Interlocutor. Similar considerations might be made with regard to the other gestural characteristics already treated. The only difference existing in this respect between these characteristics and the ones described in the following pages is, we think, that in the latter case the "meaningful" aspect of the movement is more apparent. Inasmuch as the "meaning" involved here is not of a strictly referential character, it was thought more appropriate to describe the corresponding gestural behavior in a separate section.

1. "Familiarity" with the Physical Person of the Interlocutor "Traditional" Eastern Jews quite often touch the body of their conversational partner. This is done either as a means of interrupting his discourse, or in the way of capturing his attention. In the course of our exploration of the swarming streets of the lower East Side, we soon became accustomed to the idea of seeing a person firmly grasping the coat-lapel of his companion with one hand, while the other was describing all kinds of arabesques in the Immediate vicinity of his nose. No less frequent was the spectacle of an individual seizing the wrist of his opponent, cor boring with the indexfinger through the buttonhole of hi a coat. Pulling or shaking the body of the conversational adversary are also habitual procedures in the gesture technique of the ghetto Jew. The most current phenomenon is that of grasping the arm of the interlocutor, and its extreme case makes itself apparent, in a rather ludicrous way, when the two participants in the 6k

gestural fencing become clamped to each other's hands or coat-lapels, and fight out the battle by means of head motions only. One of the most curious examples of what one might call gestural "promiscuity" in conversation is a case in which the speaker (or, to be exact, one of the speakers, for the two interlocutors were enthusiastically talking and gesturing at the same time),25 not only grasped the arm of his impatient opponent, but actually gesticulated with it! The latter was admonishing the former, who seemed to be quite annoyed by the didactic gesture of his friend. The victim tried a few times to stop his movement by doing the same thing, but apparently to no avail. Finally, he seized the other's wrist, and started admonishing him back with his own (the companion's) hand. This situation is illustrated by Fig. No. 19. We have never seen anything of the kind in the American (whether Anglo-Saxon or Jewish) or the Italian (whether "traditional" or "assimilated"). The latter, for example, when wishing to attract the attention of his opponent, very rarely takes possession of his wearing apparel or his hand, but is likely to raise his index-finger in front of his face or chest, or make some other sign of notice. In connection with the contactual gestures of the ghetto Jew, it is, perhaps, significant to point out that, in the course of his gesticulation, he very rarely comes in contact with his own body, in contrast to the "traditional" Italian who manipulates quite frequently (especially for descriptive purposes) the other parts of his own physique. The only common exceptions to the rule observed in the case of the "traditional" Jew were the plucking of the beard, as a sign of thoughtfulness, the placing of the palm on the cheek or behind the ear, as an expression of astonishment, and three or four other pictorial and "symbolic" movements, which are described in the corresponding section.2® Method Ho. 3 · A quantitative test of gestural "promiscuity" among "traditional" Eastern Jews yielded the following results : Numb er of Instances of Contactual Gesture Subjects Time Grasping involved of Ges- Hand in Conver-tural or Coat Eecip- Button- Pok- Pull- ShakBation Motion Arm Lapel rocal holding lng ing ing 237

211 m.

60 65

9

11^

36

20

Method No. kb. As to cases of gestural "promiscuity" in our graphs, only those of poking were registered..^" An examination of 75 graphs, taken at random, gave 10 instances of gestural manipulation of the physical person of the interlocutor, out of which ^ were reciprocal. The proportion is significantly high if one bears in mind that the average time of gestural movement of a graph was atout JO seconds. One of our graphs illustrating gestural poking will he found on page lh3 (Fig. No. 20). Method No. 2. The gestural familiarity with the auditor's physique among "traditional" Eastern Jews was also repeatedly observed by our co-worker, as can be ascertained from the following quotation taken at random from Mr. Van Veen's records : There is the tendency to poke one another's shoulders and chests, often pointing at the face with seeming peril to eyes, nose and mouth, and much grabbing of one another's hands, arm, shoulders, and buttons is also evident. This meddling with the body of the conversee sometimes becomes excessively manifest, as in the case where Mr. Efron was unmaliciously belabored with a cane in one of his conversations in "Yiddish" with a resident of the lower East Side.29 Fig. No. 21 drawn from life by Mr. Van Veen, illustrates his observations. (The phenomenon of gesticulation with the interlocutor's arm, depicted in Fig. No. 19, was witnessed by the writer in front of a synagogue, on Rivington Street, and then inaginatively reconstructed by Mr. Van Veen.) 2. Simultaneous Gesturing In animated conversation "traditional" Eastern Jews seem to be less prone than any other group to comply with the rules of Socratic día-logue It is not unusual, in effect, to see two or more individuals talking at one and the same time. Occasionally the spectator is confronted, not so much with a situation of verbal inter-course, as with a kind of chorus of divergent monologues. This often has its gestural counterpart. It is not exceptional to see several hands moving contemporaneously, trying to catch each other, and becoming entangled every once in a while. In one of the extreme cases of such choral gesticulation, observed and filmed in the ghetto district, there appear four men partici-

66

pating simultaneously in the argument, and four arms (one for each person) engaged in a "hand to hand" rhetorical skirmish, with a resulting intertwining of sinuous movement in the corresponding kinograph. Fig. No. 22 represents a short segment (32 frames) of the film. Method No. 3. An inspection of 200 "traditional" Jewish conversational groups yielded a proportion of 17% of simultaneous gesturing. In 2 cases, out of a total of 3^, the contemporaneous gesticulation was continuous during the whole period of observation (one and two minutes respectively), involving two individuals in each case. In the remainder it was more or less intermittent. In some of the latter groups the conversation involved from ^ to 6 persons, all of whom were seen gesturing at the same time at one or another stage of the discussion.

3. Ways of Conversational Grouping Closely allied to the phenomena of contactual gesture and contemporaneous gesticulation, and perhaps also to some of the more strictly spatial aspects of the gestural behavior of the "traditional" Jew (such as confined radius, and dorsoventral gesture), seems to be the "geography" of conversation among ghetto Jews. This appears to be conditioned by more than the mere physical topology of the place of meeting. Thus "traditional" Eastern Jews, regardless of the amount of space at their disposal, tend to stand close together in compact groups while conversing. On occasions the propinquity is so marked that their bodies actually rub each other. It is not unusual to see a tightly packed mass of people, centered at a pivotal point represented by the main speaker, with only their heads and shoulders moving, for the lack of manoeuvring space makes it difficult for them to bring their arms into play. Sometimes the person who happens to hold the floor at the moment finds it necessary to clear his way with his hands from time to time, ao as to be able to gesture. The tendency among ghetto Jews to bunch themselves in conversation (not found, by the way, in any of the other groups studied), made it often quite difficult for the investigator to observe and photograph their gestures. As a matter of fact, in a good number of cases it was necessary to take bird's-eye view pictures with a telephoto lens from the top of an adjacent building. 67

Method Ho. g. A quantitative teet of the frequency of that phenomenon among ghetto Jews yielded the following results:

No. of colloquial Actual bodily groups ob aerved^Q contact

100

9

Standing Standing more very close or lesB apart

65

26

The same phenomenon was also observed in hundreds of other cases not tabulated. Fig. No. 23 represents one of these cases drawn from life by Mr. Van Veen.31 l·. Gesturing with Objects "Traditional" Eastern Jews are prone to use in the guise of an arm-extension any inanimate object (whether pencil, cane, newspaper, package, table utensil, etc.) which they happen to be holding in their hands while gesturing. This tendency has not been subjected to a quantitative test, but repeated observations over a long period of time have shown that, whenever a ghetto Jew is carrying a physical object in his hand, he is very likely to utilize it with profit as an additional weapon of gestural persuasion. This he does with great adroitness, sometimes at the expense of the comfort of his interlocutor, who may find himself in a rather precarious situation, especially when the object is of such a nature that it represents a threat to his aesthetic appearance or to his bodily integrity. Wo such skill has been observed in "traditional" Italians, or in Anglo-Saxons for that matter. The dexterity shown by the ghetto Jew in the gestural manipulation of objects is exemplified by one of the extreme cases of our collection in which the gesturer appears energetically brandishing a fork, on the prongs of which a voluminous meatball is gracefully defying the laws of physical equilibrium (cf. Fig. No. 2k). The gastronomic implement did not prevent the hand that was flourishing it from performing all sorts of gestural arabesques in the immediate vicinity of the interlocutor's nasal appendage. Sketch No. 25 portrays a similar situation, with a slice of bread playing the role of mechanical prolongation of the arm. As far as our observation goes, the tendency just described is wholly absent in the gestural behavior of the "Americanized" Jew.

68

C. "Linguistic" Aapects Ideographic versus physiographic gesture A notion that was in vogue among early investigators of "eign-language," during the second half of the nineteenth century, which still seems to enjoy some credit with certain students of gestural "expression" of our ovn times, is that which sees in manual gesture a kind of natural hieroglyphic writing in the air. As far as we know this notion was first advanced by Francis Bacon.32 It has repeatedly been set forth since by psychologists and philosophers. It has also tempted from time to time the Imagination of the anthropologist. To give here a single example, Tylor claimed that both "gesture-language and picture-writing may he mostly explained without the aid of history," for they are "direct products of the human mind," in contrast to speech and alphabetic writing, which "must be investigated historically, depending as they do in so great measure on the words and characters which were current in the world thousands of years ago." Again, both the picture-words and the gesture-words, or "pictures in the air," "belong to similar conditions of the human mind," namely, "the imitation of visible qualities as a means of expressing ideas."33 The restricted scope of this monograph does not permit a detailed discussion of this theory here.^ With reference to the empirical material that will be described in the present section, it is pertinent, however, to point out two of the fallacies underlying such a conception. This conception gratuitously assumes (a) that pictorial (of "things") gesture is a congenital mode of communication, (b) that all gesture is pictorial in nature. The first of these assumptions is refuted by the fact that pictorial bodily movement, whether gestural or graphic, presupposes visual and/or tactile experience. The second ignores the even more obvious fact that non-pictorial gesture plays a predominant role in almost any type of colloquial (nonritualized) gesticulation.35 The results of our comparative study indicate rather that the presence of pictorialism in the gestural movements of an individual depends largely on his "history," or cultural descent. They show, on the other hand, that non-pictorial gesture may discharge a "linguistic" function as important as that of the pictorial one. A few classificatory considerations will pave the way for a presentation of these results. A gestural movement may be "meaningful" by (a) the emphasis 69

It lends to the content of the verbal and vocal behavior It accompanies, (b) the connotation (whether deictic, pictorial, or symbolic) It possesses independently from the speech of which it may, or may not, be an adjunct. In the first case its "meaning" is of a logical or discursive character, the movement being, as it were, a kind of gestural portrayal, not of the object of reference, or "thought," but of the course of the ideational process itself (i.e., a bodily reënactment of the logical pauses, intensities, inflections, etc. of the corresponding speech sequence). This type of gesture may in turn be (a) simply baton-like, representing a sort of "timing out" with the hand the successive stages of the referential activity, (b) ideographic, in the sense that it traces or sketches out in the air the "paths" and "directions" of the thought-pattern. The latter variety might also be called loglco-topographic or loglco-plctorlal.36 In the second case the "meaning" of the gesture is "objective," and the movement may be (a) deictic, referring by means of a sign to a visually present object (actual pointing), (b) physiographic, depicting either the form of a visual object or a spatial relationship (iconographie gesture), or that of a bodily action (klnetographic gesture), (c) symbolic or emblematic, representing either a visual or a logical object by means of a pictorial or a non-pictorial form which has no morphological relationship to the thing represented. How, notwithstanding the large amount of gestural movement involved in his colloquial behavior, the "traditional" Eastern Jew very seldom displays physiographic or symbolic gestures. In contrast to the "traditional" Southern Italian who, it will be shown below, is inclined to illustrate gesturally the "objects" of his thinking activity (the "referents"), the ghetto Jew is more likely to give a gestural notation of the "process" of that activity, a gestural description of the "physiognomy," so to say, of his discourse (the "reference"). To use an analogy, the "traditional" Jew very rarely employs his arti in the guise of a pencil, to depict the "things" he is referring to, but uses it often as a pointer, to link one proposition to another, or to trace the itinerary of a logical Journey; or else as a baton, to beat the tempo of his mental locomotion. One might say that his gestural movements are related more to the "how" than to the "what" of the ideas they reënact. The popular notion that "he talks with the hands" can be taken in a metaphorical sense only. Per se his gestures a3 a rule "say" little or nothing. They "apeak" only to a person who understands the accompanying words, particu-

70

larly if he is fami liar with the "meanings" of certain more or less stereotyped intonational forms characteristic of g h e t t o - Y i d d i s h . W h e n such condition is present, the "logical" significance of these "baton"- and "pointer"-gestures is unmistakable. It is then perfectly clear that almost each turn or twist in the movement corresponds to a change in the "direction" or in the "altitude" (logical emphasis) of the "curve" of thought. These shifts in logical direction and level result in the complex embroideries and zigzags described above, which in a sense are something like gestural charts of the "heights" and "lows," "detours" and "crossroads" of the ideational route. The "logical" nature of this type of gesture becomes strikingly apparent in those cases in which the movement presents a quasi-"syllogistic" form, its zigzags or sinuous inflections corresponding to the two premises and the conclusion of a thought-configuration. Examples of these logicotopographical or "propoaitional" gestures will be found on page lU^ (Figs. Nos. 26 to 31). Cf. also Figs. Nos. 9, 10, and I I . 5 9 Method No. 3 · The statement regarding the relative paucity of physiographic and pictorially symbolic elements in the gestural movements of the "traditional" Jew is based upon an observation of approximately 1+50 caaes of verbo-gestural behavior, in most of which a great deal of manual motion was present, and the verbal part of which contained a good number of words or group of words referring to spatial objects and relationships, and to bodily actions. With only a few exceptions, no disposition was detected in the speakers to pictorialize gesturally these words. In the great majority of cases the "thing"-word or the "action"-word was found to be accompanied instead either by a "baton"-movement or by a strictly ideographic one. This phenomenon stands out in 3harp contrast when compared to that observed in the case of the "traditional" Italian (cf. below). Fifty-five of the cases above mentioned are included in the following table. In the first column appear, out of context 1 ^ the "thing"-words (symbolizing visuo-spatial forms, situations, or relationships) and the "action"-words (symbolizing bodily activities) contained in the verbal behavior of the subjects observed. In the second, a reproduction is given of the movements performed by the gesturer while he wa3 uttering these words.^^

71

TABLE WO. 3 Ideographic versus Physiographic Gesture Case

"Thing"- and "action"-words

Accompanying Movements

1

two halves

2

turning around

3

and fell down

i+

in between

5

walking fast

6

hit him on the head

7

Bet apart

8

his thinking twists'42

9

going backwards

/ y

short outward movement , palms up repeated several times

- e

lit

10

one against the other

11

a tremendous explosion

12

thumbing through the book

13

he drags himself alongé

Ik

he climbs to the roof^

15

broken into pieces

16

cracked his head open

17

under the wheels

18

too low

repeated several times

/ ^ T descriptive gesture re \ l s 1 J U ,

Λ repeated several times IT II II

c 72

TABLE NO. 3 (Cont'd) Ideographic versus Physiographic Gesture Case

"Thing"- and "action"-words

Accompanying Movements repeated several times

19

a huge pile of junk

20

and stopped all of a sudden

21

lashing hack and forth in the water

^

r

22

stroking the hook

23

straining himself to lift it up from the ground

2k

pushing him away

25

I looked around

26

whipping the poor little hoy

27

propping him up

28

and finally turned the pushcart over

29

threw herself overboard

η Γ

30

running against each other

\ Λ

31

I hammered it into his head

32

repeated several times

repeated several times

o V

r

V

one on the top of the other Just in the middle 73

41t

repeated several times repeated several times repeated several times

TABLE NO. 3 (Cont'd) Ideographic versus Physiographic Gesture Case

"Thing"- and "action"-words

Accompanying Movements

Jumped across 35

on the edge

36

rolling dovn the hill

37

the walls were shaking

38

from the top of

repeated several times

4

with edge of palm

Mount Sinai 39

J

a very long beard crushed ("zupletacht")

J+l

a tight knot

k2

a long row

repeated several times

μ

11

palm down, in forceful movement. Descriptive gesture. repeated several times

^JLA

playing the harp

palm out and upward

split in two standing in front of you

repeated several times

1*6

right and left

repeated several times

hf

a sharp inclination

U8

and pierced it through he cast the cane on the ground lb

TABLE NO. 3 (Cont'd) Ideographic versus Physiographic Gesture "Thing"- and Case

"action"-words

Accompanying Movement a repeated several times

50

an oval shape

51

the door wide open

52

upside down

53

shooing away the children

Hb

and they collided

55

one after the the other

lit

A wv

repeated several times

Although the ideographic movement is a phenomenon frequently observed among "traditional" Jews of Lithuanian and Polish origin in general it appears to be particularly characteristic of a certain sub-group within the ghetto population, namely, the Lithuanian "Yeshiva"-^ type of Jew, used to argumentative and syllogistic reasoning. During the two-year period of our inquiry we enjoyed the opportunity of frequenting the company of a good number of these Yeshiva Jews in New York City (teachers and students of the Yeshiva Rabbi Itzjak Elhanan, speakers at orthodox Lithuanian Jewish learned societies, etc.), and of watching closely their gestures. Our observations would seem to indicate that the greater prevalence of logico-pictorial motions in the gestural behavior of this type of Jew is due to the nature of his educational training. A quantitative test of the frequency of this kind of gesture in twenty-five Yeshiva Jews and twenty-five non-Yeshiva Jews yielded the following results: Number of subjects^P Yeshiva Jews Non-Yeshiva Jews

25 25

Time of gesturai movement 170 minutes I5I "

75

Number of ideographic gest. ' 718 355

Gestural Emphasis With the exception perhaps of purely symbolic gesture, most conversational bodily motions carry aome emphatic weight, in the sense that they tend to reinforce the value of social stimulation of the verbal behavior they accompany. Generally speaking, a gestural movement may be emphatic in two different ways : (a) by its force and/or sweep. (b) by its form. In the first case the speaker strives to impose his thoughts upon the interlocutor bodily, so to say, trying to give, by means of a violent and ample movement, an appearance of fait accompli to his words. In the second case the speaker strives to persuade more with the "idea" than with the hand. The movement is neat, sometimes punctilious, ao if intended to italicize, or bring into relief certain parts or stages of the ideational process. One might call the first kind of gestural emphasis a dogmatic one, the second a logical one. The type of emphasis found more frequently in the gestural movement of the ghetto Jew is the logical one. Even in situations of great excitement his gestures are very seldom violent and far-flung. In spite of the fact that he gesticulates so much and so often, he rarely "lets his gesture go." There seems to be a lack of substantial power behind it. The motions give more an effect of nervous energy than of "animal" force. This becomes strikingly apparent when contrasted with the gestures of the "traditional" Southern Italian who is sometimes actually carried away b y the robustness and amplitude of his own movements. It has been our repeated observation that even under the grip of an emotion ghetto Jews seldom exhibit forceful and expansive gestures. In fact, we have witnessed a good number of cases in which their gestures in such a situation became even more confined in area and more punctilious in form than what they usually are. It is interesting to point out in this connection that the opposite case, that is to say, the use of grandiose gestures in the manifestation of ideational or affective processes of a purely conversational character, appears to be rather characteristic of the "traditional" Italian. As a rule the "logical" emphasis in the gestures of the ghetto Jew involves a change in the speed and/or the direction oí the movement, the latter being, as it were, a kind of gestural "catapulting" 1 ^ of the corresponding segment of discourse. This is exemplified by a good number of the gestural zigzags contained in our collection of g r a p h s Λ 9 The 76

phenomenon Just described calls for a careful, specific inquiry. Symbolic Gesture Unlike the physiographic movement, which exhibits an entire or partial· direct morphological relationship to the bodily attribute or action it represents, and may therefore be understood by individuals belonging to markedly different cultures, the symbolic one, whether pictorial or non-pictorial in form, has, as a rul^ a purely emblematic character, that is to say, the "referee" of the thought-gesture activity (i.e., the gestural symbol) shows no morphological analogy with its "referent" (i.e., the thing, bodily action, or logical object referred to). As in the case of iconographie and kinetographic movement, the gestural behavior of the ghetto Jew betrays a scarcity of symbolic elements. Daring the long period of our inquiry, we came across only six movements in the gestural behavior of this group which might be classified under the category of the symbolic. Strictly speaking, only two of these are distinctly emblematic. The others, on the contrary, may be found to signify more than one specific object or concept, depending on the linguistic content they accompany. When they are used as an exclusive means of communication, their "meanings" are more or less vague, and may be interpreted differently by two different spectators. Moreover, they may recur under entirely different psychological situations. (Cf. Figs. Nos. 32 to 36). Pantomime Since the gestural movements of the "traditional" Eastern Jew are seldom physiographic or symbolic (of objects), they rarely function as an exclusive means of linguistic interaction, in contrast to the "traditional" Southern Italian who, as will be shown below, is perfectly able to carry on conversation without the aid of the spoken word. In our study of so-called pantomimic gesticulation, we were fortunate to secure the assistance of several prominent Italian and Jewish actors in New York City.50 The former showed no difficulty whatsoever in enacting a series of "dumb-shows," which are entirely meaningful to any person acquainted with the system 77

of gestural pictures and. symbols used by their group. The latter, on the contrary, were unable to create any specifically significant pantomime based on "Jewish" gestures. Using the quasi-meaningful pictorial movements of the ghetto Jew, together with some of the so-called "universal" descriptive motions, Mr. Van Veen drew up an artificial pantomime which was shown to several "traditional" Jews. Their interpretations of the pictorial "story" differed a great deal, showing that the few illustrative "Jewish" gestures have no standardized meaning. This was particularly evident in two of such cases in which the same subject ascribed different meanings to the same pictorial "Jewish" gestures because these were found to function in different gestural contexts. A similar attempt was made by the author on several occasions with ideographic movements (of both the "baton-" and the "pointer-" types), punctuating and delineating tempo of the logical process, ideational pause, shift in logical direction, etc. The results here were somewhat different. In most cases the subjects knew that "the gestures had something to do," as one of them put it, "with the order of your ideas," or, in the words of another subject, that I was "tracing a line of thought." Only the investigator was aware, however, of what that "order" and that "line" concretely "meant."

78

3. TENDENCIES IN THE GESTURAL BEHAVTOB OF "TRADITIONAL" SOUTHERN ITALIANS IN NEW YORK CITY A. Spatio-temporal Aspects 1. Radius Method No.. 1. Early observations: In general, the radius of the gestures of the "traditional" Italian appears to he quite ample The spatial confinement observed in the gestures of the Eastern ghetto Jew is very seldom present in those of the Neapolitan or the Sicilian. Quite often in the latter the gestural compass coincides with their arms' length Not only are the Italians likely to utilize freely the entire space at their command, hut on occasions they even seek to transcend the possible perimeter of manual movement, as, for example, when the gesturer is found bending his body in the direction of a far distant object at which he is pointing, or when he is seen standing up on his toes while depicting an object the size of which is larger than the one his arms can embrace. The axis of gestural motion in the "traditional" Italian seems to be usually centered at the shoulder In contrast to the ghetto Jew, in the Italian the movement from the elbow appears to be very rare, and more so the one from the wrist. The elbow moves with great freedom in all directions. Method No. j. The method of rough counting yielded the following results: Area of Gestural Movement Transversal and Frontal Planes Number of Gestural Vertical Plane Approximately Subjects Movement Above Head 3elow Hips Arms' Length IOC

6l4 min. 383 unit m. 552 u.m.

332J u.m.

(U257 u.m.) Average number of wide radius unit motions per minute of gestural movement: 6.9·

79

The average number of unit motions performed per minute by thirty-five of these subjects was roughly calculated. The figure 17.2 was obtained. This figure does not differ much from that obtained in the case of the ghetto Jew (20.9). The difference "between the averages of wide radius motions in the two cases is on the other hand rather pronounced (O.58 u.m. per minute in the Jew, versus 6.9 u.m. per minute in the Italian). Method No. Vb. The topographical measurement of seventyfive graphs gave the following results: Possible perimeter of motion Average maximum radius Average minimum radius Average radius

100 77 35.8 56

. Λ

'

Method No. 3- The direct estimate of the relative frequency of gestural motions with ani s at elbow, as against movements w i t h axis at shoulder, yielded the following results in the case of the "traditional" Italian. Number of Subjects 100

Time of Gestural Movement

Number of Unit Motlons from Elbow

300 minutes

5 5 6 u.m.

Average number of unit motions from elbow per minute of gestural movement: 1.8. Average number of u.m. performed per minute of gestural movement : 17.2. The difference between the Italian and the Jew in this respect is obvious. As to gestural motions with axis at the wrist, our repeated observation of hundreds of cases of gestural behavior has "been that this phenomenon is extremely rare among "traditional" Italians. An inspection of one hundred such cases yielded the following: Number of Subjects

100

Much

3 80

Movement From the Wrist Little Nothing

10

87

Method No. kb. An examination of seventy-five Italian graphe, with reference to axle of gesture, showed the following: Number of Graphs 75

Axis at Elbow

Axis at Shoulder

3

67

At Both 5

Fig. No. 37 (graph) illustrates gestural expansiveness and gesture with axis at the shoulder in the "traditional" Italian. Method No. 2. The observations made independently by our co-worker fall in line with the results presented above. In Mr. Van Veen's numerous sketches of gesturing Italians we find many references to wide radius and to mobility of elbow. The following is taken at random from hie marginal notes : One observes that the Southern Italian uses the full sweep of his burly arms in all and every direction, from knees to over head, and from in front of the body as far baçk as the arm will reach (even including gesticulation behind the back, as has been observed). The movements besides being broad are rotund and fluid, due supposedly to their unrestraint. The gestures of the fully extended arm have about them a peculiar roundness, the arm itself often having an arched feeling to it, and the hand iteelf having a cupped appearance, almost as if it had been holding a large ball which had Just been removed, leaving the hand in the same position In distinctly symbolic gesticulation, of which he has a large repertoire, the Italian may use finger gesture; but in gesture which I am inclined to call "expressive" (the kind used in general accompaniment to speech), the motions are pivoted chiefly from the shoulder, with the hand for the most part serving as an extension of the forearm rather than as an independent agent, (cf. sketches Nos. 38 and 39). 2. Form Method No. 1. In general the gestural movements of the "traditional" Italian are less complex in form than those of the ghetto Jew. Their relative simplicity appears to be the 81

result of the Italian's tendency to gesticulate chiefly within a single plane of motion As a rule the trajectory of the movement presents an elliptical or quasi-circular shape, very seldom that of a sinuous or cornered, arabesque, or a figure 8 (as was the case with the Jew). Method Mo. ;. The relative frequency of elliptical versus sinuous movements in the gestural behavior of eighty "traditional" Italians, during a period of time ranging between three and five minutes, may be grasped from the following results. As in the case of the Jew, and for the same reasons, the straight unitary motions, as well as the composite angular ones, were not tabulated. A rough estimate of the proportion of these two other types of gestural form, taken together, to the total number of unit motions performed per minute, was obtained by a process of elimination. Number of

Time of Gestur-

Sinuous

Elliptical (and

Subjects

al Movement

Gestures

Arched) Gestures

80

kb2 minutes

25

5588

Average number number of of elliptical sinuous gestures per per minute: O.O5 Average gestures minute: 8.5 17.2 being approximately the number of unit motions performed by a "traditional" Italian per minute, there remains 8.65 for both the straight unitary and the composite angular gestures. There is no way of telling the relative proportion of the latter. In general our observations have led us to believe that in most cases their number is smaller than that of the former. Method Ho. Vb. An examination of seventy-five Italian graphs, from the standpoint of gestural form, yielded the following results : Number of Graphs 75^3)

Sinuous 3

Form of Movement Angular Elliptical 12

1+6

Straight 20

During the process of checking the dubious cases by means of a direct inspection of the corresponding movement in the film, it was observed that, as a rule, each gestural form was reënacted by the subject several times in a sequential 82

fashion. It is our feeling, therefore, that one could, safely multiply the individual figures of the four morphological categories by, say, an average of 2, or even of 3, without changing the relative frequency of the four forms. Such an operation (i.e., increase in the number of cases) would perhaps meet the well founded objection that one might raise in connection with the limited number of graphs used. Fig. No. 37 illustrates elliptical design in the gestures of the "traditional" Italian. Method No. 4a. As in the case of the ghetto Jew, a more qualitative test was also carried out with regard to gestural form in the Italian. Film naterial representing conversational bodily motions of 6l subjects was projected before two observers, who were asked to write down their general impressions concerning the contour of the movements. No attempt was made, it goes without saying, to influence their Judgments with the descriptive categories used in our own tables. [As in the case of the Jew, the remarks of the observers do not always refer to gestural form. Some are related to taapo or rhythm of movement, pictorialism, etc. In general, however, even these remarks (e.g., "fluid," "harmonious," etc.) would seem to refer also to shape. ] Table No. U Form Observer Y Number of Subjects 3 2 3 2 2 4 2 2 2 2 2 3

Remarks Wholesome effect. None. None. None. Smooth and round. (l) Sharp movements, (?) Descriptive; I know the meaning of this gesture; it means "what?" (\) and (4) Ilo movement. Pleasant to look at . Smooth surface. (l) Bound gestures, (2) No movement. None. (l) Fluid quality, (2) Siarp. (l) Kind of musical quality, (2) Direct. (j) No movement.

83

Table Ho. k (Cont'd) Form Observer Y Number of Subjects 2 2 2 3 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2

Remarks Nothing striking. (l) Symmetrical; the arma go out simultaneously in a movement resembling a Jet of water, (2) winding movements. Wholesome effect. (l) Round, even, (2) Clean-cut. Nothing striking. Symmetrical, smooth. (l) Descriptive gestures, (2) Very energetic. (l) Many symmetrical, roundish movements; awfully fast; (2) Nothing particular. (l) Sign-language? Very funny, (2) Smooth. (l) Musical effect, (2) Round. None. Nothing striking. (l) Arches and circles. Very monotonous, (2) Jumpy, fast. (l) Touches nose, (2) Round or rather spiral movements. None. Smooth, symmetrical; I cannot help thinking Of two opposite Jets of water. The other fellow: descriptive. Table No. 5 Form Observer Ζ

Number of Subjects 3 2 3 2

Remarks None. Circular movements with one palm. The other person extremely restless. (l) Spiral gestures, (2) Sharp and vigorous, (3) None. None.

Table No. 5 (Cont'd) Form Observer Ζ Number of Subjects 2 1+ 2 2 2 3 2 2 2 3 2 2 2 2 2 3 2 2 2 2 2 2

Remarks None. (l) and (2) Very fast, (3) Harmonious, balanced movements, (U) Irregular. Harmonious. None. (l) Circular gestures, (2) Irregular. None. None. (l) Spiral form, (2) Balanced (?) None. (l) Easy-going, smooth, round, (2) Quite the opposite, sharp, angular movements. Smooth. None. (l) Vigorous gestures, (2) Outlines something. (l) Crayfish movements, (2) Ditto. None. Speaks with the hands. (1) Fluid, (2) Kind of Jerky. (l) Free, ample gestures; for the most part roundish in form, (2) Soft, harmonious. (l) Crayfish movements, extremely picturesque, (2) Irregular. (l) Circular gestures with palm, (2) Symbolic gesture? (l) Aesthetic quality, fluidity. (l) Ditto, (2) Symbolic gestures?

Some of the remarks contained in these tables, such as "crayfish movements," "spiral form," the analogy of "two opposite jets of water," etc., would seem to indicate that the attention of the observers was struck in certain cases b y the Italian's tendency to perform what we have called "elliptical" gestures. Method No. 2. Mr. Van Veen's remarks on design in the gestural movements of the "traditional" Italian appear to fall in line with the foregoing observations. One of these remarks

85

was already quoted in a more inclusive statement (aee page 8l). He too speaka of "roundness" and "fluidity," and makes the first of these qualities extensive not only to the contour of the movements, but alao to the position of the arm. and the hand while gesturing ("arched feeling," "cupped appearance" ). 3. Plane It was previously pointed out that the "traditional" Eastern Jew exhibits a tendency to execute the greater part of his gestural motions in a plane of "depth," i.e., in a dorsoventral direction; that he ia also prone to geature in a space-segment parallel to the medial plane of the body (vertical movement); and that the latero-transversal or sideways gestures are usually a minority in hia caae. Mention waa also made of our impression that there is often a change of direction in the movement within a single geature configuration. The opposite appears to hold true in the case of the "traditional" Italian. The data collected by means of methods Nos. 3 and ll· would aeem to indicate that the Italian is more likely to perform his geatural motions in a spherical "surface" plane, away from his body as well as from that of the interlocutor. The vertical and the frontal gestures aeem to occur less frequently in his colloquial gesticulation. Furthermore, aB a rule he appeara to have a tendency to continue in the same direction until completion of ail entire gesture-pattern. Method No. 3 · The procedure of rough counting yielded the following results: Number of

Time of Gestur.-

Subjects

al Movements

50

18O

Sideways

1198

min.

Average unit motions per minute

u.m.

6.6

Towards the

Up and

Auditor

Down

529 u.m. 2.9

961

u.m.

. 5 - 3. ^ ^

Method No. ^b. A n examination of 75 Italian gestural graphs, 'from the standpoint of plane of movement, showed the following :

86

No. of Graphs

Plane of Movement DorsoPredom. Predoni. Predom. Lateral ventral Vertical Lateral Dorso-v. Vertical

75

28

9

16

10

b

8

Fig. No. 37 (graph) Illustrates spherical "surface" gesticulation (lateral movement) In the "traditional" Italian. Method No. 4a. As in the case of the ghetto Jew, a more qualitative test was also carried out with film material projected before two observers. The Judgments of the latter would seem to add some strength to our tentative numerical findings. The results of the test read as follows: Observer Y Number of Subjects 50

Predominantly lateral

Plane of Movement Predominantly Predominantdorso-ventral ly vertical

26

10 Observer Ζ

Number of Subjects 50

Predominantly lateral

Plane of Movement Predominantly Predominantdorso-ventral ly vertical

22

13

15

Method No. 2. In Mr. Van Veen's pictorial records one finds several marginal notes which appear to fall in line vith the preceding observations. Our co-worker speaks of "centrifugality" in the gestures of the Southern Italian versus "centripetality" in those of the Jew. From the standpoint of our own description, these terms are not distinctive enough. They leave out, for example, the movements in a vertical plane. Furthermore, with reference to the "communicational" aspect of gestural behavior, it is, we think, important to draw a distinction between lateral centrifugality (i.e., away from both the speaker and the auditor) and dorsoventral centrifugality (i.e., away from the body of the speaker, but towards that of the interlocutor).

87

U. Bodily Parte Involved In Gesticulation and. Ways In Which They Are Employed Method No. 1. Compared with the "traditional'' Jew the "traditional" Italian exhibits a greater synergy in the vise of the parta of the arm involved in his gestural behavior. As a rule his upuer arm, forearm and hand move in a concerted manner, with the point of leverage mainly centered at the shoulder There is a kind of "wholeness' in hia gestural motions as far as functional participation of the three main anatomical sections of the arm ia concerned. The "displacement" or "distribution" of the axis of movement from shoulder to elbow and/or wrist, observed in the gestures of the ghetto Jew, are very seldom apparent in those of the "traditional" Italian The carpal and metacarpal motions (digital gestures) are a relatively rare phenomenon in the Italian. As a rule his fingers participate in the gestural movement as undifferentiated parts of the arm-lever, rather than as separate members, as in the case of the ghetto Jew 55 j n contrast to the Jew, the Italian seldom gesticulates with his head. The "turtle-like" motion from the neck, characteristic of the ghetto Jew, has been observed only twice in the Italian In general, the Jew exhibits also a greater variety in the positions and the (nonpictorial) shapes of the hand while gesturing. In marked contrast to those of the ghetto Jew, the gestures of the "traditional" Southern Italian are often bilateral, that is to say, both arms are likely to be brought simultaneously into play for an identical or very similar movement. These "twin gestures" of the Italian stand out in sharp contrast to the "ambulatory," as well as the strictly unilateral movements of the Jew. They also give a symmetrical quality to his manual discourse.

Head Gestures A quantitative tabulation was really unnecessary in this case, for our observation of "traditional" Italian colloquial groups for a long period of time shoved no tendency whatever to use the head as a means of gestural expression. For purposes of inter-comparison the gestural behavior of 100 subjects was examined, however, during a period of time ranging between 3 and 5 minutes in each case, in terms of degree of participation of the head in the general bodily movement. The results obtained are as follows:

88

Number of Subjects

100

Much

0

Gesticulation with Head Gesticulation Little Nothing with Head Only

1

99

0

Digital Gestures No quantitative tabulation was made. As far as our observation goes, the "traditional" Italian, in contrast to the ghetto Jew, is very unlikely to employ his fingers for "discursive" (non-pictorial, non-symbolic) gesticulation. Method No. 3. Unilaterality versus Bilaterality in the Movement. The gestural behavior of 80 "traditional" Italians was observed over a period of time of approximately five minutes in each case, and the motions roughly classified under the six categories used for the same purpose in the case of the Jew. The results obtained read as follows: Number of Subjects

80

Gestural Movement Entirely Entirely Predom. Predom. Unilateral Bilateral Unilateral Bilateral Mixed

5

28

8

27

18

Method No. ^a. A less qualitative test was carried out with film material. The gestural motions of 1*8 "traditional" Italians were projected before two naïve observers, who were instructed to mark the number of single-hand and, double-hand unit movements performed by each subject. Neither the time of observation nor the time of gestural movement were considered. The following results were obtained: Observer Y Number of Subjects 1*8

Unit Movements Performed Single -handed Double-handed 386

729

Observer Ζ Number of Subjects 1*8

Unit Movements Performed Single-handed Doub1e-handed 1*15 89

751(56)

Method Ho. Vb. An examination of 85 graphs of gestures of "traditional" Italians yielded the following proportion: Unilateral Bilateral

22 58

Out of the 58 cases of bilateral motion, 25 were what we have designated as "twin gestures." Figurée Nos. 37 and illustrate this phenomenon. The contrast between the Italian and the Jew is striking in this respect. Method No. 2. The following quotation, taken from Mr. Van Veen's marginal notes falls in line with the results given atove : Among Southern Italiane it is common to see the two arms gesticulate at the same time, or when only one hand is moving, the second hand brought into play as a kind of reenforcing or emphasizing agent, following exactly the same gesture. Many Italian gestures show both hands in play from the start. Mr. Van Veen's pictorial records contain a great number of cases of bilateral gesticulation. Cf., for instance, Pig. ^1. Ambulatory Gesture A tabulation of the frequency of this phenomenon in the "traditional" Italian was superfluous. For over a year we had been hunting for a specimen of this kind of movement in "Little Italy." Our exploration showed that it is extremely rare.

Symmetry The results presented on page 89, as well as the proporr tion of "twin gestures found in our graphs, indicate that a considerable part of the gestural motions of the "traditional" Southern.Italians observed was highly symmetrical.

5. Tempo Method No. 1. The following observations were made during

90

the first stage of our inquiry: In contrast to the gestural movements of the ghetto Jew, which are usually Jerky and irregular in their speed, thoee of the "traditional" Italian present as a rule an effect of temporal congruity Whereas in the Jew a gestural configuration is likely to he composed of a series of unit motions which pass abruptly from one speed to another, in the Italian they are apt to flow smoothly one into another at a n even speed, or to wind or unwind themselves gradually in a "crescendo" or a "diminuendo." . . . . There is seldom in the Italian's gestures a spasmodic transition from one movement to the next. Method No. 3. Method No. 3 yielded the following results: Number of Subjects 100

Time of Gestural Movement 315 min.

Number of Unit MotionB

Number of Jerky Transitions from One Speed to Another

52^5

Method No. 2. Mr. Van Veen's impressions regarding gestural tempo in the "traditional" Italian are summarized in the following quotation taken from the marginal notes of two of his sketches : Perhaps because Italian is a musical language, one observes that the accompanying gesticulation is rhythmic Movements being fairly large, the speed is much evener than the Jewish, and follows to a great extent the flow of words rather than the tenor of the idea. The latter quality is found more often in the Jew. [Mr. Van Veen's description of the gestural movement of the ghetto Jew as a movement that tends to follow "the tenor of the idea" parallels our own characterization of the "ideographic gesture" of the same type of Jew (cf. page 70). The implication in his statement that the uneven tempo of the Jewish gestures may be due to the ideographic character of the latter (i.e., gestural punctuation, accentuation, etc. of the logical process) is worth pondering.]

91

Β. "Interlocutlonal" Aspects Topographic-Gestural Relationships Betveen Speaker and Auditor 1. "Familiarity" with the Physical Person of the Interlocutor Notwithstanding the large sweep with which his gestural movements are usually performed, the "traditional" Italian, in contrast to the ghetto Jew, very rarely employs the "body of his conversational partner as a "point de repère" for his manual discourse. As far as our observation goes, the fullest extent of his meddling with the auditor's physique hardly goes "beyond a gentle placing of his palm, on the arm or the shoulder of the latter, or the light tapping of his forearm. In the few cases of gestural "promiscuity" observed among Southern Italians the tactile gesture was not used, however, as a means of interrupting the movements of the conversee, "but rather in the way of expressing confidence. The more energetic modi of physical persuasion - e.g., grasping of wrist or of wearing apparel, pulling, shaking, etc. - found in the gestural technique of the ghetto Jew, seem to he wholly absent from that of the "traditional" Italian. In the course of our two years' investigation we came across only one instance of actual manipulation of the interlocutor's body in an Italian colloquial group, but it was ascertained, from the content of the accompanying speech, that the subject of conversation was the body of the auditor itself. Strictly speaking, therefore, the manipulating motions of the speaker were not in that case truly contactual gestures, since the physique of the addressee was a necessary "stage property" for the discourse of the gesturer. The following is a quotation from the marginal notée of two of Mr. Van Teen's sketches of "traditional" Southern Italians. It falls in line with our own observations: There is, as far aa I have seen, no great tendency in the Italian to poke, grab, or point in the face of the conversee. The most marked manual conduct I have noticed in an Italian dialogue has been a kind of semi-affectionate resting of the speaker's hand on the arm or knee•of his companion while talking. One of the things I have seen often enough to feel that it is characteristic of the Italian is the following: when two conversationalists are walking and gesturing, one will interrupt the other, not 92

ty grabbing his wrist or coat, as an Eastern Jew is likely to do in a similar situation, but ty stopping and standing still till he has an opportunity to speak. 2. Simultaneous Gesturing Among the hundreds of cases of conversational gesticulation observed in the Italian quarter only three fell under this category. Film material of "traditional" Italian conversational groups, ranging from two to six persons each, was projected before a naïve observer, who was asked to mark the instances in which two or more individuals were gesturing contemporaneously. The result was nil. The contrast between Italian and Jew ia striking in this respect. This is also the conclusion one must draw from Mr. Van Veen's observations. His numerous references to what he calls "monogesticulation" in the Italian versus "plurigesticulation" in the Jew indicates that he was quite impressed by that contrast. In the following marginal note to one of his sketches the difference is neatly described: "The Italian shows an inclination toward declamatory gesture, hut rarely is there the high gestural rivalry in discussion, the dual monologues of movement one finds frequently among Jews." 3. Ways of Conversational Grouping The manner in which "traditional" Italians group themselves in conversation denotes a kind of spatial "consideration" for the body of the interlocutor. We very seldom saw in the Italian quarter anything resembling those packed knots of gesturing bodies observed in the Jewish ghetto. In most cases there always was a good stretch of manoeuvring space between the conversers. In making a similar remark, Mr. Van Veen suggests two possible explanations of the phenomenon: The Southern Italians I have observed stand or sit back from one another when conversing, perhaps to give greater room, for their large gestures, perhaps because of the fact that they have for many centuries had a feeling of spaciousness (lacking in the Jewish ghetto), living and working in 93

mountainous landa, gayly shouting at each other across streets, roads and fields. C. "Linguistic" Aspects Ideographic versus physiographic gesture In contrast to the gestural movements of the "traditional" Eastern Jew, which, it has teen shown, are predominantly of a logical character (whether of the ""baton-" or the "pointer-" type) being relatively poor in descriptive (of "things") elements, those of the "traditional" Southern Italian contain a rather fair number of physiographic forms, and betray, on the other hand, a relatively marked scarcity in ideographic ones. The gestures of the Italian appear to be related more to the objective content of discourse than to its logical trajectory. The popular dictum that "he talis with the hands" is as literally true in the case of the Italian as it was metaphorically in that of the Jew. To be sure., the gestural motions of the former are far from being always, or even predominantly, pictorial of things or activities. As far as quantity of movement is concerned, many of them are in fact Bimply "expository" in nature, marking the paces and strides of the corresponding speech sequence. From this standpoint the gestural behavior of the Italian does not differ a great deal from that of the Jew. Apart from this common characteristic, however, (which is probably present in any type of non-ritualized colloquial gesticulation) the gestural behavior of the two groups is strikingly different in that the physiographic movement (gestural onomatopoeia) as well as the symbolic one (gestural emblem) are phenomena as frequent in the case of the Italian as rare in that of the Jew; and, conversely, in that the strictly ideographic gesture (delineating the course of a meander of thought), typical of the latter, is almost entirely absent in the former. During the whole period of our inquiry we came across only two instances of gestural movement among Italians which might be classified under the category of the ideographic. If the movements of the "traditional" Jew have been likened to gestural "charts," outlining the logical itineraries of the corresponding ideational processes, those of the "traditional" Italian may be said to be something like gestural "slides," illustrating the very things referred to by the accompanying words. In this sense the gestural behavior of the Italian appears to be more "substantival" than that of the Jew, for

9b

it containa a much larger number of visuo-spatial replicas of the "referents" of thought. This method of "demonstratio ad oculos" in gesture proves to he highly instrumental in increasing the stimulus value of the verbal aspect of discourse . Moreover, unlike the scheme propounded to the people of Laputa by the professors of the Grand Academy of Lagado, this procedure of talking by gestural "things" may be conveniently used as the exclusive means of communication. From the data collected in the Italian quarter during the first stage of our inquiry (i.e., direct inspection of gestural behavior, and ensuing interrogation of subjects), we have been able to draw a more or less exhaustive inventory of the "bundle of pictures" that a "traditional" Southern Italian usually carries in his hands. This gestural vocabulary comprehends no less than 125 manual "words," implying definite meaningful associations. Some of these formalized movements Eire found also in the gestural behavior of other, "civilized" as well as "primitive," groups. The others are local in character and their meanings are clear only to a member of a "traditional" Southern Italian community, or to any person who is familiar with the system of gestural pictures and symbols used by the Southern Italian. Five of these will be found on pages 148-^9 (Figs. Nos. k2-3-k-5-6).59 It is possible to trace the historical continuity of many of the gestures included in our chart. Some of these go as far back as ancient Greece and Rome. This may be ascertained by a comparison of our chart with the descriptions or the pictorial reproductions of Greek and Roman gestures found in Karl Sittl1 s fully documented book, Die Gebärden der Greichen und Römer (Verlag Teubner, Leipzig 189O), as well as in Andrea di Jorio1 s La Mimica degli Antichi investigata nel Gestire Napolitano (Stamperia del Fibreno, Napoli, 1832). In Quintilian's descriptions of Roman oratorical gestures we recognize several of the movements included in our collection. Several of these movements, used by "traditional" Southern Italians in New York City, were parts of the "sign-languages" of Anglo-Saxon and German monks in the 11th, 15th, and l6th centuries. Three of the gesture-"dictionaries" of these monks will be found in F. KLüge's Zur Geschichte der Zeichensprache, Anelsachsische Indicia Monasterlalla (Techmer's "Internatlonale Zeitschrift für Allgemeine Sprachwissenschaft," II Band, 1 Hälfte, p. II6, J. Ambrosius Barth, Leipzig 1885) and Leibnitz1 Collectanea Etimologica (Nicolai Foerster, Hanover 1717).

95

In general there is little difference between the gestural lexicon of the "traditional" Neapolitan in New York City and that of his ancestor in Europe one century ago, as recorded "by di Jorio in his hook above mentioned. This also holds true for the dictionary of Sicilian gestures published in the latter half of the 19th century by Pitre (cf. "I Gesti," in his Biblioteca delle Tradizioni Popolari Siciliane, Vol. 15, Pedone Lauriel, Palermo I889). As to the contemporary Southern Italian in the Old World, the similarity between his gestural·vocabulary and that of the unassimiliated Southern Italian here can easily be grasped from a comparison of the gestures of our chart with those of an analogous collection of drawings made from life a few years ago in Italy by the Italian artist, Leone Augusto Bosa (Espressione e Mimica, Eoepli, Milano, 1929). Our own chart contains chiefly gestural pictures and symbols referring to the following categories of objects: (a) bodily functions (including sensory and motor activity, as well as sexual behavior), (b) moral qualities, values and attitudes, (c) logical and affective states, and (d) superstitious motives. With a few exceptions it does not include the many iconographie gestures (depicting shapes, structures or positions of material objects) frequently performed by the "traditional" Italian. These were omitted owing to the fact that, unlike the others, they have no standardized form. The frequency with which these "thing-" gestures make themselves apparent in the "traditional" Italian may be grasped from Table No. 6 containing 50 cases of verbo-gestural behavior, the verbal aspect of which included a considerable number of words referring to forms or positions of material objects. Table No. 6 Ideographic versus Physiographic Gesture "Thing"- and tt "Action"-Words Πι

Case 1

overseas

2

a big crowd

3

to bring his family over

Accompanying Movements >

96

Table Wo. 6 (Cont'd) Ideographic versus Physiographic Gesture Case

"Thing"- and "Action"-Words

Accompanying Movements

I4.

on the top of the building

5

flat ground

Horizontal movement, vith· palm parallel to ground.

6

so I finally wrote to him

Index finger of one hand used with writing movement upon other.

7

a tiny piece of meat

8

for the next couple

Thumb and index finger of one hand holding index finger of other hand in such a way as to indicate a small measurement.

of weeks 9

As in No. 2.

in the open

Gesture as in sketch

10

I was taking a nap

11

and dived into the pool

12

trying to take them apart

13

turn around the next corner

1¡+

he snitched the watch

c See figure d, page 154.

I

put it down!

97

Chart I.

Table No. 6 (Cont'd) Ideographic v e r s u s Physiographic Gesture Case

"Thing"- and "Action"-Words

16

they came to an understanding

17

hut could not avoid

Accompanying Gesture

J L ,

the c l a s h 18

he run u p s t a i r s

19

noti n a the s i n groom l e window

20

water on both s i d e s

21

p u l l i n g i t down slowly

22

and they J a i l e d him

2;"

Imagine, an old f e l l o w l i k e he r i d i n g on the merry-go-round !

2k

shoved me a s i d e

25

p l a n t i n g the f l a g pole i n the ground

26

I am sending her to commercial school to l e a r n typing

27

You b e t t e r make a hook with the wire

Τ •

1 I

F i n g e r s held i n p o s i t i o n of vert i c a l bars i n f r o n t of f a c e . C i r c u l a r movement repeated s e v e r a l o times. S w i f t movement of arm away from body, palm t h r u s t forward.

I

F l u t t e r i n g movement of f i n g e r s in Imit a t i o n of typing process. r -

98

F o r e f i n g e r bent i n hooked shape.

Table No. 6 (Cont'd) Ideographic versus Physiographic Gesture Case

"Thing"- and "Action"-Words

Accompanying Movements

Î1

28

first up and then dovn

29

stirring the soup with a stick

30

they stood them flat against the wall

;"1

in a funny, round bathtub

32

cut off his beard

3^

over the rope

5¡+

half of it

35

a large plate

36

they are both alike

37

under the bridge

38

I haven't got the money

39

going from one extreme to the other

Ij-o

Right nov!

i+l

he used to be very fat

0

O

Frontal thrust of arm, palm forward.

Scissors movement of first two fingers on right hand.

CS I

I ¿

A slicing movement with the edge of the palm

Line in No. but with both hands.

See Fig. No. H .

ITS ι

Using "here" for

99

Table Ho. 6 (Cont'd) Ideographic versus Physiographic Gesture Case b2

"Thing"- and "Action"-Words

Accompanying Movements

you better use the ladder piling up the hay

Repeated several times.

W

I do not want to hear about it

Transversal brushing movement with edge of one hand on palm of other held supine. (Meaning apparently rejection.)

U5

stumbled and fell

h6

it went straight up in the air going back and forth

14-8

a deep gash

k9

he has a screw loose

50

water running all over the place

1 tvv^

J

Talking about fireworks . Talking about a rocking horse. Palm vertical, thumb pointed in direction of "back" followed by forward movement of remaining fingers. V

Q

100

Downward motion of hand, continued with scalloping movements.

The results of this tabulation stand out in sharp contrast when compared with those obtained in the case of the ghetto Jew. Such comparison will convey a vivid representation of what was meant when we spoke analogically of the gestural "slides" of the Italian versus the gestural "maps" of the Jew. One might describe also the difference by saying that the latter is more apt to give a gestural notati on of the logical features of discourse, while the former is more likely to give an illustration of its predicative aspects. The contrast between the "traditional" Jew and the "traditional" Italian becomes even more striking when one considere the cases in which the latter not only pictorializes the "thing" or "action" referents of his thinking activity, but also uses graphic or plastic movement to portray or model gesturally the process of the logical activity itself, e.g., when he performs a round motion with curved palms, as if he were bringing a material object into shape. These "modeling gestures" correspond, from the point of view of "content" or "reference," to the ideographic (of the "pointer"-type) movements of the ghetto Jew.

1. Gestural Emphasis In contrast to the ghette Jew, who is likely to string out a whole series of Jerky little climaxes in his gestural movements along the path of the accompanying speech (cf. page 76), the "traditional" Italian usually saves his gestural accents and exclamations for energetic conclusions of discourse. Again, in contrast to the Jew, who is prone to accentuate his words by means of a change in the direction and the speed of the gesture, the Italian is more apt to do it by an increase in its radius and/or its force. His gestural emphasis falls chiefly under the category of the "dogmatic." When gesturing with one arm only, and in case he needs to emphasize a point, the Italian is very likely to underline gest.urally the corresponding words b y bringing the idle arm into play for a moment with a replica of the same movement. The Italian may also italicize the content of a part of his discourse by means of a special symbolic movement carrying the more or less specific "meaning" of emphasis. As far as our observation goes, the ideographlcally emphatic gesture, so typical of the ghetto Jew, is almost entirely absent in the "traditional" Italian.

101

2. Pantomime The standardized "geeture-vords" mentioned before, as well as the less stereotyped gestural pictures described above, enable the "traditional" Italian of New York City to carry on conversation independent of spoken language. This procedure is usually resorted to as a means of intra-group secretiveness, or when distance prevents or hinders verbal intercourse. In the course of our exploration of the streets of "Little Italy" we came across several interesting instances of pantomimic behavior among Southern Italians. They are similar in character to the series of dumb-showB which at a later stage of our inquiry were enacted for us b y three prominent Italian actors of this city. Reproductions of three of these acted sign-talks appear in our book. Several of the gestural pictures and symbols used by the actors are found in the Neapolitan pantomimes of di Jorio, published over a century ago. A reproduction of one of these will be found in Fig. No. 47-

102

k.

TABLE SUMMARIZING DIFFERENCES BETWEEN TENDENCIES IN THE GESTURAL BEHAVIOR OF "TRADITIONAL" EASTERN JEWS AND "TRADITIONAL" SOUTHERN ITALIANS SubJ.

Aapect of Gesture

Jews

Italians

20.9

17.02

Frequency 25 J. Average number of unit 25 I. motions per minute of gestural movement Radius 100 J. Av.no. of wide radius unit motions per min. 100 I. of gest. movement (Method No. 3)

0.58

75 J. Examination of graphs 75 I. (Method No. k, Test l)

U0.7

50 J. Ditto, Test 2

1*2.3

90 J. Av.no. of unit motions per min. of gestural 100 I. movement (Method No. ? ) 100 J. 100 I.

Movement from wrist Axis of movement (Method No. U) 100 graphs - J. 75 graphs - I.

6.9

56Λ

From elbow

From shoulder

1.8

U .5 Much Little Nothing

35 1+3 22

3 10 87

At shoulder At elbow At both

18 71* 8

67 3 5

Form 100 J. Av.no. of sinuous vs. elliptical gest. 80 I. per min. of gest. nov. (Method No. 3) Form of movement (Method No. 4) 100 graphs - J. 100 graphs - I. 10?

Sinuous Elliptical

I.? 1.6

Sinuous Angular Elliptical Straight

26 51 20 19

0.05 8.5

3 12 U6 20

Aspect of Creature Form, of movement. Impressions of Observers Y and Ζ

Italiana Preponderance of roundish movements

Jews Preponderance of angularity and sinuosity

Plane Av. unit movements per m m . (Method No. 3)

Sideways 2 Towards auditor 7.5 Up and down 8Λ

Impressions of Observers Y and Ζ

Υ Ζ Predom.Lat. 9 15 Predom.Front.26 30 " Vertical Í4-O 30 Lat.Transver. Frontal Vertical Predom.Transv. Predom.Frontal Predom.Vertical

Plane of movement (Method No. k) 100 graphs - J. 100 graphs - I.

Bodily Parts Involved Much in Gesticulation Little Head gesture Nothing Direct observation Head mov. only

6.6 2.9 5-3 Υ Ζ 26 22 10 13

11· 15

9 28 52 2 3 6

28

25 h3 32 lU

0 1 99 0

9 16 10 k

8

Ζ Υ 16 15 25 27 3b 33

Impressions of Observers Y and Ζ

Much Little Nothing

Examination of graphs 100 J.

Considerable head movement: l6 cases

Arm Gestures

Entirely unilat. I5 Entirely bilat. 6 Predom. unilat. 1+1 Predom. bilat. 11 Mixed 27

27 18

Impressions of Observer Y

Single hand U.M.81+9 Double hand U.M.3^0

386 729

Impressions of Observer Ζ

Single hand U.M.592 Double hand U.M.212

1+15 751

Unilaterality vs. bilaterality. Direct observation

10U

5 22

6

Sub J · Aspect of Gesture Examination of graphe 100 J., 85 I. Ambulatory Gesture 125 J.

50 J.

Impressions of Observers Y and Ζ

Jews Unilateral Bilateral

Italians 22 8l 19 58

Transfer of motion Almost from one hand to entirely other a. Frequent b. Sporadic 1+7 absent Continuing gesticulation with same hand $k Transfer of motion from one hand to other Υ Ζ a. Frequent li 15 None b. Sporadic l8 21 Continued gesticulation with same hand l8

Tempo Unit motions Jerky transitions

80 J. Jerky transitions 100 I. Contactual Gesture 237 J. Direct observation of instances

Grasping Poking Buttonholing Pulling Shaking

Eramination of graphs Poking (instances) 75 graphs

5380

52U9

I+7I+

k3

159 Almost lllf 9 entirely 36 20 absent 10

Simultaneous Gesturing 200 groups, involving 2-6 persons each Ways of Colloquial Grouping

Actual bodily contact Standing very 100 groupa - involving close from 2-15 persons Standing more each or less apart 105

Almost entirely absent

3^ groups

9 65 36

Majority of cases

Aflpect of Gesture

Italians

Jews

Ideographic tb. Physi- Ideographic ographic Gesture "Pointer"- and "Baton"- types 53 55 cases - J. Physiographic 2 50 cases - I.

4

bG

Ideographic Yeshiva Non-Yeshiva Jews Jews

25 and 25

718 (lío min. ) Symbolic Gestures

355 (131 min. )

Almost entirely absent

Frequent

Illustrative pantomime Almost entirely absent Ideational "pantomime" Frequent

Frequent

Pantomime

Almost entirely absent

The preceding comparative description seems to give an affirmative answer to the first of the two questions involved in our inquiry. There appear to he certain more or less standardized group differences between the gestural behavior of "traditional" Eastern Jews and that of "traditional" Southern Italians in New York City. The following section will give, we hope, some idea of whether these differences are fixed or change with a change of environment.

106

5. TENDENCIES IN THE GESTURAL BEHAVIOR OF "ASSIMILATED" EASTERN JEWS AMU SOUTHERN ITALIANS IN NEW YORK CITY All the previous material has dealt with "traditional" Jewish and Italian groups. We come now to a consideration of the gestural movements of "Americanized" or American groups of the same descent. THE MATERIAL For the sake of readability we give again the places where the latter groups were observed. "Assimilated" Jews. Summer resorts in the Adirondacks and the Catskills, Saratoga hotels and race track, Columbia University, City College, Townsend Harris High School, Fieldston Ethical Culture School, Temple Emanu-El (New York City), West Side Jewish homes and restaurants, etc. "Assimilated" Italians. Columbia University, City College, homes, social and political gatherings, and Board of Aldermen. TEE METHOD Oving to the fact that the great majority of American or "Americanized" Jews and Italians in this city do not live geographically segregated in "ghettos" and "Little Italies," where it was easy to find our subjects assembled on streets or in parts, it proved to be extremely difficult to register cinematographically their gestures in spontaneous situations. As groups they were as a rule found indoors. The few motion _ pictures taken in these conditions were too much underexposed to be of any value. The film technique had to be discarded, therefore, as far as the city was concerned. It was employed only in outdoor situations at the Jewish summer resorts, and at the Saratoga race tracks and in the parks of the same city In the other places mentioned we were forced to rely exclusively on the procedure of direct observation, as well as on the sketches of our co-worker

107

RESULTS Number of People Gesturing Jews. Out of 4l0 conversing Individuals (film material of the summer resorts) 122 were found to be using gestural movement in a more or less sporadic fashion. Out of 85 of the subjects observed in New York City in this connection, 22 used gesture in conversation. The other subjects observed in this city were not tabulated from this point of view. Italians. Out of I60 of the subjects observed in this connection in New York City (a social gathering of Italo-Americana at the Casa Italiana, Columbia University, and two meetings of an Italian student club at the same house) 58 were found to be gesturing in conversation. Frequency of Gesticulation Jews. The gesturers found at the summer resorts (film material) performed an average of about 5 unit motions per minute. Italians. Twenty-five gesturers at the social gathering at Casa Italiana executed an average of about 6 unit motions per minute, while 14 observed at a student meeting at the same house gave an average of 7 u.m. per minute. Although the number of subjects observed from the standpoint of frequency of gesticulation is rather limited, the results point nevertheless to a considerable difference between "traditional" and "assimilated" individuals. Manner of Gesticulation Jews 1. Radius Out of the 122 gesturers filmed at the summer resort only 11 performed their movements in a confined radius, with the axis of motion centered at the elbow. All the others gestured with a relatively free, expansive sweep, chiefly from the shoulder. The same held true with the subjects observed in

108

the city. Out of 79 individuals watched in upper Weat Side Jewiah hornea and restaurants, only two geatured in a reatricted area. Out of 19 and 16 geaturers observed at City College and Columbia University, respectively, none showed the limitation of a gestural radius observed in the case of the "traditional" Jew. The following is the result of a tabulation of the radius of gesture of 100 "aaaimilated" Jews (aubjecta from our film material) in terms of unit motions.

Number of Subjects 100

Time of Gestural Movement 80 approx. (20 reela of min. each)

Area of Gestural Movement Tranaveraal and Vertical Plane Frontal Planea Above Below Approximately Head Hips Arms ' Length u.m.

31 u.m.

223 u.m.

308 u.m.

Average number of wide radius unit motions per minute of gestural movement: 3-8. Average number of unit motions per minute of gestural movement: 5.2. The preceding results point to a Bizable difference between "assimilated" and "traditional" Jews aa far as gestural radius is concerned. From the following quotations, taken from the marginal notes of aeveral of Mr. Van Veen'a sketches of non-ghetto Jewa, it will be seen that our co-worker has repeatedly been impreased b y that difference. Hia notea refer also to other differences which will be dealt with separately. Mr. Van Veen's Beea a relationship between social freedom and gestural expanaiveness: I have found that the gestures of the semi-assimilated Jew, though lesa frequent than those of the ghetto Jew, are far greater in dimension Gestures, when used, are chiefly expository, illustrative and indicative, and make use of the full swing of the arms and body. They no longer trace the tenor of the ideas, but aerve instead to emphaaize climactic points of apeech I feel that the explanation of this difference lies in the factor of

109

social freedom. The ghetto Jew has come to this country largely as a result of pressure. He carries with him even into this country a sense of oppression and inhibition borne through centuries, and hiB physical aspect and "bodily deportment "betray this. The Americanized Eastern Jew, -growing up in relative freedom, has a sense of well-being and expansiveness, which manifests itself in a "broad, free gesticulation The Americanized Jew has acquired the gestures which are more or less characteristic of the average American, namely, expository, indicative, a n d pictorial patterns of movement, using them with great freedom and abandon Instead of the gestures "being concentrated in the chest area, motions are made at the side of the "body and more in the vicinity of the hips. This also eliminates the tendency to drive home ideas and arguments "by the method of poking, pointing and buttonholing. Fig. No. lj-8 is one of Mr. Van Veen's sketches of Americanized Jews illustrating amplitude of gestural movement. A comparative glance thrown at his sketch of a traditional Jew will "bring out vividly the difference (Fig. No. 7). 2. Form In our film material of the summer resorts there is not a single movement having the sinuous embroidery design observed in the gestural movements of a good many of our "traditional" Jewish subjects. There are a few exhibiting the zigzag type of form. The great majority of motions are either straight or roundish. Among the subjects observed in New York City, we found 7 cases of sinuous gesture, out of which 5 were performed in a lecture by a Columbia University professor of Jewish descent who, it was ascertained, has a mixed orthodox, ghetto Jewish and secular American educational background, and still keeps close touch with "traditional" Eastern Jewish groups. As in the case of the subjects watched at the summer resorts, mo3t of the "assimilated" Jewish gesturers seen in this city used either straight or roundish motions. In Mr. Van Veen's records of "Americanized" Jews, there are several sinuous gestures. They all belong, however, to the gestural behavior of American-Jewish painters, and Mr. Van Veen is inclined to think that in these cases the form of the movement is a carry over of the occupational motor habits of the subjects. We shall revert to these gestures later.

110

3. Plane Our data seem to indicate that the tendency of the ghetto Jew to perform a large number of hie gestural motions in a dorso-ventral space segment (toward the interlocutor) is not present in the "assimilated" Jew. In contrast to the former, the latter shows rather a tendency to gesticulate in a lateral píeme (sideways). The vertical gestures are also relatively frequent in his case. These tentative conclusions are based on repeated direct observations, as well as on the following result of a tabulation. Number of Subjects

100

Time of Geetural Movement

Sideways

80 min.

158 u.m.

(approx.)

Towards the Auditor 29 u.m.

Average u.m. per minute - 1.9

Up and Down 205 u.m.

0.3

2.5

We have already quoted a statement by Mr. Van Veen which falls in line with these results, as far as sideways gestures are concerned. The following marginal notes, taken from several of his sketches of "assimilated" Jews, are of a similar tenor. "Gestures away from conversee and from self," "No tendency to gesticulate near the face of the companion, as many unassimilated Jews do," "Movements not aimed at body of conversee." U. Bodily Parts Used in Gesticulation Head Gestures The difference between the "assimilated" and the "traditional" Eastern Jewish subjects is in this respect rather striking. An inspection of the 122 Jews filmed at the summer resorts who did gesticulate in conversation showed that the participation of the head in the gestural movement was extremely rare. The results read as follows:

Subjects 122

Much 1

Gesticulation with Head Head Movement Little Nothing Only 7

11^

111

0

Out of 35 gesturing "assimilated" Jews observed, in this connection in West Side Jewish homes in New York City, only one accompanied his gestures with head motions. Out of 19 and 16 gesturers observed at City College and Columbia University, respectively, two 3howed head movement. Out of 10 other Columbia University subjects observed in this connection, one accompanied his manual gestures with motions of the head, while two used head gestures, in a "turtle-like" manner, with their hands remaining still. Finally, out of 28 gesturers watched at two upper West Side Jewish restaurants, no one gestured with his head. These findings stand out in sharp contrast to those mentioned in connection with the ghetto Jew.

Unilaterality versus Bilaterality Our data suggest that the difference between the "traditional" and the "assimilated" Jews is very slight in this respect. The latter, like the former, seem to use predominantly one arro in their gestural movements. An examination of our film material showed the following: Number of Entirely Entirely Predoni. Predom. Subjects Unilateral Bilateral Unilateral Bilateral Mixed 122

27

10

69

7

9

Out of 28 gesturers watched at two upper West Side Jewish restaurants, 7 were entirely unilateral in their gestural motions, two entirely bilateral, 13 predominantly unilateral., two predominantly bilateral, and three mixed. Out of 17 and 21 students observed at City College and Columbia University, respectively, there were two cases of complete, and three of predominant, bilaterality, and three of a mixed character. Mr. Van Veen's pictorial records contain no written remarks about single-hand versus double-hand gestures in the Americanized Jews sketched, but out of his nearly 600 drawings of subjects belonging to this group, only 32 show bilateral gesticulation. This, of course, is a weak confirmation of our own findings, for Mr. Van Veen's sketching in most cases may have coincided with unilateral motion in the subjects.

112

Ambulatory Gesture The 112 subjects of our film-material showing entire or partial unilateral movement were observed also from the standpoint of "transfer of motion from one hand to the other" versus "continuous gesturing with the same hand."6l The cases falling linder the first of these two categories were in turn classified from the point of view of "frequent" versus "sporadic." The results read as follows:

Number of Subjecta 112

Unilateral Gesticulations Transfer of motion from one hand to the other Continuous gestlculaFrequent Sporadic tlon with same hand U

15

93

The difference between the "assimilated" and the "traditional" Jewish subjects appears to be quite pronounced in this respect. Mr. Van Veen's observations in connection with this aspect of gestural behavior seem to confirm the results presented above. The following two quotations taken from his marginal notes are representative: The phenomenon of sequential alternating of hands in gesticulating, which I have observed again and again in the non-Americanized Jew, is extremely rare in the Americanized one. In their gesticulations Americanized Jews are unlikely to shift hands back and forth the way orthodox Jews of the lower East Side often do. As a rule the hand that initiates the gesture will keep on moving in an intermittent manner until the movement is completed. We may add also that in our observations of the gestural movements of "assimilated" Jewish subjects seen at City College and Columbia University, as well as in upper West Side Jewish homes and restaurants, we never came across a case in which the gestural transfer of motion was continuous (the aerial "walking" of hands).

5. Tempo Owing to the sporadic nature of the gestural movements of

113

the "assimilated" Jews filmed at the summer resorts, as well as of those observed in this city, it was not possible to study their tempo aspect. As a rule, the subject would perform a one or a two unit-gesture and then lay his hand at rest for a while, to come out again later with -one or two gestural strokes. The pauses between the strokes were usually considerably longer than the time involved in performing these strokes. In other words, there seldom was a continuity of motion of sufficient duration so as to permit an analysis of speed relationships between stroke and stroke. This negative consideration carries, however, a positive implication of no littlè importance, in connection with another aspect of the gestural behavior of "assimilated" Jews, namely that movement is much less frequent in their case than in that of "traditional" individuals of the same descent. Mr. Van Veen's impressions regarding tempo of gesticulation among Americanized Jews fall in line with what has Just been said. The following is a quotation from the marginal notes of one of his sketches: In their Americanized states, I find in both the persons of Jewish and Italian origin that one cannot even refer to tempo or rhythm of gesture because when gesture does occur it is as a rather explosive, expository movement having no relation to sound of speech or train of thought. Being non-sequential and of no lasting duration, tempo does not enter into the gauge at all. We do not possess ourselves enough data bearing on what our co-worker calls the "explosive" nature of the gestures of Americanized Jews (and Italians). Whether or not Mr. Van Veen's observations in this respect hold true, it is pertinent to point out that his statement refers not to speed transitions from one movement to another, but to the launching of isolated motions ("non-sequential and of no lasting duration"). It is obvious that Mr. Van Veen's attention was struck by the intermittent character of the gestures. 6. Topograph!c-geBtural Relationships Between Speaker and Auditor a) "Familiarity" With the Body of the Interlocutor In our film material there is only one case of gestural llil·

manipulation of the conversee. As to the "assimilated." Jews observed, in this city, only two showed a tendency to grasp the hand of the auditor. There were also several instances of poking. No cases of coat-lapel grasping, reciprocal grasping, "buttonholing, pulling, and shaking were recorded. The difference between "traditional" and "assimilated" Jews is very striking in this respect. Mr. Van Veen's observations concerning this heading were already quoted in a more inclusive statement. b) Simultaneous Gesturing In our film material there is not a single case of choral gesticulation. Neither did we come across a case of this sort in the colloquial groups of "assimilated" Jews observed in this city. In Mr. Van Veen's pictorial records there is no reference to contemporaneous gesturing among Americanized Jews. Here again the difference between "traditional" and "assimilated" individuals seems to be very pronounced. c) Conversational Grouping Out of 117 conversational groups a single one shows the compactness those of the ghetto. In most cases large spatial interval between the they are gesturing or not. Similar this connection in New York City.

in our film material not observed frequently in there is a relatively interlocutors, whether observation was made in

There is no reference in Mr. Van Veen's records to close conversational grouping among Americanized Jews. 7. Ideographic versus Physiographic Gesture One of the most striking differences between the gestural movements of "traditional" and "assimilated" Jews is that those of the latter contain a fair amount of pictorial elements, being on the other hand relatively poor in logicotopographiçal ones, of both the "baton-" and the "pointer-" types. In their tendency to use descriptive motion in 115

conversation, Americanized Jews resemble Americans of AngloSaxon extraction of the same or similar milieu. In a good many cases the gestures of the "assimilated" Jew were found to be almost entirely pictorial. Further inquiry led to think that the prevalence of illustrative movement in the gestural hehavior of the individuals concerned was determined by their occupation. Of this more will he said later. In the gestures of the "assimilated" Jews filmed at the summer resorts there are a good many movements which present a pictographic contour. Unfortunately the filming of the subjects did not permit us to always register the accompanying words, so that it is only by inference, as well as by comparison with other cases in which the speech was recorded together with the movements, that we term them pictorial. More conclusive are the results of a special test carried out, in a spontaneous situation, with 33 subjects observed in the lobby of a Saratoga City hotel^ and at a Jewish social gathering in the upper West Side of New York City (19 and illindividuals respectively). These results appear in Table No. 7. Table No. 7 "Thing"- or "Action"No. Words Uttered

Accompanying Movements

"Just another of those flag-waving speeches" "She fluttered around making her guests comfortable" snow . back"

shoveling

II II

t

facing the

. . . . driving along . . . . "

Bepeated several times with both hands

Frontal motion Alternating movement with both arms. Descriptive of steering a car.

116

Table No. 7 (Cont'd) No.

"Thing"- or "Action"Words Uttered

Accompanying Movements

". . . . fell flat on the ground"

Downward rush of palm

4

Right palm brushing edge of left palm held vertically.

"I'm through with him"

, '

"Take the first turn to the left, then the next right turn and follow until you come to a fork in the road."

< was shown by extension of first two fingers in the shape of a "Y."

an open question. 10

Swift dorsoventral motion with palm held vertical.

and they were off"

11

12

. . . . right here"

13

. . . . pushing him around . . . ."

1U

. . . . down the end of the track"

15

16

\

"There you are!ι "

ι

Λ

Sideways motion with edge of palm.

Λ

Outside motion, turning palm upward. Brushing movement of one palm against the other.

. sideswiping

117

Table No. 7 (Cont'd) "Thing"- or "Action"Words Uttered

Accompanying Movements

17

". . . . does not fit . . . ."

ν* ^—•

18

"Let's have it straight !"

Thumb held vertical, fingers contracted. It is not certain that this gesture was meant to be descriptive.

19

". . . . rejecting the offer . . . ."

Outward motion with palm held vertical.

20

"Certainly!"

Hammering motion of one fist on the other. This movement may not have been pictorial.

21

"Out of the question!"

With both hands.

22

" . . . . on the one hand . . . . , on the other hand . . . ."

23

" . . . . an upsurge of labor . . .

2k

". . . . narrowing down down . . . . "

25

". . . . but he'll annex it!"

No.

Edge of one palm placed on edge of the other palm.

Î Thrust of fist against palm of other hand held vertical.

118

Table No. 7 (Cont'd) No.

"Thing"- or "Action"Words Uttered

O η

Accompanying Movements

26

" . . . . uprooting an entire population ..."

27

". . . . from the inside . . . ."

28

" . . . . in various localities at the seme time"

Topographical motion on table, with index finger.

29

". . . . fading away. . . . "

With palm held vertical.

30

". . . . Just like that !"

Snapping thumb and middle-finger. Not truly descriptive perhaps.

31

"That man again . .

32

"Can't you see?'

53

". . . . irrespective of . . . ."

Λ

Palm held down, and then turned in and out while fingers contracted in the form of a fist. Upward and then inward motion of index finger.

Lifting up fist as if holding an umbrella. The subject was referring to Mr. Chamberlain. A n extremely picturesque movement . Hand forward, palm supine. This movement may have been, however, merely expository.

119

Even more conclusive are, perhaps, the data obtained, in the case of several American-Jewish teachers, observed while lecturing. Sketch Ko. 1+9 will serve as an ejcample. We give here some of the "thing"- and "action"-words and the corresponding physiographic and kinetographic elements contained in the gestural behavior of some of these teachers. 1

"But are now distributed all around . . . ."

2

". . . . two types of planning . . . ." area

an increase in ....

I

1+ ". . . . they decentralize . . . ." 5

". . . . and separated . . .

6

"[Rejection]"

7

"[Two sides of the question]" "Down to the end of the century"

9

« j

^

o^y

". . . . flocking into cities . . .

Î

10 "A higher ideal . . . ."

11

"[Describing a line of thought]"

12

"Two views of American history . . . ."

13

"Equality

Upward movement of indexfinger.

* (

^

An examination of these latter cases would seem to indicate that the high descriptiveness of the gestural motions 120

wae determined here by the occupations of the subjects. Be this as it may, the tendency of the American Jews observed, to pictorialize the content of their speech, stands out in contrast to what was observed in this connection in the ghetto Jew. During the entire period of our inquiry, we came across only fifteen instances of ideo-graphic gesture in the "assimilated" Jews observed. Of these, eight were of the "baton"type and seven of the "pointer"- type. Of the latter, five were performed by an American-Jewish professor at Columbia University, who still has close connections with the ghetto environment. On the whole, however, the gestural motions of this Bubject are quite different from those of a truly "traditional" Jew, because of the large number of physiographic elements they contain. Also in Mr. Van Veen's records of gestures of Americanized Jews we find several movements presenting a logico-pictorial design. An examination of the corresponding marginal notes indicate, however, that most of these movements were either physiographic in character, or else a gestural carry-over of occupational motor activity. In connection with the latter type of gestural motion, the following quotation from Mr. Van Veen's notes is of particular interest. I find it amusing to see my artist friends sketching their ideas in the air as if they were holding a brush or a pencil, caressing the form of some thing they describe, or even framing it with both hands. The sculptors often use their thumbs to "model" in gesture their thoughts as though they were modeling in clay, and the musicians sometimes "conduct" their ideas or describe an arc which might be a chord of a thought. (Cf. Fig. No. 50) Needless to say, these "modeling" sind "conducting" gestures have, referentlally, little or nothing to do with the ideographic movements described in the case of the ghetto Jew, although they may resemble them in form. All our observations point to the fact that the tendency of the ghetto Jew to reenact gesturally the logical "trajectory" of discourse is almost entirely absent in the Americanized individual of the same descent.

121

8. Symbolic Gesture Like the ghetto Jew (and. like the American of Anglo-Saxon descent for that matter), the "assimilated" Jew has no system of "emblematic" gestures. The only truly symbolic movement which he uBes rather frequently in conversation is the "American" thumbs-down gesture, signifying rejection or condemnation of an idea, an action, or a person. This gesture is of ancient Roman origin. He also uses often the table-pounding gesture, characteristic of the American orator, but, strictly Bpeaking, this is not a symbolic motion, for it has no standardized meaning.

9. Pantomime The "assimilated" Jew does not, for the reasons stated above, indulge in pantomimic conversation. 10. Emphasis As a rule the gestural emphasis of the "assimilated" Jew falls under the category of the "dogmatic." At climactic points of his discourse the table-pounding movement is very likely to break in energetically to nail down a word or a period. As far as our observation goes, the "ideographically" emphatic gesture is extremely rare in the case of the "Americanized" or American Jew. From the standpoint of gestural emphasis, if in the "traditional" Jew the hand often serves as a "pointer," to bring out into relief a line of thought, in the "assimilated" it may be said to perform the function of a "hammer" clinching the'nail of a sentence. In this he resembles a great deal the average gesturing American of any descent.

The frequency of gesticulation among American or "Americanized" Jews varies according to the particular social stratum to which they happen to belong. This has been ascertained by a comparative study of three groups of approximately the same generation of descendants of Jewish immigrants but of 122

different environment, namely, students at the orthodox Jewish Yeehiva College, students at the Jewish Theological Seminary, and members of the Junior Society of Temple EmanuEl, all located in New York City. With few exceptions all of these students were born in the United States, being more or less of the same age. However, their identification with the so-called American environment has taken place to an uneven degree, owing, we think, to differences in tradition and ideology of their respective educational institutions. Yeshiva College is attended by youngsters who belong to the lower socio-economic stratum of the Jewish population of this city, being strongly imbued with the orthodox religious culture of the Jewish ghetto. Although many of them have graduated from an American elementary or high school, being, therefore, familiar with the language and general customs of this country - the first of which they continue cultivating to a certain extent in the secular department of the college their general cultural make-up has its source more in the ghetto environment than in the native one. Their partial assimilation to the latter is chiefly of a linguistic character. Even the English they speak, despite its grammatical correctness, often has an intonation peculiar to a person who is accustomed to think and express his ideas in Yiddish and in Hebrew. Most of these students are being trained for the functions of rabbi or teacher in an orthodox Jewish community. The gestural behavior of these students is hardly distinguishable from that of the non-assimilated Jewish immigrants of the same cultural and economic stratum. It exhibits the quick and short movements of forearms and hands, the Jerky transitions from one tempo to another, the use of the head in gesture, the frequent inflections of the logico-topographical gesture, the dense groupings, observed in the lower East Side. Only once in a while they may be seen performing an emphatic "American" movement, such as table pounding, but even then the gesture has a kind of "Jewish" quality to it. The students at the Jewish Theological Seminary belong to a more affluent socio-economic stratum and, in general, answer to the ideology of the so-called conservative religious group of the Jewish community, which, although it still retains the content of the orthodox Jewish faith, is never123

thelesa imbued, with a kind of "liberal" spirit which alienatee it from its form. The social outlook of these youngsters is by and large that of the Jewish American middle class, which tends to place itself at a point intermediate between the culture of the traditional Jew and that of the "enlightened" American. The gestural behavior of these students is more restrained and slightly ceremonious. It would seem to reflect the state of cultural hybridness in which they live. Their movements are less Jerky and the gestural sweep less confined. The transference of the axis of motion from shoulder to elbow is not as obvious as in the students of Yeshiva College. There is less familiarity with the body of the interlocutor and the grouping is also less ghetto-like. The gestural movements "typical" of the unassimilated Eastern Jew (such as the "turtle-like" motion of the head, or the transference of movement from one hand to the other) are also less apparent. The degree of assimilation of the Jewish students at Temple Emanu-El to their corresponding American environment is generally speaking much more pronounced than that of the two previously mentioned groups. Many of them belong to the well-todo class. Their identification with other Jewish groups of the city is chiefly denominational. Their gestural behavior, or rather, its absence, appears to b e a reflection of their socio-economic status. None of the tendencies found among ghetto Jews have been observed by ue among the Temple Emanu-El youngsters. In fact, they Just do not gesticulate. Only once in a while one of them may be seen performing a restrained, expository or didactical gesture, ceremonious in its form and somehow "conceited" in its quality. The general impression we have drawn from our observations and interrogations is -that their conversational gestures are Inhibited by the social norms of their "good society." In this, we think, they do not differ much from any of the other "elites" in America (whether of Anglo-Saxon, Jewish or any other origin) among whom gesture is considered a "bad habit" of "common people," and is controlled by education and social censure. We observed three different groups of members of the Junior Society of Temple Emanu-El during a series of debates, each of which lasted nearly two hours. Each group was comprised of approximately 30 people. With the exception of one person who 12k

performed, two short admonishing movements, none of the youngsters gestured during the course of their debating, even though in some cases the discussion was quite vehement. Mr. Vein Veen the debate. In effect that no duction of one

was able to sketch 25 of these subjects during his drawings we invariably find remarks to the gestures were evident. Fig. No. 51 is a reproof his sketches.

Similar observations were made in a group of 16 American Jewish students at a meeting of the Jewish Graduate Society of Columbia University. Although there was much arguing back and forth gesticulation was almost entirely absent. The time of observation ranged between three and twenty minutes in each case. Fig. No. 51 is one of the sketches drawn from life at that meeting by Mr. Van Veen. In like manner our observations of 35 Jewish students at the FJeldBton Ethical Culture School who were engaged in conversation or argument, showed a lack of gestural movement. Similarly Mr. Vein Veen observed an almost complete absence of gesticulation in the conversational behavior of some 20 Jewish students at Syracuse University. The difference between the gestural behavior of ghetto Jews and that of the above mentioned Americanized Jewish individuals (in this case, almost complete absence of movement) raises a great doubt as to the validity of the theory, according to which Jews are "racially" inclined to use gestural movement in conversation.

"Assimilated" Italians The general statement made in connection with manner of gesticulation in the case of the "assimilated" Jew seems to apply also to the "assimilated" Italian. Radius Our data point to a certain difference between "Americanized Italians and Jews, as far as this aspect of gestural 125

behavior is concerned. Curiously enough, this difference appears to tie the reverse of that found in "traditional" groups. Whereas in the latter case the compass of motion was more confined in the Jew, in the present one it seems to he more circumscribed in the Italian. An inspection of the gestural sweep of 12 "Americanized" Italians, observed in colloquial situations at a social gathering at the Casa Italiana, Columbia University, showed that only three were expansive in their motions. All the others used short, rather confined movements, chiefly centered at the shoulder however. At a meeting of Columbia University students of Italian descent, out of 13 gesturers only two performed some arms 1 length motions. The movements of the others were extremely circumscribed in area. Out of 9 gesturers watched during a dancing party of a club of American-Italian students of City College, only one executed one ample gesture. Finally, in a group of 9 people observed in an "assimilated" Italian home, out of three gesturers no one performed a single wide sweep movement. The limited number of subjects watched in this connection does not permit, of course, to ascribe more than a very tentative character to these findings. It is also quite possible that the gestural confinement was here due, to a certain extent, to the nature of the momentary social setting in which the gesturers were observed. Unfortunately, these two factors (manner and situation) were beyond our control, because of reasons stated above, and, as far as the former is concerned, also because the proportion of gesturers in an "assimilated" Italian (or Jewish.) group is as a rule considerably smaller than in a "traditional" one. Whatever the value of our findings in this connection may be, they fall in line with the repeated observations made by our co-worker. Eis pictorial records contain numerous references to spatial confinement in the gestures of American or ''Americanized" Italians. The following ìb an example: In contradistinction to the gesticulations (whenever there is any at all) of the Americanized Jew, which are usually more spacious than those of his ghetto ancestor, those of the Americanized Italian are less ample than those of the Italian immigrant. The broad expansiveness of the latter would seem to appear oût of place to the Americanized Italian, who, unlike the Jew, has not felt any consciousness

126

of escape from centuries of oppression, being at the same time more embarrassed by the gestural voluminousness of his forebears. This serves apparently as a restraining influence to him for he limits his gestures, both in quantity and in dimension.

Form and Plane We do not possess any data bearing on these two aspects of gestural movement in the "assimilated" Italian. Head Gestures Like the "assimilated" Jew, the "assimilated" Italian very rarely uses his head for gesticulative purposes. An inspection of the 32 gesturers observed at the social gathering mentioned above, showed that not a single one of them moved his head in conversation. The same was found in our observations of the students of Italian descent at Columbia University and City College. In an Americanized Italian home we once came across a subject (a woman) who accompanied, rather frequently, her manual gestures with head motions. We were only slightly surprised when we later discovered that she was of Jewish descent, with a "traditional" Jewish background. Mr. Van Veen's records there is not a single instance of head gesticulation among "Americanized" Italians. Unllaterality versus Bllaterality Observation of the 12 gesturers mentioned above showed the following : Number of Subjects 32

Entirely Entirely Predoni. Predoni. Unilateral Bilateral Unilateral Bilateral Mixed 16

3

5

3

5

The proportion of single-hand versus double-hand gestures in the "assimilated" Italian was made the object of a special, more quantitative tabulation, using less subjects but over a relatively long period of time. This was done at a meeting of a club of American-Italian students at Columbia University, 127

at which eight members addressed the audience in connection with a forthcoming internal election. Each speaker was observed for a period of five minutes. Subject

Unit Movements Performed Single-hand Double-hand

1 2 3 h 5

57 35 19 63 b2

h 7 0 3 0

7 8

1+8 _21 357

2 _0 20

6

-J2

k

The average number of unit motions performed in this case vas superior to the one observed at another meeting of Columbia University students of Italian descent. It was ascertained afterward that the greater amount of gestural movement dis·, played, was due to the oratorical situations in which the subjects found themselves. The same people were watched immediately after the performance, in spontaneous colloquial situations, over a period of approximately two minutes in each case. The observation showed the following : Subject 1 2 3

k 5 6 7 8

Unit Movements Performed Single-hand Double-hand 8 6 5

9

5 3 5Í

1 0 0

1 1

^ ^

2

0 0 2 1

Finally, at a party in an American-Italian home, observation of seven gesturers (out of 35 people present) yielded the following: Entirely unilateral Entirely bilateral 128

3 0

Predom. unilateral Predom. bilateral Mixed

3 0 1

Conditions made it impossible to keep track of the time of observation in each case. The entire observation lasted approximately half an hour. However inconclusive the results of these four tests may be, when compared to those obtained with "Little Italy" subjects they point to a tendency in the "assimilated" Italian to indulge less frequently than the "traditional" Italian in double-hand gestures. It may be added that in the majority of cases of dual movement observed in these tests, particularly in those of the student orators, one hand was brought intermittently into play in the guise of an emphatic reinforcement of the other which was already in motion. Initial double-hand gesture was very rare.

Tempo What was said in this connection with regard to the Jew applies also to the Italian. In colloquial situations gestural movement was too sporadic to permit tabulation of speed relationships between unit motione or gesture patterns. In the case of the student orators at the Casa Italiana the general impression gotten was that the tempo was as regular as that observed in the "traditional" Italian. Contactual Gesture, Simultaneous Gesturing, Grouping

Conversational

No cases of gestural promiscuity, choral movement, and bodily clustering in conversations were observed in the "assimilated" Italian. Pictorlalism Our data suggest that the "assimilated" Italian, like the Americanized Jew, often uses descriptive gestures in conversation, although less frequently than the "traditional" 129

Italian. Thia statement is based upon direct observation of 1+0 subjects (7 City College students, 6 Columbia University students, 8 guests at the Casa Italiana social gathering, 2 speakers at Madison Square Garden, a n d 17 people watched in two American-Italian homes).

Symbolism One of the most striking differences between the gestural behavior of "Little Italy" Southern Italians, and that of "assimilated" individuals of the same descent, is the almost complete absence of "gesture-words" in the colloquial gesticulation of the latter. I n ail the cases observed, only one subject performed a symbolic movement used by "traditional" Neapolitans a n d Sicilians. Mr. Van Veen has also observed two instances of "traditional" Southern Italian symbolic gesture in a n Americanized Italian student. It was found that although they did not employ them in conversation, several of our subjects knew the meaning of some of the gestures included in our chart. The meaning of the great majority of the movements, however, was unknown to them. 72 of the gestures of the same chart were used in a recognition test with Jk students of Southern Italian descent at the Benjamin Franklin High School (Little Italy). These youngsters might be termed "semi-assimilated," for although some of them live in the Italian quarter, they speak English fluently, receive a n American education, a n d come in contact at school with boys of non-Italian descent. Their hybrid social setting is reflected in the results of the test. Out of 2khQ judgments, 9^8 were correct, 351 wrong, a n d 11^9 showed no knowledge of meaning at all.'

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6. THE "HYBRID" GESTURE Perhaps the moat significant aspect of the geatural behavior of American or "Americanized" Eastern Jews and Southern Italians who do gesticulate is the combination of elements peculiar to the gestures of "traditional" individuals of Jewish or Italian extraction with elements found in the gestures of Americans of "Anglo-Saxon" descent. For lack of a better designation we propose to call this phenomenon: the hybrid gesture. As a rule this makes itself apparent in people who have only partially broken away from the mores of the corresponding "traditional" group, although they may have become well adapted to those of the new environment. Occasionally the phenomenon is also noticeable in "traditional" Italians who have had close contact with ghetto Jews, or vice versa, as well as in Americans of Anglo-Saxon origin who have dealt with or observed for some time individuals belonging to either of the above mentioned groups. The latter case is exemplified by our coworker, who, presumably as a result of his frequent visits to the lower East Side and to "Little Italy," in connection with his sketching, betrays at present, together with his earlier "American" conversational bodily motions, certain gestural mannerisms which he never exhibited before, and which present a kind of "traditional" Eastern Jewish or Southern Italian quality. The "hybrid" gesturer may be compared to a bilingual person in whose verbal behavior the accent, inflection, sentence structure, and even some of the lexical elements of one tongue, make themselves present in the pronunciation or the vocabulary of the other. In the course of our inquiry we came across a good many cases of "gestural bilingualism," if one may call it so. The following will serve as illustrations: 1. Case of an American born Eastern Jew. He comes from a "traditional" Jewish environment in New York City, in which he remained up to his early adolescence, but he has been living since in a small Up-state town, mostly gentile in its population. He speaks English fluently, Yiddish not so well. As a rule his gestures are of the "American" type: intermittent expository motions, clinching, emphatic movements with the fist, admonitory motions with the index finger, rhythmic chop-Ding movements with the edge of the palm, and pictorialism; the radius of movement is usually broad. However, every once in a while some of the gestural traits of his father (a 131

very devout, orthodox Jew, whom the son respects a great deal) appear in his gesticulations. We observed him during the Passover rites, at his parents' table. In the course of the ceremony a discussion arose between father and son in connection with a certain passage in the holy writ. Unawares, the son all of a sudden performed the classical "talmudic" gesture of analytical ir vision (fist clenched, thumb outstretched, describing a scooping motion in the air as if digging out an idea), clinching the sentence with a table-pounding movement. A little later we saw him performing the American expository gesture with the palm, followed by the one of the ghetto Jew: index of one hand used as a pointer on the flat palm of the other, extended in the guise of a map. At the end of the discussion he repeated the table-pounding gesture, finishing the argument with a Jerky and very circumscribed movement of rejection often used by his father: elbow close to the body, and vertical forearm with outward palm suddenly flung backwards in the guise of a shield for the face. (Cf. Fig. No. 53) 2. Case of a Jewish student from Cuba. Born in Lithuania, where he attended a rabbinical school, he migrated in his late adolescence to Havana, where he Boon learned the Spanish tongue, adapting himself also to the mores of the new environment. During one of his visits to New York City we observed him at the Jewish Theological Seminary, where he was arguing with three American Jewish friends. We were immediately struck by the quality of his gestures, for, while they exhibited some of the traits found in those of many ghetto Jews (such as spasmodic transitions from one speed to another, sinuousity in the movement, grasping of the wrist of the conversee, etc.), they showed at the same time a certain breadth and vivacity which reminded us of the gestural behavior of many of our Latin American acquaintances. Two of the motions executed by this subject awoke the suspicion in us that we were confronted with a person who had frequented the company of Latin Americans or "traditional" Italians. At a critical point of the argument, he performed the thumb-digging gesture previously mentioned, which is typically ghetto Jewish, followed by one of emphasis which we have seen used a great deal in Latiñ America: forearms at an angle to the outstretched arms, gyrating outwardly in the vicinity of the head. Subsequently he made several serpentine, boring motions with the index finger, and then came out with an expository Italian movement which, we know, is often used in Latin America by "assimilated" individuals: fingers outstretched, with tip of index finger resting on that of thumb, gently moving up 132

and down. Puzzled by these queer gestural combinations, we approached the gentleman and obtained the background information given above. 3. Case of an American Jewish political speaker. He comes from, a ghetto environment, where he spent his childhood and early adolescence. At present he is one of the leaders of an American political party. He speaks English fluently, but with a "Jewish" accent and intonation. His Yiddish is poor. We watched him while he was delivering a political harangue before a mixed audience of Americans of Anglo-Saxon and Jewish descent. Chiefly his gestures' were a combination of American table-pounding motions (the palm of one hand serving as an anvil for the clenched fist of the other), admonitory movements with the index finger, and the typically ghetto Jewish sinuous gestural embroideries described in the preceding section. The latter were, used in argumentative reasoning, the former for emphatic conclusions of speech. There also were several pictorial gestures. The spectacle was extremely amusing. l·. Case of an American-born student of Jewish extraction, at Yeshiva College. He was rehearsing a rabbinical speech on a chapter of medieval Jewish law. His rhetorical gestures exhibited many of the tendencies found in the gestural behavior of ghetto Jews: confined sweep, "baton"- and "pointer"-type motions with the hand, "turtle-like" movements with the head, etc. Interrupted by a friend with an objection voiced in English, he performed a series of motions in which the quality of the "American" gesture was obvious. The radius became quite ample, the form straight and clear-cut, the stroke heavier, and the head stopped moving altogether. It was a distinct transition from one verbo-gestural system to another. The skirmish over, we kept on observing the subject. Resuming in Hebrew the thread of his exposition, he reverted also to the type of gesticulation used at the beginning. It was apparently the change in language which had caused in this caje the change in gesture. 5- Case of the writer of this report. Born and educated in a Latin American country (Argentina), with the language and culture of which he is strongly imbued,, he has, on the other hand, kept in touch with the "traditional" Eastern Jewish groups in Buenos Aires and New York, having spent his childhood and early adolescence in an orthodox Jewish home. When he speaks Spanish, and particularly about a matter related 133

to hie native country, his gestures show the effervescence and fluidity of those of a good many Argentinians. When he uses the Yiddish tongue, and particularly when it is in connection with Jewish affairs, his motions often become tense, Jerky, and confined; the parts of the body mostly used in this case are the head, shoulders, and forearms, chiefly for short and sharp gestures of emphasis and rejection; he is likely to gesture simultaneously with the interlocutor, and to grasp his wrist every once in a while; he is also prone to ase in such a situation ideographic gestures of the "pointer"type. On occasions he may be seen combining spontaneously "Argentine" and ghetto Jewish gestures. This is likely to happen when he ia discussing a Jewish matter in Spanish, and vice versa. After several years of sojourn in the United States, his gestural behavior has become in general less expansive, even when speaking in his native tongue. He has turned out to be, on the other hand, an adroit table-pounder, regardless of the language in which he talks. The hybrid!ty of his gesticulation becomes at times even more complex with the throwing in of symbolic Italian movements which he acquired during a trip throughout Central and Southern Italy, and also from some of his "traditional" Italian friends in Argentina. 6. Case of an American political speaker of Italian descent. He was addressing an Italo-American audience. The greater part of his harangue was delivered in English, being reinforced at climactic points with gestures typical of the professional orator in this country: outstretched arm with clenched fist, vigorous hammering of the fist of one hand on the palm of the other, didactical movement with the index finger, etc. At the end of his speech he said a few things in Italian. At once various elements of the "traditional" Italian manner of gesticulation incorporated themselves into his gestural delivery: the use of both arms in rhythmic and symmetrical motions ("twin-gestures"), fluent tempo, and characteristically "traditional" Italian symbolic gestures, examples of which will be found among the illustrations. 7. Case of an American student of Italian extraction, at City College. He is partially assimilated to the upper West Side New York City environment, where he lives at present. Although born in "Little Italy," New York City, he has estranged himself from the ethnic group to which his parents still belong. He does not speak the dialect of the latter, but still understands it. We had an opportunity of watching 15U

him for about half an hour at a dancing party. His gestures were quite sporadic, and. chiefly of an expository nature. They were similar to those of an Anglo-Saxon hoy to whom he was talking at the time. Wishing to invite one of his Italian friends who happened to be standing in the opposite corner of the room over for a drink, he performed a little pantomime with several "traditional" Italian symbolic gestures, such as Figure h6. We have in our collection twenty-four more cases of "hybrid" gesticulation. Sketches illustrating cases Nos. 2 to 7 of the present section will be found in our book, Race and Gesture. Fig. No. is a similar situation drawn from life by our co-worker, Mr. Vein Veen.

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III.

C O N C L U S I O N S

Generally speaking our findings may "be summarized, as follows: Both from the standpoint of number of people gesturing and of frequency and manner of gesticulation in those people who do gesture, the assimilated Eastern Jews and the assimilated Southern Italians in New York City (a) appear to differ greatly from their respective traditional groups, and (b) appear to resemble each other. The data obtained on the assimilated groups seem to indicate that the gestural "characteristics" found in the traditional Jew or traditional Italian disappear with the social assimilation of the individual, Jew or Italian, into the so-called Americanized community. On the whole, gesticulation appears to be less frequent in such assimilated groups, there being a diminution of movement as compared with the traditional groups. The more assimilated the individual, the less Jewish or Italian gestural traits was he found to possess. The fully assimilated Jews (as, for instance, the Temple Emanu-El youngsters) and Italians do not show the wide differences found in the traditional groupings and both resemble gesturally the specific American group to which they have become assimilated. In general the gestural assimilation of the Jews appears to be conditioned by the particular social and economic stratum to which they have become adapted. Thus, certain Jewish groups of the upper social strata show great restraint in their motions, when movement is present at all, even when engaged in heated argument, and resemble gesturally the so-called AngloSaxons of the same or similar socio-economic environment. On the other hand, assimilated Jewish groups belonging to a different social milieu may exhibit gestural movement in conversation, although unlike that of the traditional Jewish groups. The differences in gestural behavior between traditional groups and the lack of such differences between assimilated groups cannot be explained in terms of immigrant versus American-born. It was found, for example, that the Americanborn students at Yeshiva College, a traditional Jewish school in New York City, exhibited traditional gestural behavior similar to that found in the ghetto, while the American-born Jewish subjects obtained at an exclusive Fifth Avenue club were gesturally assimilated, showing no "orthodr x-Jewish" gestural characteristics. 136

Lastly our observations of "hybrid" gesticulation indicate that the same individual may, if simultaneously exposed over a period of time to two or more gesturally different groups, adopt and combine certain gestural traits of both groups. These results, tentative as they are, point to the fact that gestural behavior, or the absence of it, is, to some extent at least, conditioned by factors of a socio-psychological nature (the question as to what specific factor may have been operative in patterning each of the gestural characteristics described above goes beyond the scope of this book and calls for a separate, and probably very difficult, inquiry). They certainly do not bear out the contention that this form of behavior is determined by biological descent. They have been presented here for what they may be worth, in the expectation that they will stimulate further investigation in this particular field.

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