Topics Language

Question I read somewhere that an ostensive definition is a definition that does not rely (only) on words, but (also) on a gesture of pointing. As far as I can see, however, a gesture of pointing is also a word. It is word in a sign language, or in a language that includes sounds and gestures. Isn't it?

Accepted:
April 29, 2010

Comments

Thanks for your nice question. Even if a language such as a sign language has a sign that is made just in the way that I move my hand when I point at something, that does not mean that when I am pointing at something I am using a word. Similarly, even if a baby happens to utter a series of sounds that sound exactly like the word 'hyperbole', this does not mean that the infant is referring to anyone's overstatement. Accordingly, when I point, particularly because I don't speak any sign language, I'm not using a word. The most that can be said is that I am making a hand movement that is identical to a word in some other language. You can, I think, see this even more dramatically if you think about gaze: we often use gaze, particularly overt gaze, as a form of ostension. However, even if there were a language that used overt gazing as a word (meaning perhaps, "look at that"), that doesn't mean that I am using a word in overtly gazing at something.

Mitch Green