That includes gesture analysis, which looks at "co-speech gestures". Not posture or gaze, but winking, or sticking out your tongue, or how arms and hands move alongside speech.

其中包括了手勢動作分析，也就是著眼於「說話時的手勢動作」。不是說話時的姿態或目光接觸，而是眨眼、伸出舌頭， 或手臂和手掌是如何在說話時一起動作的。

Just to be clear, this isn't about sign languages. Those are systematic and rule-governed with elaborate syntax and vocabulary.

澄清一下，這與手語不同。手語具有系統，且被複雜的語法與辭彙所約束。

Signed languages are language, but gestures are "paralinguistic"; they accompany language.

手語是一種語言，而手勢動作則是「副語言」。它們隨扮在語言旁邊。

Gesture analysts make their job easier by talking about different categories of gestures, which explain how they relate to meaning.

手勢動作分析師將不同的手勢動作以它們各自的涵義來進行分類，讓他們能更好理解。

And those are:

這些分類分別為：

Number one: Iconic. These gestures represent a literal object, like a flat surface, or a car weaving through traffic.

第一種：符號型。這些手勢動作代表的是一個實體的物品，例如一個扁平的平面，或是一台蛇行穿過擁擠交通的車。

Number two: Metaphoric. Gestures that symbolize an abstract concept, like "before" and "after", or "working together".

第二種：隱喻型。這是象徵抽象概念的手勢動作，例如「之前」和「之後」，或是「一起合作」等。

I do that a lot, and on this greenscreen those metaphoric gestures become a bit more literal with the help of graphics.

我經常做這些動作，而站在合成綠幕前面，這些隱喻性的手勢在圖形的幫助下能讓我想說的話變得更加清楚。

Apologies to my animator.

我的動畫師，不好意思啦。

Three: Deictic. That's pointing to things, positioning yourself to people, or places or things like pointing behind the camera or "over there".

第三種：指示型。比如指向某個東西、將自己定位到人或地方或事物旁邊，像是指向鏡頭後方，或單純指向「那裡」。

Number four: Pragmatic. Like offering the floor to someone, or "don't bother me right now".

第四種：實用型。像是把講台讓給另一個人，或是「現在不要來煩我」。

And finally, Beat. The rhythm of gestures alongside the natural stress patterns of speech.

最後一種則是節奏型。跟著講話時自然產生的重點而跟著做出的韻律性動作。

All these categories — I'm, I'm really self-conscious about every move I'm making now.

所有的類型——害得我現在一直注意到自己的動作。

These categories can coexist as well. Often gestures that are performed "on beat" also fit into another category.

這些類型也都能同時存在：通常「打在節拍上」的手勢動作同時也會屬於另一個類型。

There's one more type of gesture that serves a slightly different purpose: emblems.

還有一種手勢動作的作用略有不同：象徵型。

Emblems are named gestures that don't have to occur alongside speech to have meaning, like "thumbs up".

象徵型是不一定非要與語言同時出現才有意義的手勢動作，例如「豎起大拇指」。

It has a meaning outside of the context of speech. In a lot of the world, you can flash someone the thumbs up,

它在說話的語境之外仍有意義：在世界上的很多地方，若是你向另一個人豎起大拇指，

and they'll almost certainly understand that you're signalling approval, or that everything's okay.

它們幾乎肯定能了解你展現出的是許可，或是一切都好的意思。

But if you swap the fingers, it doesn't have the same meaning.

但如果你換成豎起其他的手指就沒有同樣的意義了。

And even If I stick with the thumb, if I change angle and arm position, I'm trying to hitch-hike.

甚至就算我還是豎著拇指，只要我改變一下角度和手臂的位置，就會變成想搭便車的動作。

The form of the gesture is tied to the established meaning. It Is an emblem.

手勢動作的形式與一個已經定型的意義綁訂在一起，成為了一個象徵。

Which means it's not universal. The meaning is learned, and context can change it.

這意味著它不具有普遍性。手勢動作背後的意義是後天學習的，會隨著情境而有所改變。

That thumbs up? In some countries, it used to be rude, but because of globalization, that's no longer the common reading there.

剛才的大拇指動作？在一些國家中，這樣的動作在過去有著不禮貌的意涵，但由於國際化的緣故，使得這樣的認知不再是普遍的解讀。

Although there will be people who remember its rude history, and could still interpret it that way.

儘管會有一些人仍會記得它過去代表不禮貌意涵的歷史，並仍會如此解讀。

Emblems can change definition over time, they can be created, they can be forgotten.

象徵型動作可以隨著時間的推移改變定義，它們既能被創造，便能被遺忘。

I would demonstrate that by dabbing, but I don't want a GIF of that to haunt me for the rest of my life.

我本來想透過做一個嘻哈超人動作來證明這點，但我可不想就此產生一張會困擾我到老的 GIF。

So why do we do it? What does gesturing actually accomplish?

那麼，我們為什麼會做手勢動作呢？手勢動作究竟能達成什麼效果？

Well, first: redundancy for decoding and encoding errors.

這個嘛，第一點：為了能解碼與分析理解錯誤而存在的多餘表達。

Languages have agreement all over the place. There's redundancy baked into everything.

語言中到處都有約定俗成的事情，代表每一句話都有多餘的冗字。

Spoken language is ephemeral. Once something is said, it's gone.

口頭語言是相當短暫的。一旦說了出口，便會消失在空氣中。

Those sound waves have moved on and they are not coming back.

那些聲波在傳遞出去後已經遠離此地，不會再回來了。

Gesture is another form of redundancy. It doesn't matter if a loud [engine noise] drove by at just the wrong time — you may have figured out a vague idea of what was being said.

手勢動作則是另一種形式的多餘表達。就算講話時剛好有個大聲的 [引擎聲] 在錯誤的時間點騎了過去，你仍能對我剛才說了什麼有個模糊的概念。

Next, you can show emphasis and importance.

另一點則是可以展現出同理心或重要性。

Or if you're explaining an abstract concept, using metaphoric gestures to visibly explain things can help make it clear — either to your conversation partner, or just in your own head.

或者當你在解釋一個抽象的概念時，能使用隱喻型手勢動作來在視覺上解釋得更清楚，不論是對交談的對象來說，或是在你自己的腦袋裡釐清都行。

And sometimes, it is so much easier and clearer just to point.

而有的時候，直接用指的比用嘴巴說還要更簡單且清楚得多。

Gestures are important to communication, and so important that if our hands and arms are unavailable, we will use our head, our eyes, our other limbs to compensate.

手勢動作對交流來說相當重要，重要到當我們說話時如果手掌和手臂沒空的話，我們則用上頭部、眼睛，還有其他肢體來替代。

Gestures can also show understanding of social norms.

手勢動作也可以展現出對社會規範的理解。

If you're embarrassed to say something, you can make that clear by covering your face or your eyes,

如果你在說某件事時感到不好意思，你可以藉由遮住臉部或是眼睛來明確表現出這點，

or by doing the move that looks like "There are no paper towels or hand dryers in this bathroom so I guess I'll just shake it off".

或你也能做出像是在說「因為這間廁所沒有擦手紙或烘手機，所以我想我就直接把水甩掉吧」的動作。

Or if you want to distance yourself from what you're saying you can use scare quotes, or you can put a boundary around yourself.

或者如果你想要與你說的話保持距離，你也能用手勢比出引號，或是在自己周圍畫出一個範圍。

Gestures also seem to help us get the words out in the first place.

手勢動作似乎也能幫助我們說出話來。

That's why people gesture even when they're on the phone, and why people who have been blind since birth gesture.

這就是為什麼人們在打電話時也會做出手勢動作，以及為什麼天生便看不見的人也會做手勢動作。

Gesture is intrinsic to language.

手勢動作是語言的內在屬性。

It helps us communicate more effectively and more elaborately, and to pass on information and feelings that are difficult to put into words.

它能幫助我們更有效且更精確地進行溝通，傳遞出難以單純用語言表達出的資訊和感受。

Gestures are basically emoji for the real world.

手勢動作基本上就是現實世界的表情符號。

One of my co-authors, Gretchen McCulloch, has a book called Because Internet, all about internet language.

我的一位合著者 Gretchen McCulloch 寫了一本關於網路語言，名叫《因為網路》的書。

You can find out more at the links in the description.

你可以通過影片資訊欄中的連接瞭解到更多資訊。