Why do we use sign language when we are speaking?

Question

People do it even when on the phone and the other person can't see. What do the diferent hand signals mean?

Answer 1

The use of our hands while we speak is something visually taught and carried down through generations. Blind people who have never had vision or lost vision at an early age, do not use their hands while speaking as much, and when they do, they are not mimicing what they have seen, just what they have been told is "normal" hand gestures.

Take preachers for instance...they use their hands to be emphatic about something. Honest people will move their hands in an outward, wide open gesture. Dishonest people may try and hide their hands while speaking. Sincere people may take the look of hands clasped in prayer.

We also pick up funny things in culture off TV...seen the new Taco Bell commercial..."good to go." I actually found myself doing the "good to go" slide action with my hand while ordering one of the things which I did not KNOW what it was called, in the DRIVE THROUGH!

We also have gestures for certain things...such as "crazy" by circling our finger around out ear. Shame on you, is one finger pointing and the other finger of the other hand wiping the top of the finger over and over....shamey, shamey usually goes with this.

Friends, the TV program, taught us a new way to curse in silence with the gesture they used to each other when they wanted to tell them to F off in silence.

You see, we are really only mimicing what we see. Some gestures, I have no idea what they mean, from other cultures. It is just part of our nurturing.

Answer 2

I know the answer to this, but I can't say it in print.
It makes talking on the phone while driving much more dangerous, doesn't it?
There are many, many gestures that people use to make verbal speech more meaningful and effective. There is a rolling of the hands that means "and so on" or "this leads to that and then to that". Spreading the hands in front of yourself, palms up means, "I'm at a loss for words- you say something." Hand to forehead can mean the same or can mean "trying to think". And then there are whole classes of gestures to indicate shapes, sizes and directions. There are also many gestures that are used without words- as in directing a vehicle from a distance- that can also be used while speaking. One of these is fingers toward eyes and then pointing to where you want someone to look. Another is hands up, palms out to mean "stop". Hands on hips means a steadfast, firm postion and crossed arms cam mean the same. Hands over ears means "I'm not listening."
One hand, palm up, fingers spread means "what do you think?"

Answer 3

It's called non verbal communication, a form of communication that backs up our verbal words and adds emphasis to emotions, difficult to to explain hand signals on this forum without using pictures.

Answer 4

because we are animals, most of our communication is through non-verbal signalling, we cant turn it off, its in us from birth, though women are better at it than men through natural selection.

just to iterate on that from what Ive just read of other answers, communication with our bodies was developed before speech in the complex form it is now, it is still and will always be used, look at the smiley in internet conversations :) just another expression to assist understanding of our message.

Answer 5

Your body naturally responds to your emotions, even if you are stopping your mouth from speaking them. Of course when you stop to think about your body actions you can controll them but usually they just slip back into auto after a while

Answer 6

speech can lie but act can't
most part of human communication is sign language
odn't forget people talked with sign language before the language we use now

Answer 7

Using the body to talk is a more natural way to express. Try it!
The so called civilized societies condemn using the body while talking, calling it animal-like.

Answer 8

Because it's all part of human communication.

I think it's more in the eyes than the hands.

Answer 9

Because simply telling someone to F off, doesnt always get home to them, without the use of the finger too.

Answer 10

because it helps the person who is not deaf to keep track of what they are saying and sometimes it also helps the person who is deaf as many also lip read as well as read the signs