A new research project led by Associate Professor Lauren Gawne will help create Australia’s first national gesture dictionary.
Supported by an Australian Research Council Future Fellowship, the project will document Australian gestures and how they have been shaped by Australia’s diverse communities.
The research focuses on ‘emblems’: gestures that have a particular form and meaning and can be understood without speech.
“Emblems are those word-like gestures that have a particular form and meaning for a cultural group, and include gestures with the hand, like a thumbs up or the ‘peace sign’, and gestures of the head, such as an affirmative head nod,” Associate Professor Gawne explains.
“While we have a national dictionary for the unique vocabulary of Australian English, we do not have the same record of the gestures we use.”
Associate Professor Gawne will document these Australian gestures and build a dictionary that captures Australia’s gestural history, including the influence of migrant and regional Australians and Auslan signers.
“The project will also use computer vision methods to collect and analyse gestural data, helping researchers explore new ways to process and present information about how Australians communicate,” she adds.
The four-year project, which will begin in 2027, will result in a lasting cultural record of Australian emblems, as well as a sovereign digital database that may support future research.
