Have Hand Gestures Become Globalized?

Kukić, Ivona. (2018). Have Hand Gestures Become Globalized?. Diploma Thesis. Filozofski fakultet u Zagrebu, Department of English Language and Literature. [mentor Stanojević, Mateusz-Milan].

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Abstract

This research paper aims to examine whether emblematic gestures have become globalized. This hypothesis was based on everyday experience of globalization processes that have shrunk the world and brought closer people of different cultures, religions and languages. In order to test this hypothesis, questionnaires consisting of fifteen emblematic gestures were given to seventy participants coming from different parts of the world. The results show that members of cultures more similar to the American one (e.g. Australian participants) tend to interpret emblems more similarly to Americanized conventions. On the other hand, members of more conservative cultures (e.g. the Turkish participants) tend to interpret gestures like ‘the OK sign’ more readily according to their own local traditions, which is compatible to some degree to the previous research on emblems. The absence of complete non-understanding and an insignificant percentage of a low level of understanding imply that the chosen emblems are already used world widely. Finally, interpretations of those emblems whose usage is restricted to just one culture (or country) have shown how American popular culture has also successfully promoted distant cultures and their recognizable features (e.g. the case of a Chinese emblem used by martial art practitioners).

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