Goldin-Meadow & Brentari (G-M&B) rely on a formalist approach to language, leading them to seek objective criteria by which to distinguish language and gesture. This results in the assumption that gradient aspects of signs are gesture. Usage-based theories challenge this view, maintaining that all linguistic units exhibit gradience. Instead, we propose that the distinction between language and gesture is a categorization problem.

中文翻译：

---

手势还是符号？分类问题

Goldin-Meadow & Brentari (GM&B) 依靠形式主义的语言方法，引导他们寻求客观标准来区分语言和手势。这导致假设标志的梯度方面是手势。基于用法的理论对这一观点提出了挑战，认为所有语言单位都表现出梯度。相反，我们提出语言和手势之间的区别是一个分类问题。