Pointing has captured the interest of scholars from various fields who study communication. However, ideas and findings have been scattered across diverse publications in different disciplines, and opportunities for interdisciplinary exchange have been very limited. The editor's aim is to provide an arena for such exchange by bringing together papers on pointing gestures from disciplines, such as developmental psychology, psycholinguistics, sign-language linguistics, linguistic anthropology, conversational analysis, and primatology. Questions raised by the editors include: *Do chimpanzees produce and comprehend pointing gestures in the same way as humans? *What are cross-cultural variations of pointing gestures? *In what sense are pointing gestures human universal? *What is the relationship between the development of pointing and language in children? *What linguistic roles do pointing gestures play in signed language? *Why do speakers sometimes point to seemingly empty space in front of them during conversation? *How do pointing gestures contribute to the unfolding of face-to-face interaction that involves objects in the environment? *What are the semiotic processes that relate what is pointed at and what is actually "meant" by the pointing gesture (the relationship between the two are often not as simple as one might think)? *Do pointing gestures facilitate the production of accompanying speech? The volume can be used as a required text in a course on gestural communication with multidisciplinary perspectives. It can also be used as a supplemental text in an advanced undergraduate or graduate course on interpersonal communication, cross-cultural communication, language development, and psychology of language.

Pointing has captured the interest of scholars from various fields who study communication. However, ideas and findings have been scattered across diverse publications in different disciplines, and opportunities for interdisciplinary exchange have been very limited. The editor's aim is to provide an arena for such exchange by bringing together papers on pointing gestures from disciplines, such as developmental psychology, psycholinguistics, sign-language linguistics, linguistic anthropology, conversational analysis, and primatology.
Questions raised by the editors include:
*Do chimpanzees produce and comprehend pointing gestures in the same way as humans?
*What are cross-cultural variations of pointing gestures?
*In what sense are pointing gestures human universal?
*What is the relationship between the development of pointing and language in children?
*What linguistic roles do pointing gestures play in signed language?
*Why do speakers sometimes point to seemingly empty space in front of them during conversation?
*How do pointing gestures contribute to the unfolding of face-to-face interaction that involves objects in the environment?
*What are the semiotic processes that relate what is pointed at and what is actually "meant" by the pointing gesture (the relationship between the two are often not as simple as one might think)?
*Do pointing gestures facilitate the production of accompanying speech?
The volume can be used as a required text in a course on gestural communication with multidisciplinary perspectives. It can also be used as a supplemental text in an advanced undergraduate or graduate course on interpersonal communication, cross-cultural communication, language development, and psychology of language.

When we speak, we often spontaneously produce gestures. Such gestures are an integral part of face-to-face verbal communication. The relationship between speech and gesture is the theme of this Special Issue. The articles cover a wide range of issues: cultural differences, language and gesture development, cognitive development, bilingualism, foreign language learning, persuasion, and "common grounds" between the speaker and the addressee. The Special Issue is of interest not only to those who study the multimodal nature of communication, but also to those who seek new insights into psycholinguistic issues, using gesture as the "window" into the speaker's mind.