Preaching in hands? Gesture and deafness in French rhetorical treatises from the second 17th century

This article examines the proposals formulated by Rosamund Oates on Anglican preaching in the 17th century based on treatises on pulpit rhetoric published in France at the same time for Catholic and Reformed preachers. It places these works in their liturgical, social and linguistic context of production, then analyzes the links they may have with the gestural codes or the sign language(s) practiced at the time between deaf people or between deaf and hearing people. The investigation is based on the work of linguists and historians relating to French sign language (LSF) and monastic sign language (LSM) and it calls into question, for the French field, the idea according to which the preachers would have accompanied their sermons with sign language gestures.