When Speech Stops, Gesture Stops: Evidence From Developmental and Crosslinguistic Comparisons

Area of Science:

• Psycholinguistics
• Developmental Psychology
• Cognitive Science

Background:

• Speech and gesture are widely considered integrated systems in language.
• A common assumption is that gestures compensate for expressive difficulties, particularly in language acquisition.
• Evidence for this compensatory role, especially during speech disfluencies, is limited and contradictory.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the compensatory role of gestures during speech disfluencies.
• To compare gestural behavior in fluent versus disfluent speech across different speaker groups.
• To challenge existing theories on the gesture-speech relationship in language production and acquisition.

Main Methods:

• Analysis of gestural behavior in fluent and disfluent speech segments.
• Comparison of competent speakers of two languages (Dutch and Italian) with language learners (children and adult L2 learners).
• Examination of gesture types and functions during disfluencies.

Main Results:

• Gestures predominantly occur during fluent speech across all groups.
• Second language learners exhibit a higher frequency of gestures during disfluencies compared to other groups.
• Gestures during disfluencies are typically 'holds' and serve referential and pragmatic functions.

Conclusions:

• The findings challenge the notion that gestures primarily serve a compensatory function for expressive difficulties.
• Data strongly support the integration of speech and gesture, with gesture production largely ceasing when speech production stops.
• The study provides evidence against gesture and language acquisition theories that emphasize a compensatory role for gestures.