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Signers and Speakers Show Distinct Temporal Kinematic Signatures in Their Manual Communicative Movements
Rui Liu 刘睿1,2, Wim Pouw1,3, Susan Goldin-Meadow4
1Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition, and Behaviour, Radboud University, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
Open Mind : Discoveries in Cognitive Science
|September 17, 2025
Summary
Communicative hand movements differ based on the expressive system used, whether spoken language gestures or signed language signs. Temporal aspects of movement, like rhythm and smoothness, vary significantly between signers and speakers.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Science
- Linguistics
- Neuroscience
Background:
- Communicative movements, such as gestures accompanying speech, often exhibit distinct kinematic properties compared to non-communicative actions.
- The expressive system (e.g., spoken vs. signed language) may influence the kinematic characteristics of communicative hand movements.
- Iconic signs in sign language are sometimes assumed to share kinematic properties with co-speech gestures, an assumption requiring empirical testing.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate whether communicative hand movements differ between signers and speakers based on their respective expressive systems.
- To compare the kinematic patterns of spontaneous co-speech gestures in hearing speakers with productive iconic signs (classifier signs) in deaf signers.
- To determine if iconic signed movements possess the same kinematic features as speakers' gestures.
Main Methods:
- Motion tracking and kinematic analyses were employed to capture spatial and temporal movement patterns.
- Participants included 33 English speakers producing co-speech gestures and 10 American Sign Language (ASL) signers producing classifier signs.
- Both communicative (describing an event) and non-communicative (copying a movement) hand movements were recorded for comparison.
Main Results:
- No significant differences were found in the spatial kinematics relating non-communicative to communicative movements between speakers and signers.
- Temporal kinematics revealed significant differences: speakers' co-speech gestures were less rhythmic and jerkier than their non-communicative movements.
- Signers' communicative movements (classifier signs) were more rhythmic and smoother compared to their non-communicative movements.
Conclusions:
- Communicative movements' kinematic signatures are dependent on the specific expressive system (spoken vs. signed language) in which they are embedded.
- Even highly iconic signed movements exhibit distinct temporal kinematic features compared to co-speech gestures, suggesting they are not purely gestural.
- Fine-grained kinematic analysis is crucial for accurately measuring communicative movements and understanding the gestural aspects of sign language.
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