Article published In:
GestureVol. 3:2 (2003) ► pp.127–154
Pragmatic aspects of representational gestures
Do speakers use them to clarify verbal ambiguity for the listener?
Two studies are reported that investigate how speakers use gesture in association with verbal ambiguity in two communicational situations characteristic of everyday talk. The first study uses a design that mimics a speaker’s self-repair initiated by the listener, while the second study involves speakers producing longer stretches of speech involving lexical ambiguity, without the listener interacting verbally with the speaker. The findings of both studies show that speakers do use gesture to clarify verbal ambiguity. Moreover, they suggest that the speaker’s awareness of a potential communication problem, and the fact that this communication problem is associated with the speech itself, are crucial variables influencing speakers’ gestural behaviour. Differences in the complexity of the form of the gestures are also observed and the theoretical implications of this are discussed. Overall, these studies provide important insights into semantic and pragmatic aspects of representational hand gestures and speech-gesture interaction in everyday talk.
Cited by (72)
Cited by 72 other publications
Bolumar Martínez, Irene, Daniel Alcaraz Carrión & Javier Valenzuela Manzanares
2024. A multimodal approach to polysemy: the senses of touch. Language and Cognition ► pp. 1 ff. 
Canarslan, Feride & Mingyuan Chu
2024. Individual differences in representational gesture production are associated with cognitive and empathy skills. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology
Wilson, Jack
2024. Pragmatics, Utterance Meaning, and Representational Gesture,
Colasanti, Valentina
2023. Functional gestures as morphemes: Some evidence from the languages of Southern Italy. Glossa: a journal of general linguistics 8:1
Howes, Christine & Mary Lavelle
2023. Quirky conversations: how people with a diagnosis of schizophrenia do dialogue differently. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 378:1875
Kita, Sotaro & Karen Emmorey
2023. Gesture links language and cognition for spoken and signed languages. Nature Reviews Psychology 2:7 ► pp. 407 ff.
Nicoladis, Elena & Emma Hill
Nkambule, Bongani Innocent
2023. Discourse on Unequal Power Relations in Knowledge Sharing Transactions at Selected Township Schools in Nkangala Education District. Discourse and Communication for Sustainable Education 14:2 ► pp. 75 ff.
Wang, Juan, Yuan Gao & Yaqiong Cui
2023. Classroom gesture instruction on second language learners' academic presentations: Evidence from Chinese intermediate English learners. Journal of English for Academic Purposes 66 ► pp. 101304 ff.
Chwalczuk, Monika
2022. Construction of Shared Semantic Spaces through Gestures in Interpreter-Mediated Psychotherapy Sessions. VISUAL REVIEW. International Visual Culture Review / Revista Internacional de Cultura Visual 9:2 ► pp. 207 ff.
Nicoladis, Elena, Ashmeen Aneja, Jasmine Sidhu & Avnit Dhanoa
2022. Is There a Correlation Between the Use of Representational Gestures and Self-adaptors?. Journal of Nonverbal Behavior 46:3 ► pp. 269 ff.
Wang, Xi & Fangfei Lv
2022. Review of Galhano-Rodrigues, Galvão & Cruz-Santos (2019): Recent perspectives on gesture and multimodality. Gesture 21:2-3 ► pp. 365 ff.
Saund, Carolyn & Stacy Marsella
2021. Gesture Generation. In The Handbook on Socially Interactive Agents, ► pp. 213 ff.
Alviar, Camila, Rick Dale, Akeiylah Dewitt & Christopher Kello
2020. Multimodal Coordination of Sound and Movement in Music and Speech. Discourse Processes 57:8 ► pp. 682 ff.
Blomsma, Pieter A., Guido M. Linders, Julija Vaitonyte & Max M. Louwerse
2020. Proceedings of the 20th ACM International Conference on Intelligent Virtual Agents, ► pp. 1 ff.
Kistner, Judith, Jane Marshall & Lucy T. Dipper
2020. The influence of conversation parameters on gesture production in aphasia. Clinical Linguistics & Phonetics 34:8 ► pp. 693 ff.
Looeiyan, Nooshin, Faranak Kianfar & Leila Ghasisin
2020. The introduction of IMITATE-R and its comparison with the IMITATE treatment method in the naming ability of two Persian speaking aphasic patients. Neuropsychological Rehabilitation 30:4 ► pp. 709 ff.
Macuch Silva, Vinicius, Judith Holler, Asli Ozyurek & Seán G. Roberts
2020. Multimodality and the origin of a novel communication system in face-to-face interaction. Royal Society Open Science 7:1 ► pp. 182056 ff.
Trott, Sean & Benjamin Bergen
2020. Why do human languages have homophones?. Cognition 205 ► pp. 104449 ff.
Trott, Sean & Benjamin Bergen
2022. Languages are efficient, but for whom?. Cognition 225 ► pp. 105094 ff.
Iwasaki, Noriko & Keiko Yoshioka
2019. Chapter 11. Iconicity in L2 Japanese speakers’ multi-modal language use. In Ideophones, Mimetics and Expressives [Iconicity in Language and Literature, 16], ► pp. 265 ff.
Schubotz, Louise, Aslı Özyürek & Judith Holler
2019. Age-related differences in multimodal recipient design: younger, but not older adults, adapt speech and co-speech gestures to common ground. Language, Cognition and Neuroscience 34:2 ► pp. 254 ff.
Tzeng, Christina Y., Laura L. Namy & Lynne C. Nygaard
2019. Communicative Context Affects Use of Referential Prosody. Cognitive Science 43:11
Wanphet, Phalangchok & Jalila Sfaxi
2019. Exploring bilingual children’s integration of gestures into talk-in-interaction. Language and Dialogue 9:3 ► pp. 349 ff.
ZVAIGZNE, MEGHAN, YURIKO OSHIMA-TAKANE & MAKIKO HIRAKAWA
2019. How does language proficiency affect children’s iconic gesture use?. Applied Psycholinguistics 40:2 ► pp. 555 ff.
Akbıyık, Seda, Ayşenur Karaduman, Tilbe Göksun & Anjan Chatterjee
2018. The relationship between co-speech gesture production and macrolinguistic discourse abilities in people with focal brain injury. Neuropsychologia 117 ► pp. 440 ff.
Dean, Derek J., Alayna T. Samson, Raeana Newberry & Vijay A. Mittal
2018. Motion energy analysis reveals altered body movement in youth at risk for psychosis. Schizophrenia Research 200 ► pp. 35 ff.
Elahi Shirvan, Majid & Nahid Talezadeh
2018. Is Transparency an Illusion? An Idiodynamic Assessment of Teacher and Peers’ Reading of Nonverbal Communication Cues of Foreign Language Enjoyment. Journal of Intercultural Communication Research 47:3 ► pp. 188 ff.
Fibigerova, Katerina & Michèle Guidetti
2018. The impact of language on gesture in descriptions of voluntary motion in Czech and French adults and children. Language, Interaction and Acquisition 9:1 ► pp. 101 ff.
Herbert, Sandra
Tzeng, Christina Y., Josephine Duan, Laura L. Namy & Lynne C. Nygaard
2018. Prosody in speech as a source of referential information. Language, Cognition and Neuroscience 33:4 ► pp. 512 ff.
Voggeser, Birgit J., Ranjit K. Singh & Anja S. Göritz
2018. Self-control in Online Discussions: Disinhibited Online Behavior as a Failure to Recognize Social Cues. Frontiers in Psychology 8
Holler, Judith & Janet Bavelas
2017. Chapter 10. Multi-modal communication of common ground. In Why Gesture? [Gesture Studies, 7], ► pp. 213 ff.
KOK, KASPER & ALAN CIENKI
2017. Taking simulation semantics out of the laboratory: towards an interactive and multimodal reappraisal of embodied language comprehension. Language and Cognition 9:1 ► pp. 1 ff.
Peeters, David, Tineke M. Snijders, Peter Hagoort & Aslı Özyürek
2017. Linking language to the visual world: Neural correlates of comprehending verbal reference to objects through pointing and visual cues. Neuropsychologia 95 ► pp. 21 ff.
Rekittke, Linn-Marlen
2017. Viewpoint and stance in gesture: How a potential taboo topic may influence gestural viewpoint in recounting films. Journal of Pragmatics 122 ► pp. 50 ff.
Tieu, Lyn, Robert Pasternak, Philippe Schlenker & Emmanuel Chemla
2017. Co-speech gesture projection: Evidence from truth-value judgment and picture selection tasks. Glossa: a journal of general linguistics 2:1
Burgoon, Judee K., David Wilson, Michael Hass & Ryan Schuetzler
2016. Interactive Deception in Group Decision-Making: New Insights from Communication Pattern Analysis. In Discovering Hidden Temporal Patterns in Behavior and Interaction [Neuromethods, 111], ► pp. 37 ff.
Humphries, Stacey, Judith Holler, Trevor J. Crawford, Elena Herrera & Ellen Poliakoff
2016. A third-person perspective on co-speech action gestures in Parkinson's disease. Cortex 78 ► pp. 44 ff.
Kok, Kasper, Kirsten Bergmann, Alan Cienki & Stefan Kopp
Burgoon, Judee K., Ryan Schuetzler & David W. Wilson
2015. Kinesic Patterning in Deceptive and Truthful Interactions. Journal of Nonverbal Behavior 39:1 ► pp. 1 ff.
Iio, Takamasa, Masahiro Shiomi, Kazuhiko Shinozawa, Katsunori Shimohara, Mitsunori Miki & Norihiro Hagita
2015. Lexical Entrainment in Human Robot Interaction. International Journal of Social Robotics 7:2 ► pp. 253 ff.
Obermeier, Christian, Spencer D. Kelly & Thomas C. Gunter
2015. A speaker’s gesture style can affect language comprehension: ERP evidence from gesture-speech integration. Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience 10:9 ► pp. 1236 ff.
Ortega, Gerardo & Gary Morgan
2015. The effect of iconicity in the mental lexicon of hearing non-signers and proficient signers: evidence of cross-modal priming. Language, Cognition and Neuroscience 30:5 ► pp. 574 ff.
Rowbotham, Samantha, Donna M. Lloyd, Judith Holler & Alison Wearden
2015. Externalizing the Private Experience of Pain: A Role for Co-Speech Gestures in Pain Communication?. Health Communication 30:1 ► pp. 70 ff.
Burgoon, Judee K., Jeffrey G. Proudfoot, Ryan Schuetzler & David Wilson
2014. Patterns of Nonverbal Behavior Associated with Truth and Deception: Illustrations from Three Experiments. Journal of Nonverbal Behavior 38:3 ► pp. 325 ff.
de Marchena, Ashley B. & Inge-Marie Eigsti
Wagner, Petra, Zofia Malisz & Stefan Kopp
2014. Gesture and speech in interaction: An overview. Speech Communication 57 ► pp. 209 ff.
Denham, Magdalena A. & Anthony John Onwuegbuzie
2013. Beyond Words: Using Nonverbal Communication Data in Research to Enhance Thick Description and Interpretation. International Journal of Qualitative Methods 12:1 ► pp. 670 ff.
Hogrefe, Katharina, Wolfram Ziegler, Susanne Wiesmayer, Nicole Weidinger & Georg Goldenberg
2013. The actual and potential use of gestures for communication in aphasia. Aphasiology 27:9 ► pp. 1070 ff.
Lavelle, M., P. G. T. Healey & R. McCabe
2013. Is Nonverbal Communication Disrupted in Interactions Involving Patients With Schizophrenia?. Schizophrenia Bulletin 39:5 ► pp. 1150 ff.
Hillman, Jackie, Aldert Vrij & Samantha Mann
2012. Um … they were wearing …: The effect of deception on specific hand gestures. Legal and Criminological Psychology 17:2 ► pp. 336 ff.
Koutsombogera, Maria & Harris Papageorgiou
2012. Iconic Gestures in Face-to-Face TV Interviews. In Gesture and Sign Language in Human-Computer Interaction and Embodied Communication [Lecture Notes in Computer Science, 7206], ► pp. 262 ff.
Rowbotham, Samantha, Judith Holler, Donna Lloyd & Alison Wearden
2012. How Do We Communicate About Pain? A Systematic Analysis of the Semantic Contribution of Co-speech Gestures in Pain-focused Conversations. Journal of Nonverbal Behavior 36:1 ► pp. 1 ff.
Rowbotham, Samantha, Judith Holler, Donna Lloyd & Alison Wearden
2014. Handling pain: The semantic interplay of speech and co-speech hand gestures in the description of pain sensations. Speech Communication 57 ► pp. 244 ff.
Cleary, Rebecca A., Ellen Poliakoff, Adam Galpin, Jeremy P.R. Dick & Judith Holler
2011. An investigation of co-speech gesture production during action description in Parkinson’s disease. Parkinsonism & Related Disorders 17:10 ► pp. 753 ff.
Cohen, Doron, Geoffrey Beattie & Heather Shovelton
2011. Tracking the distribution of individual semantic features in gesture across spoken discourse: New perspectives in multi-modal interaction. Semiotica 2011:185
Evans, Kelli & Karen Hux
2011. Comprehension of indirect requests by adults with severe traumatic brain injury: Contributions of gestural and verbal information. Brain Injury 25:7-8 ► pp. 767 ff.
Holler, Judith & Katie Wilkin
2011. Co-Speech Gesture Mimicry in the Process of Collaborative Referring During Face-to-Face Dialogue. Journal of Nonverbal Behavior 35:2 ► pp. 133 ff.
Holler, Judith & Katie Wilkin
2011. An experimental investigation of how addressee feedback affects co-speech gestures accompanying speakers’ responses. Journal of Pragmatics 43:14 ► pp. 3522 ff.
Straube, Benjamin, Antonia Green, Andreas Jansen, Anjan Chatterjee & Tilo Kircher
2010. Social cues, mentalizing and the neural processing of speech accompanied by gestures. Neuropsychologia 48:2 ► pp. 382 ff.
Holler, Judith, Heather Shovelton & Geoffrey Beattie
2009. Do Iconic Hand Gestures Really Contribute to the Communication of Semantic Information in a Face-to-Face Context?. Journal of Nonverbal Behavior 33:2 ► pp. 73 ff.
Kidd, Evan & Judith Holler
2009. Children's use of gesture to resolve lexical ambiguity. Developmental Science 12:6 ► pp. 903 ff.
Thompson, Isabelle
2009. Scaffolding in the Writing Center. Written Communication 26:4 ► pp. 417 ff.
Holle, Henning, Thomas C. Gunter, Shirley-Ann Rüschemeyer, Andreas Hennenlotter & Marco Iacoboni
2008. Neural correlates of the processing of co-speech gestures. NeuroImage 39:4 ► pp. 2010 ff.
Holle, Henning & Thomas C. Gunter
2007. The Role of Iconic Gestures in Speech Disambiguation: ERP Evidence. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience 19:7 ► pp. 1175 ff.
Holler, Judith & Rachel Stevens
2007. The Effect of Common Ground on How Speakers Use Gesture and Speech to Represent Size Information. Journal of Language and Social Psychology 26:1 ► pp. 4 ff.
Lund, Kristine
2007. The importance of gaze and gesture in interactive multimodal explanation. Language Resources and Evaluation 41:3-4 ► pp. 289 ff.
Skipper, Jeremy I., Susan Goldin-Meadow, Howard C. Nusbaum & Steven L. Small
2007. Speech-associated gestures, Broca’s area, and the human mirror system. Brain and Language 101:3 ► pp. 260 ff.
Gullberg, Marianne
2005. L’expression orale et gestuelle de la cohésion dans le discours de locuteurs langue 2 débutants. Acquisition et interaction en langue étrangère :23 ► pp. 153 ff.
Gullberg, Marianne
2006. Handling Discourse: Gestures, Reference Tracking, and Communication Strategies in Early L2. Language Learning 56:1 ► pp. 155 ff.
Gullberg, Marianne
2012. Gesture Analysis in Second Language Acquisition. In The Encyclopedia of Applied Linguistics,
This list is based on CrossRef data as of 7 september 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.