Gestures are used by all of us most of the time we talk. But what is so fascinating about them is that they are usually seen as unnecessary by-products, whereas all the necessary information is already encoded in speech. So why do we even bother gesturing? Is it just a reflex that does not serve any function at all or only social functions? Do gestures convey additional information that may be helpful but is not essential? Or are gestures crucial to conversation after all and if so, how?
After introducing some basic knowledge about gestures I would like to focus on these questions that are concerned with the communicative functions. However, communication purposes which are mostly associated with gestures are only one part of the picture. There is also a lot of relevant research about the role of gestures in speech production as well and also on their impact on memorising and learning. Hence, I will cover all three approaches which are subdivided into different theories and weigh them up against each other.
Table of contents
1 Introduction
2 General characteristics of gestures
2.1 Gesture types
2.1.1 Iconics and metaphorics
2.1.2 Beats
2.1.3 Cohesives
2.1.4 Deictics
2.2 Gesture and speech as a single system
2.3 Attention to speech-accompanying gestures
3 Communicative functions of gestures
3.1 Structuring speech and helping interaction
3.2 Structuring discourse in narrative situations
3.3 Distinguishing layers of discourse
3.4 Voice
3.5 Emphasis
3.6 Completion
3.7 Commenting on an utterance
3.8 Adding “realness”
3.9 Information about the speaker
4 Gestures and the speech production process
4.1 Research concerned with gesture’s role in speech production
4.2 Models of speech production including gestures
4.2.1 Krauss&Hadar’s model
4.2.2 De Ruiter’s model
4.2.3 McNeill’s growth point theory
4.2.4 Competition hypotheses
5 Gestures and mental processing
6 Conclusion
Bibliography
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