Meaning in movement: an investigation into the interrelationship of physiographic gestures and speech in seven-year-olds.
The popular tradition of research into non-verbal behaviour has assumed a differentiation of function for gesture and speech, in spite of a steady accumulation of evidence indicating their commonalities. One class of gesture (physiographic), was explored in the speech of a group of seven-year-olds. Data were obtained from video-recorded, semi-structured, informal interviews held in classrooms. Physiographic gestures were found in abundance, in conversations, but were not randomly distributed. Typically, describing pictures and previously executed motor activities produced many accompanying physiographic gestures, whereas story-telling produced almost none. The tentative explanation put forward is that physiographic gestures are utilized when there is a discrepancy between the units of thought and units of speech.
D002648:Child; D002657:Child Development; D005868:Gestures; D006801:Humans; D007697:Kinesics; D008297:Male; D009633:Nonverbal Communication; D014706:Verbal Learning