What We Know People KnowAbout Gesture

Barbara Kelly and Lauren GawneUniversity of Melbourne

Prior Research

Kendon (1978)- Native English speakers watching silent

film of narrative by PNG man.- Asked to recall movements they observed.

Morris, Collett, Marsh & O'Shaughnessy (1979)

- Survey of emblematic gestures across Europe.

- Speakers asked to give meaning.

Continuum of GestureKendon's Continuum

Gesticulation -> Pantomime ->

Emblem -> Sign Language

(McNeill 1992, p. 37)

Categories of Gesture

•Iconic – refer to concrete objects

•Metaphoric – refer to abstract concepts

•Deictic – referring, 'pointing'

•Beats – emphatic, bi-phasal

(McNeill 1992, 2005; Kendon 2004)

The initial question

Just what intuitions and ideas do people have about gesture?

Two Studies

1. Perception of number of gestures, with sound as a variable. Quantitative. (Gawne, Kelly and Unger 2010)

2. Perception and categorisation of gestures. Qualitative. (Gawne and Kelly,

under review)

Stimulus – the video

Stimulus – the video

Video data (52 seconds)

- 10 gestures (iconic, deictic, beat, emblem)two of each type, except emblems with 2

hand and two head gestures of each.- 2 non-gesture movements

Distributed evenly across the video.

Study one – Research questionsRQ1) Is there concordance between gestures that analysts code as being important and gestures identified conversation participants?

RQ2) What body movements and gestures do conversation participants orient to?

RQ3) Does the presence of sound affect how people attend to gestural information?

Study one - Data48 participants (17 male, 31 female)All native Australian English speakers

Video data (52 seconds)

internet-based survey, three stages- 50/50 sound and no sound- count total number of gestures- list five prototypical gestures

Study one - ResultsIs there concordance between the categories and gestures that analysts code as being important and gestures identified by participants? (RQ 1)

Yes, but no

Participants with sound counted an average of 15.6 gestures (s.d.= 5.4) compared to 10 for researchers

Study one - ResultsWhat body movements and gestures do

conversation participants orient to? (RQ 2) Preference gestures with stable forms

Iconic

Deictic

Beat

Head movement

EmblemOther

Missing

010203040506070

Study one - ResultsDoes the presence of sound affect how people attend to gestural information? (RQ 3)

Yes

Group with sound – mean 15.6 gestures (sd= 5.4)Group without sound – mean 16.9 gestures (sd=6.68)

independent t-test, p = not significant

Study one - Results

iconicdeictic beat

head movements

emblemsother

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

Expected

Actual (sound)

Actual (no sound)

Study two - Research questions

RQ1) Are native speakers homogeneous in the way they categorise gesture?

RQ2) How do native speaker categorisations of gesture compare to those established in gesture research?

Study two - Data

12 participants (7 male, 5 female)All native Australian English speakers20-27 year old, university educated

Video data (52 seconds)

Three stages of data collection- Survey, gave definition of gesture and

categories- Count gestures in video and transcribe in

ELAN- Revise gesture categories and post-hoc

interview

Study two - Results

Are native speakers homogeneous in the way they categorise gesture? (RQ 1) - Relatively homogeneous in terms of definition- In terms of categorisation a broad variety.

Counted 9-31 and transcribed 10-27.- Those who had a broader understanding of communicative intent were more likely to transcribe a larger number of events.

Study two - Results

How do native speaker categorisations of gesture compare to those established in gesture research? (RQ 2)- All but one speaker transcribed all 10 gestures.- 8 transcribed more, appear to have a broader understanding of gesture than specialists.- 4 participants transcribed 10-11 gestures, so only slightly broader concept of gesture.- All but one participant transcribed the beat gesture as a single gesture event.

Study two - Results

Category created by participants

No. of participants who created it

Facial expression 5

Posture shift 3

Nervous action 2

Unconscious action 2

Emotive body language 1

Breathing 1

Study two - Conclusions

- While there appears to be a consistent definition of gesture by people it is not matched in categorisation or transcription.- Non-specialists have a broader understanding of communicative intent than specialists- Challenges Kendon's (1978) observation that native speakers' appear to have a common understanding of what counts as a ‘significant action.’

General conclusions

Some unsurprising results:- Non-specialists have a wider understanding of what constitutes a gesture.- Non-specialists see a wide variety of actions contributing to meaning, not just gestures.- People orient towards gestures with culturally stable form.

General conclusions

Some surprising results:- There does not appear to be a strong consistent understanding of ‘communicative intent’ for non-specialists.- People generally analyse beat gestures as a single event which matches researchers’ analysis.

What does this mean today?

As analysts we need to be mindful of our categorical assumptions when we approach non-verbal communication.

References

Gawne, L. and B. Kelly (under review). "What we know people know about gesture.”

Gawne, L., B. Kelly, et al. (2010). Gesture categorisation and understanding speaker attention to gesture Selected papers from the 2009 conference of the Australian Linguistic Society. Y. Treis and R. De Busser. Melbourne.

Kendon, A. (1978). "Differential perceptual and attentional frame in face-to-face interaction: two problems for investigation." Semiotica 24(3/4): 305-315.

McNeill, D. (1992). Hand and mind: What gestures reveal about thought. Chicago, The University of Chicago Press.

Morris, D., P. Collett, et al. (1979). Gestures : their origins and distribution. London, Jonathan Cape.