Motion Events in the Speech + Gesture Interface

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This chapter focuses on the expression of motion-event descriptions while considering the speech + gesture interface. Although the book deals with the linguistic tendencies of motion verbs in speech, a review of the interface speech + gesture enables the reader to further understand the complexity of human communication. In particular, gestural patterns unveil aspects of mental imagery and thought processes that remain unobservable when studying speech in isolation. The literature defines gestures as representational movements (namely manual) that speakers perform mostly unconsciously during the evanescent time it takes to articulate, and which become temporarily entwined with speech. For many of us, it was not until we learned a new language that the association of gesture and speech became salient. L2 language textbooks often inform students that there are cultural differences in how native speakers of different communities communicate non-verbally. In the domain of motion, there is suggestive evidence supporting a language-specific relation between the lexicalization of the manner or path and gesture patterns. This means that learners who aspire to achieve high levels of proficiency in L2 Spanish need to overcome crosslinguistic differences. A review of the somewhat scarce literature reveals important variability with respect to the gesture patterns Anglophones perform when speaking L2 Spanish. Though some studies that involved highly proficient L2 users revealed inconsistent performance of manner and path gestures while producing oral narratives, others reported a positive correlation between accurate gesturing and high proficiency in the additional language. This mixed evidence clearly suggests that further research is needed in the topic of speech + gesture.