When Gestures Do or Do Not Follow Language-Specific Patterns of Motion Expression in Speech: Evidence from Chinese, English and Turkish.

Abstract

Speakers of different languages (e.g., English vs. Turkish) show a binary split in how they package and order components of a motion event in speech and co-speech gesture but not in silent gesture. In this study, we focused on Mandarin Chinese, a language that does not follow the binary split in its expression of motion in speech, and asked whether adult Chinese speakers would follow the language-specific speech patterns in co-speech but not silent gesture, thus showing a pattern akin to Turkish and English adult speakers in their description of animated motion events. Our results provided evidence for this pattern, with Chinese-as well as English and Turkish-speakers following language-specific patterns in speech and co-speech gesture but not in silent gesture. Our results provide support for the "thinking-for-speaking" account, namely that language influences thought only during online, but not offline, production of speech.