Conversational coherence and gesture

Abstract

The present study claims that the use of spontaneous gestures can contribute to accomplishing coherence in sequential conversational exchanges. Three types of speech-accompanying gestures were analyzed in Chinese conversation. Based on the syntactic-semantic relation with the co-occurring utterance, the first type is associated with words that do not convey explicit meaning; the second type is associated with covert constituents; the third type does not have any linguistic affiliates. They suggest different ways in which gesture adds information to the propositional content of the associated utterance or to the content of the speech event under discussion. They also play a role in achieving conversational coherence: on the part of the speaker, it is only by using the various types of gesture that a current speaker can make the message to be conveyed in the utterance complete. On the part of the next speaker, the recognition and negotiation with the former speaker of the gestured information is a way to acknowledge or confirm mutual knowledge. The collaborative efforts contribute to the coherence of the talk in the subsequent interaction.