Skip to main content

Speakers’ Use of Interactive Gestures as Markers of Common Ground

  • Conference paper
Gesture in Embodied Communication and Human-Computer Interaction (GW 2009)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNAI,volume 5934))

Included in the following conference series:

Abstract

This study experimentally manipulates common ground (the knowledge, beliefs and assumptions interlocutors mutually share [6]) and measures the effect on speakers’ use of interactive gestures to mark common ground. The data consist of narratives based on a video of which selected scenes were known to both speaker and addressee (common ground condition) or to only the speaker (no common ground condition). The analysis focuses on those interactive gestures that have been described in the literature as ‘shared information gestures’ [4]. The findings provide experimental evidence that certain interactive gestures are indeed linked to common ground. Further, they show that speakers seem to employ at least two different forms of shared knowledge gestures. This difference in form appears to be linked to speakers’ use of gesture in the grounding process, as addressees provided feedback more frequently in response to one of the gesture types.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 39.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

References

  1. McNeill, D.: So you think gestures are nonverbal? Psychological Review 92, 350–371 (1985)

    Article  Google Scholar 

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

    Google Scholar 

  3. Bavelas, J.B.: Gestures as part of speech: methodological implications. Research on Language and Social Interaction 27, 201–221 (1994)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Bavelas, J.B., Chovil, N., Coates, L., Roe, L.: Gestures specialized for dialogue. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 21, 394–405 (1995)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Bavelas, J.B., Chovil, N., Lawrie, D., Wade, A.: Interactive gestures. Discourse Processes 15, 469–489 (1992)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Clark, H.H.: Using language. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge (1996)

    Book  Google Scholar 

  7. Clark, H.H., Marshall, C.R.: Definite reference and mutual knowledge. In: Joshi, A.K., Webber, B., Sag, I. (eds.) Elements of discourse understanding, pp. 10–63. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge (1981)

    Google Scholar 

  8. Clark, H.H., Wilkes-Gibbs, D.: Referring as a collaborative process. Cognition 22, 1–39 (1986)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Fussell, S.R., Krauss, R.M.: The effects of intended audience on message production and comprehension: Reference in a common ground framework. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology 25, 203–219 (1989)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Isaacs, E.A., Clark, H.H.: References in conversations between experts and novices. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General 116, 26–37 (1987)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Fussell, S.R., Krauss, R.M.: Coordination of knowledge in communication: Effects of speakers’ assumptions about what others know. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 62, 378–391 (1992)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Gerwing, J., Bavelas, J.B.: Linguistic influences on gesture’s form. Gesture 4, 157–195 (2004)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Holler, J., Stevens, R.: An experimental investigation into the effect of common ground on how speakers use gesture and speech to represent size information in referential communication. Journal of Language and Social Psychology 26, 4–27 (2007)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Holler, J., Wilkin, K.: Communicating common ground: how mutually shared knowledge influences the representation of semantic information in speech and gesture in a narrative task. Language and Cognitive Processes 24, 267–289 (2009)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Jacobs, N., Garnham, A.: The role of conversational hand gestures in a narrative task. Journal of Memory and Language 56, 291–303 (2007)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Parrill, F.: The hands are part of the package: gesture, common ground and information packaging. In: Newman, J., Rice, S. (eds.) Empirical and experimental methods in cognitive/functional research. CSLI, Stanford (in press)

    Google Scholar 

  17. Müller, C.: Forms of the uses of the Palm Up Open Hand. A case of a gesture family? In: Posner, R., Müller, C. (eds.) The semantics and pragmatics of everyday gestures, pp. 234–256. Weidler Buchverlag, Berlin (2004)

    Google Scholar 

  18. Kendon, A.: Gesture: Visible action as utterance. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge (2004)

    Google Scholar 

  19. Ekman, P., Friesen, W.V.: The repertoire of nonverbal behavior: Categories, origins, usage, and coding. Semiotica 1, 49–98 (1996)

    Google Scholar 

  20. LeBaron, C., Streeck, J.: Gestures, knowledge, and the world. In: McNeill, D. (ed.) Language and gesture: Window into thought and action, pp. 118–138. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge (2000)

    Google Scholar 

  21. Roth, W.-M.: From action to discourse: The bridging function of gestures. Journal of Cognitive Systems Research 3, 535–554 (2002)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  22. Clark, H.H., Brennan, S.A.: Grounding in communication. In: Resnick, L.B., Levine, J.M., Teasley, S.D. (eds.) Perspectives on socially shared cognition. APA Books, Washington (1991)

    Google Scholar 

  23. Beattie, G., Aboudan, R.: Gestures, pauses and speech: an experimental investigation of the effects of changing social context on their precise temporal relationships. Semiotica 99, 239–272 (1994)

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2010 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

About this paper

Cite this paper

Holler, J. (2010). Speakers’ Use of Interactive Gestures as Markers of Common Ground. In: Kopp, S., Wachsmuth, I. (eds) Gesture in Embodied Communication and Human-Computer Interaction. GW 2009. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 5934. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-12553-9_2

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-12553-9_2

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-12552-2

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-12553-9

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics