ERIC Number: EJ1178391
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2018-Apr
Pages: 14
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0364-0213
EISSN: N/A
Blind Speakers Show Language-Specific Patterns in Co-Speech Gesture but "Not" Silent Gesture
Özçaliskan, Seyda; Lucero, Ché; Goldin-Meadow, Susan
Cognitive Science, v42 n3 p1001-1014 Apr 2018
Sighted speakers of different languages vary systematically in how they package and order components of a motion event in speech. These differences influence how semantic elements are organized in gesture, but only when those gestures are produced with speech (co-speech gesture), not without speech (silent gesture). We ask whether the cross-linguistic similarity in silent gesture is driven by the visuospatial structure of the event. We compared 40 congenitally blind adult native speakers of English or Turkish (20/language) to 80 sighted adult speakers (40/language; half with, half without blindfolds) as they described three-dimensional motion scenes. We found an effect of language on co-speech gesture, not on silent gesture--blind speakers of both languages organized their silent gestures as sighted speakers do. Humans may have a natural semantic organization that they impose on events when conveying them in gesture without language--an organization that relies on neither visuospatial cues nor language structure.
Descriptors: Blindness, Adults, Native Speakers, English, Turkish, Oral Language, Language Usage, Semantics, Interpersonal Communication, Speech Communication, Oral Communication Method, Comparative Analysis, Motion, Cues, Spatial Ability
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
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