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What’s new? : Gestures accompany inferable rather than brand-new referents in discourse

Debreslioska, Sandra LU and Gullberg, Marianne LU orcid (2020) In Frontiers in Psychology 11.
Abstract
The literature on bimodal discourse reference has shown that gestures are sensitive to referents’ information status in discourse. Gestures occur more often with new referents/first mentions than with given referents/subsequent mentions. However, because not all new entities at first mention occur with gestures, the current study examines whether gestures are sensitive to a difference in information status between brand-new and inferable entities, and variation in nominal definiteness. Unexpectedly, the results show that gestures are more frequent with inferable referents (hearer-new but discourse-old) than with brand-new referents (hearer- and discourse-new). The findings reveal new aspects of the relationship between gestures and speech... (More)
The literature on bimodal discourse reference has shown that gestures are sensitive to referents’ information status in discourse. Gestures occur more often with new referents/first mentions than with given referents/subsequent mentions. However, because not all new entities at first mention occur with gestures, the current study examines whether gestures are sensitive to a difference in information status between brand-new and inferable entities, and variation in nominal definiteness. Unexpectedly, the results show that gestures are more frequent with inferable referents (hearer-new but discourse-old) than with brand-new referents (hearer- and discourse-new). The findings reveal new aspects of the relationship between gestures and speech in discourse, specifically suggesting a complementary (disambiguating) function for gestures in the context of first mentioned discourse entities. The results thus highlight the multi-functionality of gestures in relation to speech. (Less)
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author
and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
gestures, discourse, reference, information status, speech-gesture relationship, visual language, Information structure, new/given information
in
Frontiers in Psychology
volume
11
article number
1935
publisher
Frontiers Media S. A.
external identifiers
  • scopus:85092474388
  • pmid:33071835
ISSN
1664-1078
DOI
10.3389/fpsyg.2020.01935
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
7a3306e0-0e1b-4e0b-bc7c-06b4a11a1d2c
date added to LUP
2020-07-13 17:23:09
date last changed
2023-12-04 17:17:03
@article{7a3306e0-0e1b-4e0b-bc7c-06b4a11a1d2c,
  abstract     = {{The literature on bimodal discourse reference has shown that gestures are sensitive to referents’ information status in discourse. Gestures occur more often with new referents/first mentions than with given referents/subsequent mentions. However, because not all new entities at first mention occur with gestures, the current study examines whether gestures are sensitive to a difference in information status between brand-new and inferable entities, and variation in nominal definiteness. Unexpectedly, the results show that gestures are more frequent with inferable referents (hearer-new but discourse-old) than with brand-new referents (hearer- and discourse-new). The findings reveal new aspects of the relationship between gestures and speech in discourse, specifically suggesting a complementary (disambiguating) function for gestures in the context of first mentioned discourse entities. The results thus highlight the multi-functionality of gestures in relation to speech.}},
  author       = {{Debreslioska, Sandra and Gullberg, Marianne}},
  issn         = {{1664-1078}},
  keywords     = {{gestures; discourse; reference; information status; speech-gesture relationship; visual language; Information structure; new/given information}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{09}},
  publisher    = {{Frontiers Media S. A.}},
  series       = {{Frontiers in Psychology}},
  title        = {{What’s new? : Gestures accompany inferable rather than brand-new referents in discourse}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.01935}},
  doi          = {{10.3389/fpsyg.2020.01935}},
  volume       = {{11}},
  year         = {{2020}},
}