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Providing evidence for a well-worn stereotype : Italians and Swedes do gesture differently

Graziano, Maria LU orcid and Gullberg, Marianne LU orcid (2024) In Frontiers in Communication 9.
Abstract
Across cultures and languages spontaneous speech is often accompanied by
gestures. It is a popular belief that people in Italy gesture more than people
in Northern Europe, such as in Sweden. Despite this general assumption few
studies empirically investigate cultural differences in gesture frequency and
gesture function under similar circumstances. This study compares the spoken
and gestural behaviours of Italian and Swedish speakers, assumed to represent
gesture-rich vs. gesture-sparse cultures. We examine the groups’ gestural
behaviour for frequency, and in terms of possible differences in rhetorical style
probing the distribution of gestural functions (referential vs. pragmatic) across
narrative... (More)
Across cultures and languages spontaneous speech is often accompanied by
gestures. It is a popular belief that people in Italy gesture more than people
in Northern Europe, such as in Sweden. Despite this general assumption few
studies empirically investigate cultural differences in gesture frequency and
gesture function under similar circumstances. This study compares the spoken
and gestural behaviours of Italian and Swedish speakers, assumed to represent
gesture-rich vs. gesture-sparse cultures. We examine the groups’ gestural
behaviour for frequency, and in terms of possible differences in rhetorical style
probing the distribution of gestural functions (referential vs. pragmatic) across
narrative levels (narrative, metanarrative, and paranarrative). The results show
that (1) Italians overall do gesture more than Swedes; (2) Italians produce more
pragmatic gestures than Swedes who produce more referential gestures; (3)
both groups show sensitivity to narrative level: referential gestures mainly occur
with narrative clauses, and pragmatic gestures with meta- and paranarrative
clauses. However, the overall group preferences for different functions still lead
to different styles. These findings indicate that the two groups differ in gesture
rate and, more interestingly, in rhetorical styles, one focused on events and
actions in speech and gesture (Swedish), the other alternating between events
in speech and gesture, and the highlighting of the presentation of new pieces of
information in gesture only (Italian). We propose that the findings suggest that the
two groups conceptualise narrative production in different ways reflected in two
different rhetorical styles revealed by gesture production more than by speech. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
getsure, narrative, Italian, Swedish, multimodality
in
Frontiers in Communication
volume
9
article number
1314120
pages
13 pages
publisher
Frontiers Media S. A.
external identifiers
  • scopus:85189658884
ISSN
2297-900X
DOI
10.3389/fcomm.2024.1314120
project
Bimodal narratives: crosslinguistic perspectives on the interplay between speech and gesture in narrative discourse.
How culture shapes gestural behavior
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
9884e3b5-12d6-4daa-8566-43c79533a105
date added to LUP
2024-03-26 12:25:04
date last changed
2024-04-24 14:21:39
@article{9884e3b5-12d6-4daa-8566-43c79533a105,
  abstract     = {{Across cultures and languages spontaneous speech is often accompanied by<br/>gestures. It is a popular belief that people in Italy gesture more than people<br/>in Northern Europe, such as in Sweden. Despite this general assumption few<br/>studies empirically investigate cultural differences in gesture frequency and<br/>gesture function under similar circumstances. This study compares the spoken<br/>and gestural behaviours of Italian and Swedish speakers, assumed to represent<br/>gesture-rich vs. gesture-sparse cultures. We examine the groups’ gestural<br/>behaviour for frequency, and in terms of possible differences in rhetorical style<br/>probing the distribution of gestural functions (referential vs. pragmatic) across<br/>narrative levels (narrative, metanarrative, and paranarrative). The results show<br/>that (1) Italians overall do gesture more than Swedes; (2) Italians produce more<br/>pragmatic gestures than Swedes who produce more referential gestures; (3)<br/>both groups show sensitivity to narrative level: referential gestures mainly occur<br/>with narrative clauses, and pragmatic gestures with meta- and paranarrative<br/>clauses. However, the overall group preferences for different functions still lead<br/>to different styles. These findings indicate that the two groups differ in gesture<br/>rate and, more interestingly, in rhetorical styles, one focused on events and<br/>actions in speech and gesture (Swedish), the other alternating between events<br/>in speech and gesture, and the highlighting of the presentation of new pieces of<br/>information in gesture only (Italian). We propose that the findings suggest that the<br/>two groups conceptualise narrative production in different ways reflected in two<br/>different rhetorical styles revealed by gesture production more than by speech.}},
  author       = {{Graziano, Maria and Gullberg, Marianne}},
  issn         = {{2297-900X}},
  keywords     = {{getsure; narrative; Italian; Swedish; multimodality}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{03}},
  publisher    = {{Frontiers Media S. A.}},
  series       = {{Frontiers in Communication}},
  title        = {{Providing evidence for a well-worn stereotype : Italians and Swedes do gesture differently}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fcomm.2024.1314120}},
  doi          = {{10.3389/fcomm.2024.1314120}},
  volume       = {{9}},
  year         = {{2024}},
}