Gesture production and speech fluency in competent speakers and language learners

It is often assumed that a main function of gestures is to compensate for expressive difficulties. This predicts that gestures should mainly occur with disfluent speech. However, surprisingly little is known about the relationship between gestures and fluent vs. disfluent speech. This study investigates the putative compensatory role of gesture by examining competent speakers’ and language learners’ gestural production in fluent vs. non-fluent speech. Results show that both competent and less competent speakers predominantly produce gestures during fluent stretches of speech; ongoing gestures during disfluencies are suspended. In all groups, the few gestures that are completed during disfluencies are both referential and pragmatic. The findings strongly suggest that when speech stops, so do gestures, thus supporting the view of speech and gesture as an integrated system.