Language Does More: Gestures for Understanding
We all talk with our hands. Some people more than others, and we don’t always realize it when we’re doing it (gesturing was so automatic for a friend of a friend of mine that during in-class essays she would write with one hand and motion in the air with the other). Gesturing works alongside language as a key component of communication. Learning about gesture can help us reflect on our own communication styles and better understand others.
Gesturing helps with communication for both speakers and listeners. Using gestures can help with memorizing a speech by aiding storing and accessing memories. Because speech and motor control are linked in the brain, gesturing while you speak can also help you speak more fluidly and use your full vocabulary. If you’ve waved your hand when you’re stuck trying to remember a word, you’ve seen this in action. Studies have also shown that the people you talk to may take in more information when you gesture while you talk to them. It seems like we have some awareness of this: people gesture less when communicating about a topic to experts and more when we talk to people who are new to the topic. We gesture more when speaking to others face to face than when we know we can’t be seen. As with the rest of communication, we adapt our gestures (often automatically) depending on the situation.
Gesturing appears to be an innate part of human communication. Gestures have been observed as part of communication accompanying languages across the world. People who were born blind sometimes even gesture while talking although they have never seen the behavior in others to copy it. It’s even been theorized that we often use emojis as a digital form of gesture.
Some categories of gestures are very common across cultural and linguistic communities. Cognitive scientist Kensy Cooperrider identifies these as “workhorse gestures.” Using head movements to indicate “yes” and “no” is typical, with nodding and head-shaking being common in parts of Africa, Asia and Europe. Pointing to things is also very common, with some communities using hands to point and others using facial gestures. It’s also common across cultures to use gestures to convey metaphors (such as using longer or shorter distance to illustrate longer or shorter amounts of time) or to depict real-world actions and things (like using a hand to indicate how tall something is, or miming an activity).
Cooperrider notes that there is “constrained diversity” in gesture use globally; the details of how a gesture is formed and used can vary cross-culturally, but there is also plenty of overlap in how we communicate with our bodies. He considers that the similarities in how we gesture are likely due to people across the world having similar bodies, minds and communication needs.
One gesture category tends to not translate crossculturally: emblems. These are gestures that have a specific agreed-upon form and meaning within a culture. Some emblems familiar to those in the US are the “shhh” symbol or the “OK” sign. The “OK” sign in particular is an example of a gesture that has very different meanings depending on where you are in the world. In the US and UK this symbol indicates that “everything’s alright,” but in Japan it refers to currency. In Brazil it has an obscene meaning. Being aware of emblem gestures and their varied uses can help avoid serious miscommunication.
Despite the potential crosscultural minefield of emblems, gesturing can be effective for communicating across a language barrier. In one study simulating communication between speakers of different languages, pairs were told to communicate using only gesture, non-language vocalizations or a combination of both. The pairs using gesture had the most success understanding each other. Researchers concluded that “when people do not share a system for communication they can quickly create one, and gesture is the best means of doing so.”
Gesture works alongside language, helping us communicate and aiding understanding. Although symbols and meanings may differ by location and community, gesturing is done across language communities and around the world. Although miscommunication happens, gesturing can also be a means for connecting with people when you don’t share a language with them.
