Until recently, the literature on common ground depicted its influence as a purely verbal phenomenon. We review current research on how common ground influences gesture. With informative exceptions, most experiments found that speakers used fewer gestures as well as fewer words in common ground contexts; i.e., the gesture/word ratio did not change. Common ground often led to more poorly articulated gestures, which parallels its effect on words. These findings support the principle of recipient design as well as more specific social functions such as grounding, the given-new contract, and Grice’s maxims. However, conceptual pacts or linking old with new information may maintain the original form. All together, these findings implicate gesture-speech ensembles rather than isolated effects on gestures alone.
Article outline
Common ground and verbal utterance design
Personal common ground
Incremental common ground
Multi-modal investigations of common ground
Reduction of word frequency
Social effects on the frequency and form of gestures
Visibility
Addressee effects
Dialogue vs. monologue
Effects of personal (prior) common ground on gestures
Rate measures
Comparison of form
Effects of incremental common ground on gestures
Rate measures
Comparison of form
General conclusions
Social functions of gestures in common ground contexts
Functions of gestures in studies of personal common ground
Gestures can serve the maxim of quantity
Gestures may avoid prolixity
“Remember when …. ?”: Prominent gestures may link common ground with new information
Functions of gestures in studies of incremental common ground
Gestural form can mark information as given
Grounding
Conceptual pacts
The flexible interplay of speech and gesture in common ground contexts
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