Gesture use across different concepts: focusing on cross-linguistic diversity

Abstract

Individuals’ use of co‐speech gestures mostly parallels the verbal cross‐linguistic patterns of spoken languages. In this review paper, we synthesize research findings and discuss individuals’ co‐speech gesture production across four concepts (space, time, event, and emotion) that are encoded and expressed differently across languages. These four concepts reflect the wide variation across spoken language encoding that may or may not be present in gesture use. We particularly focus on studies from non‐Indo‐European languages and non‐WEIRD (Western, Education, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic) samples to highlight the importance of diversity and inclusion in gesture research. Our review demonstrates that co‐speech gestures involve both universal and language‐specific patterns when individuals talk about these concepts. We discuss the role of gestures in the broader language—thought debate and offer directions for future research, particularly related to neurodiversity and individual differences. The review asks for new research lines that can specifically advance our knowledge on how gestures conceptualize and reflect cross‐linguistic diversity and broadly add to the theoretical discussions on the language—thought interface.