Models of Speaking (To Their Amazement) Meet Speech-Synchronized Gestures

Abstract

The chapters in this volume have generally accepted the argument that speech-gesture integration is basic to language use. But what explains the integration itself? I will attempt to make the case that it can be understood with the concept of a `growth point' or GP (McNeill & Duncan this volume) It is called a GP since it is a theoretical unit in which principles that explain mental growth -- differentiation, internalization, dialectic, and reorganization -- apply to realtime utterance generation by adults (and children). It is also called a GP since it is meant to be the initial form of a thinking-while-speaking unit out of which a dynamic process of organization emerges. The emergence unpacks the GP into a surface utterance and gesture that articulates its meaning implications.