N°019_Vol.2_23

Introduction: Research in conversation analysis has shown a close link between speech and gestures. Speakers use various types of gestures to illustrate their utterances, and scholars such as Kendon (1980: 225) argue that gestures are “utterances” in the sense that they do not just provide a visual illustration of what a speaker says but are sometimes used as an ‘alternative’ to speech. Effective communication involves more than just the ability to process and derive meaning from words, phrases and sentences. It also requires the ability to convey information and understand the meaning of information conveyed through gestures and other nonverbal channels. This paper discusses the role of Theory of Mind, the ability to attribute mental states to others (Rosello & al., 2020: 1), in understanding conversational gestures. The objective is to address the following two questions: (1) is a Theory of Mind required to process co-speech gestures? If a Theory of Mind is indeed required to understand co-speech gestures, (2) are these gestures equally challenging for autistic patients? The study is based on an analysis of cases of co-speech gestures in recorded face-to-face conversations, a study of videotaped conversations involving autistic patients, and a survey of the existing literature on conversational gestures, autism, and on Theory of Mind. I argue that (1) gestures do convey meaning, (2) that meaning of co-speech gestures is closely related that of the speech they serve to illustrate, and that (3) the ability to derive the meaning of information imparted through gestures requires the ability to understand the intentions of the speaker (or signaler). This paper includes four sections. The first section deals with some of the most common conversational gestures. The second section revisits the debate concerning the relation between gestures and meaning. The third section discusses the impairment of autistic children in both the use and comprehension of gestures. The last section is devoted to the role a Theory of Mind plays in the comprehension of information presented via gestures.

1. The data

The data used in this research come from three different sources. I examined face-to-face natural conversations, video clips on autism, and I surveyed the already existing literature on conversational gestures, autism, and on the concept of Theory of Mind. These data include both audio and video recordings totaling three hours of natural conversation on a variety of topics in Jóola Eegimaa, in Wolof, and in English. The data was collected for an ongoing study on Conversation Analysis and, specifically, on the role of intonation on turn taking in natural conversation. However, the gestures produced simultaneously with speech made me think of the semantic contents of these co-speech gestures, and if their meaning is accessible to all conversational partners. In other words, they prompted this proposed study. Since the Wolof data are yet to be transcribed and analyzed, this research only focused on the English and the Jóola Eegimaa data. I analyzed 26 video recordings of autistic patients interacting with their caregivers and their parents, and accounts from caregivers and parents of autistic patients. Some of those video recordings provide interesting accounts of (high functioning) autistic patients on their daily experiences. Again, the focus is on their communication skills and specifically on their understanding of conversational gestures. The age range and mean of the 30 autistic patients in the video recordings cannot be accurately established, as for some of them, information on their ages has not been provided. However, the youngest are preschoolers, whereas the oldest are in their late teens and early 20s. The link to the recordings is provided in the reference list.