Does dialect matter in the expression of motion? Ways of encoding manner and path in Babao and standard Mandarin

When Gestures Do or Do Not Follow Language‐Specific Patterns of Motion Expression in Speech: Evidence from Chinese, English and Turkish

“…Our study follows earlier work in patterns of speech production, with English speakers showing a preference for conflated, Turkish speakers showing a preference for separated packaging strategies (Emerson, Limia, & Özçalışkan, 2021; Kita & Özyurek, 2003; Özçalışkan et al., 2016a, 2016b), and Chinese following a pattern akin to English (Chen & Guo, 2010; Paul et al., 2022) by relying on conflated packaging strategy in their speech about motion. In addition to replicating earlier work on patterns of speech production, our study also extended these findings to gesture, showing that co‐speech gestures—including those produced by Chinese speakers—mirrored the patterns found in speech.…”

“…This places equal emphasis on both manner and path information (Brown & Chen, 2013) and differs from English speakers, who placed the emphasis on the manner component by expressing it exclusively in the verb followed by a path satellite (100%). This is a pattern that has also been shown in recent work which showed that Chinese speakers relied heavily on the conflated strategy, using primarily serial verbs (70%; Paul et al., 2022), while English speakers used almost exclusively manner verb + path satellite constructions (Özçalışkan et al., 2016a, 2016b) in describing motion event scenes. Accordingly, if we base our classification in terms of the specific linguistic strategies (manner verb + path satellite vs. manner verb + path verb) speakers employ and the types of motion information the verb conveys as well as the relative frequency of separated expressions in speech, then we can classify Chinese as belonging to a different language type (i.e., E‐language).…”

“…Earlier work on cross‐linguistic differences in children showed evidence of early‐emerging differences in their speech about motion events (e.g., Gullberg et al., 2008, Hickmann, Taranne, & Bonnet, 2009, Özçalışkan, 2009; Özçalışkan & Slobin, 1999). Relatively less is known about patterns in co‐speech gesture in children; and the existing research suggests inconclusive results: some studies show early attunement (ages 3–4; Özçalışkan, Gentner, & Goldin‐Meadow, 2014; Özçalışkan, Goldin‐Meadow, Stam, & Ishino, 2011), while others show later attunement (Özyürek et al., 2008) to language‐specific patterns in co‐speech gesture. Research on the developmental trajectory of silent gestures is even sparser, with only one study suggesting early emerging similarities in silent gesture in both packaging and ordering of motion elements in both S‐ and V‐languages (Özçalışkan, Lucero, & Goldin‐Meadow, 2023).…”

“…A sentence unit was defined as a segment of speech that contained at least one verb (or a serial verb) and its associated arguments and subordinate clauses, following earlier work (Özçalışkan et al., 2016a; e.g., “Adam RUNS INTO a house”; “Adam eve KOŞARAK GIRER” = Adam house‐to by RUNNING ENTERS; “Yàdāng PAO JÌN fángzi” = Adam RUN‐ENTER house). The decision to treat the two verbs in a serial verb construction in Chinese as part of a single sentence unit was based on earlier work that considered a serial verb construction as a syntactic unit that forms a single clause (e.g., Givon, 2009; Li & Thompson, 1989; Paul et al., 2022). All gestures that accompanied each sentence unit in the co‐speech gesture condition and that were produced on their own in the silent gesture condition were also coded.…”

“…It is important to note here that the patterns of speech expression highlighted for each of the three language types constitute preferred patterns (i.e., frequently used by native speakers). However, speakers might also use motion descriptions that differ from the preferred patterns (e.g., a conflated description by a Chinese or Turkish speaker using a manner verb followed by a path satellite, a separated description by an English speaker using only a path verb), but at rates much lower than the preferred patterns (Özçalışkan et al., 2016a; Paul et al., 2022). Accordingly, the classification of the languages into types is based on the preferred patterns of speech expression that are habitually used by native speakers of each language (Slobin, 2004).…”