Functions of gestures during disfluent and fluent speech in simultaneous interpreting

This study investigates what types (functions) of gestures occur during disfluencies in speech production during simultaneous interpreting as compared with gesture use during fluent interpreting. Forty-nine participants interpreted two ten-minute audio segments of popular science lectures, one from their first language to their second language and one from their L2 to their L1. The results show that during both fluent and disfluent moments of interpreting, the participants primarily used pragmatic gestures (such as marking emphasis) and self-adapters (e.g., rubbing their fingers). We can conclude that this points to the potentially different kind of thinking that is involved in speaking for simultaneous interpreting than is normally involved in thinking for spontaneous conversation or unrehearsed narratives. Self-adapters may assist the interpreters in the presentation of ideas and help with speech production. The low use of representational gestures may reflect the lack of deep semantic processing during simultaneous interpreting—not the kind of rich mental simulation which might give rise to depiction in gesture—and be a factor of the temporal constraints that do not allow for producing detailed gestural forms. Future research could involve comparison of gestures used by interpreters accompanying their own spontaneous speech with those they use while interpreting.