The effect of beat gestures produced by a native Spanish speaker on her comprehensibility, intelligibility, and persuasiveness as perceived by native and non-native Spanish interlocutors.

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2022-06-23

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en

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In our everyday communication, in which both speech and gestures are used, the interlocutors’ perception plays an important role. This study investigated the effect of beat gestures produced by a native Spanish speaker on her intelligibility, comprehensibility, and persuasiveness as perceived by native Spanish and non-native (Dutch) interlocutors by using lexically stressed Spanish words. The method applied to the experimental study were factorial MANOVA and correlation analysis. The results demonstrated that the presence of a beat gesture did not have an effect on the speaker’s intelligibility. However, the presence of a beat gesture decreased the speaker’s comprehensibility but increased her persuasiveness. Moreover, Spanish participants perceived the speaker as more intelligible, comprehensible, and persuasive than Dutch participants. Nonetheless, the effect found for the presence of a beat gesture was not different depending on whether the interlocutor was an L1 or L2 participant. Finally, a correlation was found between intelligibility, comprehensibility, and persuasiveness.

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