Gesticulation and Speech

Gesticulation as an accompaniment of speech is a phenomenon which the analyst observes daily in the course of his work. Patients on the couch vary considerably in the degree of motility they display. At one extreme is the exceedingly rigid individual who, once having assumed his characteristic posture, tends to maintain it indefinitely; at the other is the type who throughout the session thrashes the air with his hands as he speaks, since even vehement speech does not afford him an adequate outlet for his emotions. In this latter instance the lower limbs are usually uninvolved; rarely one observes wriggling movements of the feet. Like everything else that takes place in the analytic situation this language of the body also calls for explanation.

Gesticulation as an accompaniment of speech is, of course, not limited to the analytic chamber. The chest-thumping demagogue is a familiar enough figure. And in social groups one frequently observes similar manifestations in individuals whose aggressivity is ill-concealed. Hamlet's admonition to the players, not to saw the air too much, is a reminder from another era of the universality of the phenomenon.

As regards its prevalence, aside from the internal, psychological elements involved, cultural, national, and geographic factors seem to play an important rôle. Thus, gesticulation is more pronounced in Mediterranean peoples—who, in other ways, allow themselves more direct gratification of instinct—than in their Nordic counterparts. While in our own society, on the other hand, one sees many an angry young man who does not gesticulate because he has been 'properly' brought up.

The function of gesticulation as an adjuvant or reinforcement to speech is evident. But within this general framework certain variations may be distinguished. Thus, gesticulation has a relatively tame rôle when one person, in giving directions to another on how to get to a certain place, resorts to pointing; or when an angler demonstrates how bi