Multifunctionality of hand gestures and material conduct during closing argument

Abstract

Closing argument represents the most crucial part of the adversarial system of justice. For attorneys, it provides an opportunity to showcase their persuasive skills through the full range of semiotic resources at their disposal. While studies of legal discourse have examined speech performance, few studies, if any, have analyzed how speech integrates with gesture and material conduct in the production of persuasive oratory. This work demonstrates the role of multimodal and material action in concert with speech and how an attorney employs hand movements, material objects, and speech to reinforce significant points of evidence for the jury. More theoretically, we demonstrate how beat gestures and material objects synchronize with speech to not only accentuate rhythm and foreground points of evidential significance but, at certain moments, invoke semantic imagery as well.

Policing evaluation: Focus group interviews as an embodied speech event

“…Pointing, in contrast, indicates where the object is but not what it is’ (p. 3). Along similar lines, Matoesian and Gilbert (2016: 94) show how a motion verb (‘collide’) describes the manner of contact between two objects while the gesture (a fist in one hand hitting an open palm of the other) visualizes the intensity, shape, and consequences of that collision, providing a more robust unit of meaning than either could provide independently.…”

Data transparency and citation in the journal Gesture

“…In the category of 'other' data types, Matoesian & Gilbert (2016) examined the use of gesture by attorneys in closing arguments of a case, The variety in the data types used in gesture studies is one of the strengths of the field, but it means that a move toward stronger practices of data citation must take into account a range of approaches.…”