A review of theories of speech-gesture coordination

This paper discusses some of the major psycholinguistic theories of coordination between speech and gesture proposed in the recent years. Among the theories of speech-gesture coordination to be discussed here are two modular theories (Lexical Retrieval model and Sketch model), two interaction theories (Growth Point theory and Information Packaging Hypothesis), and yet another hypothesis that gesture derives from instrumental action. In discussing these different theories, we clarify the nature of the issues and try to determine which theoretical approach is most promising.