It is commonly understood that hand gesture and speech coordination in humans is culturally and cognitively acquired, rather than having a biological basis. Recently, however, the biomechanical physical coupling of arm movements to speech vocalization has been studied in steady-state vocalization and monosyllabic utterances, where forces produced during gesturing are transferred onto the tensioned body, leading to changes in respiratory-related activity and thereby affecting vocalization F0 and intensity. In the current experiment (n = 37), we extend this previous line of work to show that gesture-speech physics also impacts fluent speech. Compared with nonmovement, participants who are producing fluent self-formulated speech while rhythmically moving their limbs demonstrate heightened F0 and amplitude envelope, and such effects are more pronounced for higher-impulse arm versus lower-impulse wrist movement. We replicate that acoustic peaks arise especially during moments of peak impulse (i.e., the beat) of the movement, namely around deceleration phases of the movement. Finally, higher deceleration rates of higher-mass arm movements were related to higher peaks in acoustics. These results confirm a role for physical impulses of gesture affecting the speech system. We discuss the implications of gesture-speech physics for understanding of the emergence of communicative gesture, both ontogenetically and phylogenetically.

中文翻译：

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流畅语音和有节奏的上肢运动中的手势-语音物理

人们普遍认为，人类的手势和言语协调是文化和认知上的习得，而不是生物学基础。然而，最近，在稳态发声和单音节发声中研究了手臂运动与语音发声的生物力学物理耦合，其中手势期间产生的力被转移到紧张的身体上，导致与呼吸相关的活动发生变化，从而影响发声F0 和强度。在当前的实验 (n = 37) 中，我们扩展了之前的工作线，以表明手势-语音物理也会影响流畅的语音。与不运动相比，在有节奏地移动四肢的同时产生流利的自编语音的参与者表现出更高的 F0 和幅度包络，对于高脉冲的手臂与低脉冲的手腕运动，这种效果更为明显。我们重复，特别是在运动的峰值脉冲（即节拍）的时刻，即在运动的减速阶段附近，会出现声学峰值。最后，较大质量的手臂运动的较高减速率与较高的声学峰值有关。这些结果证实了手势的物理脉冲影响语音系统的作用。我们讨论了手势语音物理学对理解交流手势的出现的影响，无论是个体发生还是系统发生。较大质量的手臂运动的较高减速率与较高的声学峰值有关。这些结果证实了手势的物理脉冲影响语音系统的作用。我们讨论了手势语音物理学对理解交流手势的出现的影响，无论是个体发生还是系统发生。较大质量的手臂运动的较高减速率与较高的声学峰值有关。这些结果证实了手势的物理脉冲影响语音系统的作用。我们讨论了手势语音物理学对理解交流手势的出现的影响，无论是个体发生还是系统发生。