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Article published In: Gesture
Vol. 23:1/2 (2024) ► pp.119–159

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Towards a novel conceptualization of prosody that accounts for spoken and visual signals

The modality-neutral prosodic framework hypothesis

ORCiD logo with link | ICREA-Universitat Pompeu Fabra
 | UOC
 | MIT
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Available under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) 4.0 license.

For any use beyond this license, please contact the publisher at rights@benjamins.nl.

Open Access publication of this article was funded through a Transformative Agreement with Pompeu Fabra University.

Published online: 14 July 2025
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https://doi.org/10.1075/gest.25012.pri
Abstract
Prosody influences speech organization by signaling phrasal prominence, grouping patterns, and speakers’ pragmatic intentions. While traditionally viewed as restricted to speech, research shows prosody is also conveyed visually. This article reviews research showing strong parallels between spoken prosody and co-speech gestures in prominence marking, grouping phrasal structures, and signaling pragmatic intent. We extend this discussion and propose a modality-neutral prosodic framework hypothesis comprising three propositions: (a) prosody should be viewed as a modality-neutral grammar component that operates as an abstract level of representation while adapting to different sensory channels and language modalities; (b) in spoken languages, prosody is implemented flexibly through two distinct channels, spoken and gestural, which enable to mark prominence, grouping and meaning in a multimodal way; (c) parallel implementations are found in the way prosody is manifested in spoken and sign languages. A modality-neutral view of prosody will enrich current formal and developmental theories of language.
Article outline
  • Introduction
    • Classical definition of the prosodic component of language: Structural and functional dimensions
    • Building a case for a modality-neutral conceptualization of prosody
    • Goals of the present article
  • Parallels between spoken and visual markers of prosodic prominence, prosodic grouping, and pragmatic meaning in spoken languages
    • Spoken and visual markers of prosody convey phrase-level linguistic prominence
    • Spoken and visual markers of prosody convey phrasal grouping
    • Spoken and visual markers of prosody convey pragmatic functions
      • Spoken and visual markers of prosodic structure (prominence, grouping) convey pragmatic meaning
    • Spoken and visual markers of prominence convey information structure
    • Spoken and visual markers of grouping convey turn-taking
      • Spoken and visual markers of prosody convey parallel pragmatic meanings
  • Developmental evidence for parallels between spoken and visual markers of prosodic prominence, phrasal grouping and pragmatic meaning in spoken languages
    • Spoken and visual markers of prosody convey both prominence and grouping in development
    • Spoken and visual markers of prosody convey pragmatic meaning in development
    • The interplay between spoken and visual markers of prosody in development
  • Visual prosody in sign languages
  • Cognitive mechanisms guiding the crossmodal interaction between spoken and visual signals of prosody in spoken languages
    • Sensitivity to cross-modal mismatches
      • Non-referential beat gestures facilitate semantic integration
      • Gestures facilitate pragmatic processing
    • Sensitivity to crossmodal misalignments
    • Crossmodal trade-off effects
  • Proposal: The modality-neutral prosodic framework hypothesis
  • Discussion and conclusions
  • References
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Cited by (2)

Cited by two other publications

Rohrer, Patrick Louis, Ulya Tütüncübasi, Júlia Florit-Pons, Ingrid Vilà-Giménez, Núria Esteve-Gibert, Ada Ren-Mitchell, Stefanie Shattuck-Hufnagel & Pilar Prieto
2025. Multidimensional Labeling of Gesture in Communication: the M3D Proposal. Corpus Pragmatics 9:4 ► pp. 411 ff. DOI logo
van Maastricht, Lieke & Núria Esteve‐Gibert
2025. Head Gestures Do Not Serve as Precursors of Prosodic Focus Marking in the Second Language as They Do in the First Language. Language Learning DOI logo

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