Embodiment and Gestural Simulation of the Definite Article

In this study, we examined mental simulation and gestural embodiment of the definite article (the) by analyzing gestures produced by presenters talking about a variety of subjects. We used a Chi-square test to find out what type of gesture occurred more frequently with the definite article. The results showed that the number of pointing gestures that occurred with definite articles used before already-mentioned nouns was significantly higher than the number of pointing gestures that occurred with other types of the definite article. Based on these results, it is suggested that when speakers use a word to refer to an already-mentioned entity, that entity is one part of the simulated situation even before it is mentioned again. Therefore, when speakers use a word to refer to it again, they refer to something that exists in the context of the mentally simulated situation. In the same way that speakers may use a pointing gesture to refer to an entity in the physical context of the conversation, they may use a pointing gesture to refer to something in the context of the mentally simulated situation. This pointing gesture can be regarded as the gestural embodiment of the grammatical function of the definite article.