A Pilot Study on Chinese Gestural Feedback

Abstract: How to interpret and use gestural feedback in a more effective and friendly way in human-human and human-computer interactions has become an issue for both language and technology researchers. In this study, functional analyses of Chinese gestural feedback (mainly head movement, facial expression, hand movement, shoulder movement, and posture) and its relation to vocal-verbal feedback in Interactive Communication Management has been carried out comparing Chinese-Chinese and Chinese-Swedish informal dyadic dialogues. Three research questions have been studied. First, what are features of Chinese gestural feedback? Second, are there any gender differences? Third, do Chinese people use different gestural feedback in mono-cultural and intercultural interactions? It has been found that Chinese feedback was mostly expressed simultaneously by gestural and vocal-verbal means, and gestural feedback conveyed various emotions and attitudes. Chinese females were more expressive in terms of using feedback gestures, and they showed relatively higher communicative intelligibility in accomplishing CUPE/A. More feedback gestures were used in intercultural interactions. The results can be exploitable in practice, such as business consulting, personal marketing, video-conferencing, and animated agents’ synthesis.