'Tiny numbers' are actually tiny: Evidence from gestures in the TV News Archive

Abstract

We report a large-scale, quantitative investigation of manual gestures that speakers perform when speaking metaphorically about numerical quantities. We used the TV News Archive-an online database of over 2 million English language news broadcasts-to examine 681 videos in which 584 speakers used the phrase 'tiny number', 'small number', 'large number', or 'huge number', which metaphorically frame numerical quantity in terms of physical size. We found that the gestures speakers used reflect a number of different strategies to express the metaphoric size of quantities. When referring to greater versus lesser quantities, speakers were far more likely to gesture (1) with an open versus closed hand configuration, (2) with an outward versus inward movement, and (3) with a wider distance between the gesturing hands. These patterns were often more pronounced for the phrases containing more extreme adjectives ('tiny/huge number'). However, we did not find that speakers performed two-handed versus one-handed gestures. Nor did we find that speakers performed right-handed versus left-handed gestures, when referring to greater versus lesser quantities. Overall, this work supports the claim that metaphoric thought is involved in the production of verbal metaphors that describe numerical magnitudes. It demonstrates that size-based numerical associations observed in previous lab experiments are active in real-life communication outside the lab.

Fig 1. Illustrations of four different closed handshapes.

The left three gestures involve precision grips (index finger and thumb approaching or touching each other). In what we call a ‘pinch’, the index finger and thumb are touching each other, or are held apart with a very narrow gap. In ‘lobster claw’ gestures, the index finger and thumb are held visibly apart. The ‘ring’ gesture is similar to the pinch, but with the middle, ring, and pinkie finger extended. For the ‘bunch’, speakers bring all fingers together, as if scraping together a heap of rice on a table.

Fig 2. U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren performs a pinch gesture with a closed hand configuration while using the target phrase 'tiny number', republished from CNBC (NBC Universal) under a CC BY license, with permission from CNBC (NBC Universal), original copyright 2013.

Fig 3. Proportion of videos with the phrases 'tiny number', 'small number', 'large number', and 'huge number' that occurred without a gesture or with a gesture in a curved, closed, or open hand configuration.

Fig 4. Proportion of videos in which both speakers' hands were visible and free to gesture per phrase ('tiny number', small number', 'large number', 'huge number') that contained one-handed versus two-handed gestures.

Fig 5. Proportion of two-handed gestures per phrase ('tiny number', small number', 'large number', 'huge number') that were inward moving versus outward moving.

Fig 6. Proportion of two-handed gestures per phrase ('tiny number', small number', 'large number', 'huge number') in which the speaker's hands were separated by a narrow, medium, or wide distance.

Fig 7. Proportion of videos in which both speakers' hands were visible and free to gesture per phrase ('tiny number', 'small number', 'large number', 'huge number') that contained left-handed versus right-handed gestures.