本篇論文是藉由研究在會話中觀察到的手勢，說明手勢在溝通上的重要性。根據我們的觀察，說話者在溝通上使用的手勢有兩種，一種是「說到做到」，一種是「言行不一」。分析在會話中出現的手勢後，我們得知「說到做到」手勢最常傳遞名詞訊息，其次是動詞訊息，而這類手勢的功用在於使說話者的言語表達更形清楚。以具像和指示手勢傳遞的「言行不一」訊息，包括發生在主詞和動詞位置的「角色轉換」，其功用是使說話者表達對談論中人物的說明和詮釋，以及最常和動詞一起出現的「補充訊息」，可補充說話者在事件中沒有以言語說出的訊息。說話者在溝通中使用手勢，就能提供更多訊息給聽者，同時也可使言語表達更加清楚生動，便於聽者了解。

There are two kinds of gestures in communication. One is "congruous gestures", which the gestural messages are identical with the meanings of the simultaneous speech. Another is "incongruous gestures". Incongruous gestures are divided into two groups. (1)"footing shift"： the speakers play the roles of the characters in their narrations. (2) "message complement": the gestural messages are not the same as the meanings of the corresponding spoken words. Since the congruous gestures perform the same messages as those of the spontaneous speech, we want to find out why the speakers use them. To the incongruous gestures, we want to find out why the speakers perform them. We collect the Chinese conversational data to do our analyses.

In our data, the messages performed by congruous gestures mostly correspond with the meanings of the nouns. The function of the congruous gestures is to make the speakers' verbal messages more clearly and vividly. Besides, the gestural types of incongruous gestures are iconic and deictic. The "footing shift" occurs in the positions of the noun and the verb. Its function is to make the speakers give their own interpretations and evaluations on the characters. The "message complement" mostly appears with the verb. Its function is to complement the message the speakers do not say in the events.

Gesturing in communication is very important. It enables the speakers to provide more unspoken information, or convey the verbalized messages more clearly and vividly for the hearers to understand.