3.3 Held Postures

Just as articulation pauses of various sorts can be found in natural speech, certain held postures exist on the gestural level. There is a variety of such postures that can be observed, frequently varying from speaker to speaker. Possible examples of postures for a speaker in a seated position can be folding their hands and resting them on their lap or, if sitting in an arm chair, placing their forearm(s) and/or hand(s) on one or both armrests.

Held postures might appear to be comparable to static gestures in that they do not involve movement; however, they need to be carefully distinguished from static gestures in that postures are not perceived as conveying meaning unless understood as part of a speaker's coincident emotive body language.