Foreign Language Learners Show a Kinematic Accent in Their Co-speech Hand Movements

Humans typically move and vocalize in a time-synchronized fashion, aligning prominence-lending hand movements to acoustically emphasized syllables. This requires complex coordination. When speaking a foreign language, learners often place prominence on the wrong syllable in a word, which contributes to a noticeable foreign accent. In this pre-registered kinematic-acoustic study, we test whether a foreign accent is present in the timing of co-speech manual movements. Results demonstrate a ‘kinematic accent’ in Dutch learners of Spanish producing Spanish cognates (e.g., Spanish profeSOR - Dutch proFESsor). Dutch learners time the maximum extension of their co-speech movements closer to the prominent syllable in their native Dutch (i.e., on -fes), even when acoustically emphasizing the correct Spanish syllable (-sor). Conversely, when incorrectly acoustically emphasizing the Dutch syllable, the maximum extension of their hand movement is attracted to the Spanish target syllable. This reveals competing timing processes between movement and vocalization systems for foreign language learners, demonstrating that not only your spoken accent but also your co-speech manual kinematics can give away your native language.