Palm-Up Gestures in Children's Give and Take of Arguments: Embodied Practices and Implications for a Theory of Discourse Competence

Given the growing recognition of embodiment in conversational argumentation, it becomes crucial to conceptualize children's ability to argue not merely as a linguistic skill but also as an embodied one. This study investigates multimodal gestalts involving palm-up (PU) gestures in peer interactions. While PU gestures have been observed in children's storytelling and explanations—mainly in monologic contexts—their role in conversational argumentation remains underexplored. Based on video recordings of children aged 7–10 years engaged in decision-making, the study analyzes how PUs contribute to argumentation. Findings show that children use PUs to embody interactional functions of their turns and to highlight the global structure of their arguments. The findings are discussed in two key respects: (1) how PUs support coordination among participants during argumentation, and (2) the expansion of an interactional model of argumentative discourse competence.