The representational and the expressive: Two functions of the inner speech

Abstract

The present study aimed to explore functions of inner language and its expression in gesture. Two university students were asked to listen to instrumental music and then refer internal thoughts in a retrospective video-assisted interview. The results show two functions of the interior language: representational and expressive. The representational function shows a denotative, conceptual, and sequential language. On the other hand, the expressive function is related to a lived, affective, diffuse, and imagistic language. The present work contributes to the studies of human consciousness and emphasizes the importance of including the study of gesturalism in the understanding of the human experience.