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Samples of free conversations were recorded in 6 normal and 12 aphasic subjects. Manual activity during speech was observed. Groups were shown to behave in an opposite way for the verbal and nonverbal measures: while aphasic subjects' verbal behavior is impaired, they produce more speech‐related movements than normals. No differences appear concerning other movements (automanipulation, hand‐to‐hand posture, miscellaneous movements). Analysis of the aphasie group reveals no difference between the fluent and the nonfluent aphasies. Verbal fluency is shown to be a non‐critical factor in the explanation of gesture production. Increased gestural production in aphasies may be interpreted according to the hypothesis that gestures are cues for the difficulties the speaker experiences in the verbal encoding process.