The Grammar of Obviousness: The Palm-Up Gesture in Argument Sequences

This paper investigates the body’s role in grammar in argument sequences. Drawing from a database of public disputes on language use, we document the work of the palm-up gesture in action formation. Using conversation analysis and interactional linguistics, we show how this gesture is an interactional resource that indexes a particular epistemic stance—namely to cast the proposition being advanced as obvious. In this report, we focus on instances in which participants reach what we refer to as an ‘impasse’, at which point the palm up gesture becomes a resource for reasserting and pursuing a prior position, now laminated with an embodied claim of ‘obviousness’ that is grounded in the sequentiality of the interaction. As we show, the palm up gesture appears with and in response to a variety of syntactic and grammatical structures, and moreover can also function with no accompanying verbal utterance at all. This empirical observation challenges the assumption that a focus on grammar-in-interaction should begin with, or otherwise be examined in relation to, ‘standard’ verbal-only grammatical categories (e.g., imperative, declarative). We conclude by considering the gestural practice we focus on alongside verbal grammatical resources (specifically, particles) from typologically distinct languages, which we offer as a contribution to ongoing discussions regarding an embodied conceptualization of grammar—in this case, epistemicity.

NONVERBAL MEANS OF INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION: A PROBLEM OF CONFORMITY

The article substantiates the need to study the features of nonverbal behavior of representatives of different cultures due to the discrepancy of kinesic systems. English, Russian and Uzbek non-speech behavior, and the divergence of gestures are analyzed using the example of English, Russian and Uzbek kinesic cultures. Emotions can have a significant impact on the development, success or failure of the speech act and on the expression of the emotional state of each participant in communication. Gestures characterize national, territorial and social peculiarities of the communicant observed in temperament, emotional state and attitude to the interlocutor and, therefore, the author considers the problem of intercultural conformity, closely associated with interpretation of non-verbal text by different cultures. It is argued, for a complete and clear interpretation of the meaning of the statement transmitted by non-verbal means; it is necessary to avoid incorrect, incomplete, and excessive interpretation of non-verbal speech. The special nature of nonverbal communication explains the presence of universal, understandable signs, as well as specific signals used only within one culture. It is also analyzed the phonation phenomena of speech: melody, timbre, rhythm and strength of voice, articulation activity, which have the functions of supplementing and replacing a verbal utterance, which determine the physical and psycho-emotional state of the interlocutor.

“Do You Read Me?”

Inaccurate interpretation of negotiated nonverbal communication during an intimate encounter has serious moral and legal repercussions. Reciprocity between bodies allows one to assess the intention of the other. However, when the intended message is miscommunicated through the sender’s embodied action or misperceived by the receiver, a sexual assault can ensue. Understanding, conveying, and responding to behavioral gestures indicative of agreement or refusal to consent, is an emotional quagmire that has received global attention through sociopolitical movements such as #MeToo. Despite the desired cogitation of a pre-reflexive intentioned message, reciprocal navigation of a shared intimate space shifts within the corporeal/intercorporeal relationship, such that a habituated behavioral response, autonomic bodily responding, and socialized dating norms all have the potential to sabotage the essence of the original message. Seeking legal retribution is compromised in its application of objectified parameters to an ambiguous, subjective human interaction. While programs promoting slogans such as “Just Say No” are well intentioned, the complexity of human behavior, unconscious processes, and subjective perception, all suggest that communicating a refusal to consent extends far beyond the verbal utterance of saying “No.”

Lingua-Ethological Causes of Communicative Failures: Pragmatic Aspect

The paper reveals and describes communicative failures caused by differences in structures of communicants’ lingua-ethological encyclopedic knowledge based on the cognitive theory of dynamic construal of meaning. А communicative failure is viewed as a speech-behavioural act, where there is no semiosis (the addresser’s verbal and/or non-verbal utterance does not evoke any conventional conceptual content in the addressee’s mind) or there is ambivalent semiosis (the addresser and addressee privilege different aspects of the conceptual content structured by different frames (scripts)/domains, which results in the divergence between the addressee’s inferences and addresser’s presuppositions. It is alleged that communicative failures can be caused by differences in structures of communicants’ lingua-ethological knowledge of general principles regulating communicative behaviour. The addresser’s verbal and/or non-verbal utterance triggers different aspects of the conventional conceptual content in the minds of the communicants structured by different frames (scripts)/domains, which leads to the divergence between the addressee’s inferences and addresser’s presuppositions. Differences in structures of communicants’ lingua-ethological encyclopedic knowledge result from the addressee’s failure to select the most relevant way of interpreting the addresser’s utterance due to the violation of interpersonal rhetoric principles, in particular, Relevance Theory principles caused by a disregard of lingual and extra-lingual context of a communicative act. This results in a false interpretation of homonymous verbal utterances, utterance implicatures enabling both literal and metaphorical interpretation or implicatures connected with recognizing irony/sarcasm as well as the addresser’s communicative intentions and utterance addressing.

Disbelief about the time. Timelessness in the late works of Paul Celan

The poetry of Paul Celan has a reflected intention to ask about the temporal determination of human being and simultaneously questions the term and definition of time. In may of his works he reflects he the catastrophic transformation, the reflection also includes the revision of the conventional conception of time. He tries to show, that beside the usual forms of historical, causal und linear time, individuals also perceive timelessness. Paradoxically, the accomplishment of a historical event (Holocaust) evokes a consciousness of the historical caesura, and thus of the untold and the inhospitable. In his perception, for the poet, writing (after holocaust) means writing after apocalyptic break, where history does not exist, in other words surrounded by the timelessness. The task of preserving the memory of what happened in poetry goes hand in hand with the awareness of a disorder and often borders on the impossibility of verbalizing what has happened or even being able to express itself verbally. The experience of disconnection from the temporal sequence of events (through trauma) coincides with the moments of speechlessness, emptiness in consciousness, verbal utterance, and time experience overlap. This tendency is radicalized especially in his late work. In this article late works of Paul Celan, that deal with the questions of timelessness and manifestations of it are analysed (“Zeitlücke”, “Die Trombonestelle” “Largo” and others).

Meaning Configuration of Cultural Practices in Bali as a Model to Strengthen Identity of Balinese People

This paper attempts to configure the meaning of cultural practices in the field of tradition in Bali including the cultural meaning of assertive, directive, expressive, commissive, and declaration that can be used as a model TO strengthen identity of Balinese people. In order to obtain valid data, participative observation taking the form of a focused group discussion was done in several locations in Bali. The data were then thoroughly analyzed based upon the theory of Natural Semantic Metalanguage originated by Wierzbicka (1999) with a model of Cultural Scripts proposed by Goddarad (2002). The result of analysis showed that: 1) cultural meanings found in verbal utterance of traditionally cultural practices in Bali could be derived from such functions of speech acts as: (a) assertive with cultural meanings of ngaturang 'to present and ngedengang 'to show '; (b) directive with cultural meanings of ngelungsur keslametan ‘to ask for safety', nuturang 'to advise', ngundang 'to invite'; (c) expressive with cultural meanings of ampura 'to apologize' and suksma 'to thank'; (d) commissive with cultural meaning of mejanji 'to promise'; and (e) declaration with cultural meaning of mutusang 'to decide'; 2) Cultural meanings of Bali cultural practices could be configured using cultural scripts that can be used as a model to strengthen the identity of Balinese people.

The organisation of kinesic ensembles associated with negation

This paper describes the organisation of kinesic ensembles associated with negation in speech through a qualitative study of negative utterances identified in face-to-face conversations between English speakers. All the utterances contain a verbal negative particle (no, not, nothing, etc.) and the kinesic ensembles comprise Open Hand Prone gestures and head shakes, both associated with the expression of negation in previous studies (e.g., Kendon, 2002, 2004; Calbris, 1990, 2011; Harrison, 2009, 2010). To analyse how these elements relate to each other, the utterances were studied in ELAN annotation software with separate analytical tiers for aspects of form in both speech and gestures. The micro-analysis of the temporal and semantic coordination between tiers shows that kinesic ensembles are organized in relation to the node, scope, and focus of negation in speech. Speakers coordinate gesture phrase structures of both head and hand gestures in relation to the grammar of verbal negation, and the gestures they use share a core formational feature that expresses a negative semantic theme in line with the expression of negation in the verbal utterance. The paper demonstrates these connections between grammar and gesture and sheds light on the mechanics of ‘multimodal negation’ at the utterance level.

Képpé vált szöveg, szöveggé vált kép

How can an image be turned into a text? This question has preoccupied artists and art experts for thousands of years. There seems to be three potential intersections of spectacle and verbal utterance. First, description has received a substantial amount of critical attention, which of course does not mean that there are no other relevant phenomena requiring further study. Second, the interrelationship of written, moulded or painted portraits also makes it worthwhile to explore the connections between portrait painting and biography. The third kind of encounter between text and image is the narrative. Is it possible at all to narrate a story in the form of image(s)? The answer is by far not as evident as certain critics argue, since a narrative does not only presuppose a plot but a narrator as well, that is, a linguistic construct. It is thus especially reasonable to speak of a pictorial narrative where the images are to represent subsequent phases of the story. The paper aims to examine these issues on the basis of relevant examples, such as texts by Virginia Woolf and Miklós Bánffy.

An Existentialist Epistemology of the Closet: Sexuality and Art in Raymond Queneau's Zazie dans le métro

This article explores how Sartean existentialism can be used to explain the sexual orientation of the main character Gabriel in Raymond Queneau's Zazie dans le métro. Drawing firstly on the novel's rich and broader philosophical roots, the article proceeds to engage with the philosophy of existentialism as a way of highlighting Gabriel's attempts to conquer himself, champion a morality of action and commitment over secular morality, and give meaning to his sexuality through concepts of choice, situation, authenticity and artistic creation. Gabriel's monologues take him out of the conversational currency of the récit's structure and into a philosophical mode of thinking. In these instances, Queneau's sub-codes and intertextual references to Sartrean existentialism gesture towards an existentialist breakthrough where Gabriel's existence is seen to coalesce with a discrete ‘coming out’ narrative that predates the politics of power, gender and identity construction of the 1970s and beyond. The situatedness and literariness of Gabriel's homosexuality is textual; this textuality is played out existentially in the way his homosexuality as verbal utterance/reality is continually deferred and connected critically to signifiers of Sartrean humanism, intersubjectivity and transcendence.