Journal of Sociolinguistics· 2016Q1
Challenges of multimodality: Language and the body in social interaction
- 746citations
- Q1SCImago
- 2016year
Short summary
This paper argues for centering the body in social interaction studies, repositioning language as one of many modalities and challenging logo- and visuo-centric views of communication.
AI-generated from the title and abstract; the full text is not read.
Key points
- The study of social interaction increasingly focuses on how multimodal resources (language, body movements) are used holistically.
- Centering the body repositions language as one modality among others, challenging a logo-centric view of communication.
- The paper also critiques a visuo-centric view of embodiment, emphasizing the involvement of the entire body.
- These concepts are illustrated using conversation analytic studies on topics such as deixis, mobility, and sensoriality.
AI-generated from the title and abstract; the full text is not read.
Abstract
This article reflects on recent challenges emerging from the study of language and the body in social interaction. There is a general interest in language and the body across disciplines that has invited a reconceptualization of the broader issues relative to action, cognition, culture, knowledge, social relations and identities, spatiality and temporality. The study of social interaction focuses on how multimodal resources – including language and bodily movements – are holistically and situatedly used in building human action. This article discusses some consequences and challenges of putting the body at the center of attention: it repositions language as one among other modalities, and invites us to consider the involvement of entire bodies in social interaction, overcoming a logo‐centric vision of communication, as well as a visuo‐centric vision of embodiment. These issues are developed through a series of conversation analytic studies, firstly of classic topics in linguistics like deixis, then of more recent topics, such as mobility and sensoriality.
The authors' abstract, as published at the source. Journal of Sociolinguistics, 2016 · DOI ↗
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Field: Language and Linguistics
Language and LinguisticsArts and Humanities