Chapter 8. Grammatical coordination of embodied action
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Leelo Keevallik
Abstract
This paper looks at the Estonian coordinating conjunction ja ‘and’ in video-recorded Pilates classes, focusing on the instructors’ practical problem of making the students perform proper movement sequences. It shows how grammatical coordination emerges within a multimodal activity in which the instructor’s talk both directs and responds to student performance. As opposed to the frequent juxtaposition of clauses without connectors, explicit coordination with ja is used for the overall structuring of the class as well as the temporal extension of talk to achieve synchronicity of vocal and embodied behavior. In contrast to formal theories that consider grammar as a device for coherent expression of pre-planned propositions, this study argues that grammatical structure emerges as part of practical action across participants and modalities.
Abstract
This paper looks at the Estonian coordinating conjunction ja ‘and’ in video-recorded Pilates classes, focusing on the instructors’ practical problem of making the students perform proper movement sequences. It shows how grammatical coordination emerges within a multimodal activity in which the instructor’s talk both directs and responds to student performance. As opposed to the frequent juxtaposition of clauses without connectors, explicit coordination with ja is used for the overall structuring of the class as well as the temporal extension of talk to achieve synchronicity of vocal and embodied behavior. In contrast to formal theories that consider grammar as a device for coherent expression of pre-planned propositions, this study argues that grammatical structure emerges as part of practical action across participants and modalities.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Chapter 1. Complex syntax-in-interaction 1
-
Part I. Emerging projecting constructions
- Chapter 2. Nel senso (che) in Italian conversation 25
- Chapter 3. The emergence and routinization of complex syntactic patterns formed with ajatella ‘think’ and tietää ‘know’ in Finnish talk-in-interaction 55
- Chapter 4. The insubordinate – subordinate continuum 87
- Chapter 5. Emergent patterns of predicative clauses in spoken Hebrew discourse 127
- Chapter 6. From matrix clause to turn expansion 151
-
Part II. Locally emergent clause-combining patterns
- Chapter 7. Practices of clause-combining 185
- Chapter 8. Grammatical coordination of embodied action 221
- Chapter 9. Consecutive clause combinations in instructing activities 245
- Chapter 10. Right-dislocated complement clauses in German talk-in-interaction 275
- Chapter 11. Relative-clause increments and the management of reference 303
- Chapter 12. Afterword 331
- Index 339
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Chapter 1. Complex syntax-in-interaction 1
-
Part I. Emerging projecting constructions
- Chapter 2. Nel senso (che) in Italian conversation 25
- Chapter 3. The emergence and routinization of complex syntactic patterns formed with ajatella ‘think’ and tietää ‘know’ in Finnish talk-in-interaction 55
- Chapter 4. The insubordinate – subordinate continuum 87
- Chapter 5. Emergent patterns of predicative clauses in spoken Hebrew discourse 127
- Chapter 6. From matrix clause to turn expansion 151
-
Part II. Locally emergent clause-combining patterns
- Chapter 7. Practices of clause-combining 185
- Chapter 8. Grammatical coordination of embodied action 221
- Chapter 9. Consecutive clause combinations in instructing activities 245
- Chapter 10. Right-dislocated complement clauses in German talk-in-interaction 275
- Chapter 11. Relative-clause increments and the management of reference 303
- Chapter 12. Afterword 331
- Index 339
