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Signs and space in Arandic sand narratives

  • Jennifer Green
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From Gesture in Conversation to Visible Action as Utterance
This chapter is in the book From Gesture in Conversation to Visible Action as Utterance

Abstract

In everyday interactions multiple semiotic resources work together to form loosely coordinated partnerships or “ensembles” (Kendon 2004a, 2008). People sketch on shared spaces, gesture and diagram objects in the air, and point to real and fictive locations. In some communities sign languages are the primary mode of communication, and in others sign is used, either with or without speech. For decades now Kendon has posed the question as to how different expressive modalities are organized in communication and how they “trade off,” one in relation to the other (Kendon 1987: 93, 2004a: 351). This chapter takes a close look at one aspect of the ways such semiotic partnerships are formed in a unique form of communication – sand stories from Central Australia. In particular I will examine some of the spatial aspects of conventionalized sign in these narratives, and detail how the sand space provides an additional dimension for the articulation of meanings that are distributed between various spaces and modalities.

Abstract

In everyday interactions multiple semiotic resources work together to form loosely coordinated partnerships or “ensembles” (Kendon 2004a, 2008). People sketch on shared spaces, gesture and diagram objects in the air, and point to real and fictive locations. In some communities sign languages are the primary mode of communication, and in others sign is used, either with or without speech. For decades now Kendon has posed the question as to how different expressive modalities are organized in communication and how they “trade off,” one in relation to the other (Kendon 1987: 93, 2004a: 351). This chapter takes a close look at one aspect of the ways such semiotic partnerships are formed in a unique form of communication – sand stories from Central Australia. In particular I will examine some of the spatial aspects of conventionalized sign in these narratives, and detail how the sand space provides an additional dimension for the articulation of meanings that are distributed between various spaces and modalities.

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. A foreword vii
  4. From gesture in conversation to visible action as utterance 1
  5. Part I. Gaze and face
  6. Including facial gestures in gesture-speech ensembles 15
  7. Mutual gaze and recognition 35
  8. Part II. Manual gestures – quotable gestures and pointing
  9. Gesture in the communicative ecology of a South African township 59
  10. The emblem as metaphor 75
  11. Pointing, talk, and the bodies 95
  12. Part III. Manual gestures – their nature and relationship to language
  13. Gesture as “deliberate expressive movement” 127
  14. On the lower limit of gesture 153
  15. Part IV. Language evolution
  16. The word according to Adam 177
  17. The intelligibility of gesture within a framework of co-operative action 199
  18. Part V. Sign systems
  19. Signs and space in Arandic sand narratives 219
  20. Different strokes 245
  21. Gesture in all its forms 289
  22. Part VI. Children language development
  23. The development of two pragmatic gestures of the so-called Open Hand Supine family in Italian children 311
  24. How gestures help children to track reference in narrative 331
  25. Gestures and multimodal development 351
  26. Name index 371
  27. Subject index 373
https://doi.org/10.1075/z.188.11gre

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. A foreword vii
  4. From gesture in conversation to visible action as utterance 1
  5. Part I. Gaze and face
  6. Including facial gestures in gesture-speech ensembles 15
  7. Mutual gaze and recognition 35
  8. Part II. Manual gestures – quotable gestures and pointing
  9. Gesture in the communicative ecology of a South African township 59
  10. The emblem as metaphor 75
  11. Pointing, talk, and the bodies 95
  12. Part III. Manual gestures – their nature and relationship to language
  13. Gesture as “deliberate expressive movement” 127
  14. On the lower limit of gesture 153
  15. Part IV. Language evolution
  16. The word according to Adam 177
  17. The intelligibility of gesture within a framework of co-operative action 199
  18. Part V. Sign systems
  19. Signs and space in Arandic sand narratives 219
  20. Different strokes 245
  21. Gesture in all its forms 289
  22. Part VI. Children language development
  23. The development of two pragmatic gestures of the so-called Open Hand Supine family in Italian children 311
  24. How gestures help children to track reference in narrative 331
  25. Gestures and multimodal development 351
  26. Name index 371
  27. Subject index 373
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