Chapter 5. Can pantomime narrate?
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Jordan Zlatev
Abstract
Adopting the conceptual-empirical loop of cognitive semiotics, we define narrative as a three-part structure consisting of Narration, Story and Event-sequence and primary narrativity as the process of interpreting a narrative from the former to the latter two. We distinguish between simple narratives with chronological mappings between Story and Event sequence, and complex narratives, where this is not the case; for example, by beginning the narration with the final event. Understanding pantomime as a prototype-based concept grounded in iconic gesture, we ask if it affords primary narrativity, in the case of both simple and complex narratives. We proceed by reviewing and elaborating a recent experimental semiotic study where communicators inter-semiotically translated three-event stories from language to pantomime, and interpreters had to match these performances with three-image cartoon strips. The results showed that pantomime was successful when the narratives were simple, but much less so when they were not. To be able to distinguish between the two, the participants spontaneously introduced various markers of event order. When they conventionalized these markers, they introduced elements of protolanguage, thus going beyond the narrative potentials of pantomime.
Abstract
Adopting the conceptual-empirical loop of cognitive semiotics, we define narrative as a three-part structure consisting of Narration, Story and Event-sequence and primary narrativity as the process of interpreting a narrative from the former to the latter two. We distinguish between simple narratives with chronological mappings between Story and Event sequence, and complex narratives, where this is not the case; for example, by beginning the narration with the final event. Understanding pantomime as a prototype-based concept grounded in iconic gesture, we ask if it affords primary narrativity, in the case of both simple and complex narratives. We proceed by reviewing and elaborating a recent experimental semiotic study where communicators inter-semiotically translated three-event stories from language to pantomime, and interpreters had to match these performances with three-image cartoon strips. The results showed that pantomime was successful when the narratives were simple, but much less so when they were not. To be able to distinguish between the two, the participants spontaneously introduced various markers of event order. When they conventionalized these markers, they introduced elements of protolanguage, thus going beyond the narrative potentials of pantomime.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Introduction. Perspectives on pantomime 1
- Chapter 1. Pantomime within and beyond the evolution of language 16
- Chapter 2. The relations of demonstration and pantomime to causal reasoning and event cognition 58
- Chapter 3. Narrative and pantomime at the origin of language 78
- Chapter 4. Two types of bodily-mimetic communication 100
- Chapter 5. Can pantomime narrate? 115
- Chapter 6. The pantomimic origins of the narrative arts 139
- Chapter 7. The pantomime roots of Sao Tome and Principe Sign Language 159
- Chapter 8. Symbolic distancing in three-year-old children’s object-use pantomime 188
- Chapter 9. Gestural mimesis as “as-if” action 217
- Index 243
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Introduction. Perspectives on pantomime 1
- Chapter 1. Pantomime within and beyond the evolution of language 16
- Chapter 2. The relations of demonstration and pantomime to causal reasoning and event cognition 58
- Chapter 3. Narrative and pantomime at the origin of language 78
- Chapter 4. Two types of bodily-mimetic communication 100
- Chapter 5. Can pantomime narrate? 115
- Chapter 6. The pantomimic origins of the narrative arts 139
- Chapter 7. The pantomime roots of Sao Tome and Principe Sign Language 159
- Chapter 8. Symbolic distancing in three-year-old children’s object-use pantomime 188
- Chapter 9. Gestural mimesis as “as-if” action 217
- Index 243
