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8. Imaginary spaces in storytelling

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Pragmatics of Space
This chapter is in the book Pragmatics of Space

Abstract

The construction of an imaginary space is constitutive for storytelling. This article addresses the question of how this is accomplished in face-to-face interaction. For this purpose, structuralist, interactional, multimodal and architectural conceptualizations are discussed. It is shown that imaginary spaces are interactional and multimodal achievements that involve the use of linguistic, bodily and material resources as well as socio-cultural knowledge. Furthermore, it is argued that architectural spaces play an important role in storytelling. They are associated with expectations about what types of activities can take place in them and they entail specific affordances that can be used to evoke and furnish imaginary spaces. Based on video recordings of a family dinner, a case study compares two interactional architectures, the dining table and the dining room, in terms of their interactional implications. It will be shown and discussed how different interactional spaces are established for joint imagination by the way in which participants of an interaction use the affordances of their material surroundings. While the dinner table is used as a projection surface for evoking an imaginary space and as a reservoir of potential props, the dining room is transformed into a stage; the affordance of acting with the whole body makes complex bodily practices of telling-and-enacting possible: a body torque serves as a narrative resource to simultaneously represent two characters and to further enrich the imaginary space. The narrative uses of the dining table and room are part of the dynamic arrangement of the interactional space that is needed for the story to be told

Abstract

The construction of an imaginary space is constitutive for storytelling. This article addresses the question of how this is accomplished in face-to-face interaction. For this purpose, structuralist, interactional, multimodal and architectural conceptualizations are discussed. It is shown that imaginary spaces are interactional and multimodal achievements that involve the use of linguistic, bodily and material resources as well as socio-cultural knowledge. Furthermore, it is argued that architectural spaces play an important role in storytelling. They are associated with expectations about what types of activities can take place in them and they entail specific affordances that can be used to evoke and furnish imaginary spaces. Based on video recordings of a family dinner, a case study compares two interactional architectures, the dining table and the dining room, in terms of their interactional implications. It will be shown and discussed how different interactional spaces are established for joint imagination by the way in which participants of an interaction use the affordances of their material surroundings. While the dinner table is used as a projection surface for evoking an imaginary space and as a reservoir of potential props, the dining room is transformed into a stage; the affordance of acting with the whole body makes complex bodily practices of telling-and-enacting possible: a body torque serves as a narrative resource to simultaneously represent two characters and to further enrich the imaginary space. The narrative uses of the dining table and room are part of the dynamic arrangement of the interactional space that is needed for the story to be told

Chapters in this book

  1. Frontmatter i
  2. Preface to the handbook series v
  3. Preface ix
  4. Table of Contents xi
  5. 1. Doing space: The pragmatics of language and space 1
  6. I. Describing space through language
  7. 2. Deictic reference in space 23
  8. 3. The conceptualization of space in signed languages: Placing the signer in narratives 63
  9. 4. Spatiality in written texts 95
  10. 5. Interactional onomastics: Place names as malleable resources 125
  11. 6. Describing motion events 153
  12. 7. Discourses of place: The formation of space and place through discourse 181
  13. 8. Imaginary spaces in storytelling 209
  14. 9. Developmental perspectives on doing talk about space 251
  15. II. Spatial organization of social interaction
  16. 10. Encounters in public places: The establishment of interactional space in face-to-face openings 281
  17. 11. Interactional spaces in stationary, mobile, video-mediated and virtual encounters 317
  18. 12. The pragmatics of gesture and space 363
  19. 13. Distance and closeness: The im/politeness of space in communication 399
  20. III. Communicative resources of constructed spaces
  21. 14. Architecture-for-interaction: Built, designed and furnished space for communicative purposes 431
  22. 15. Building, dwelling, and interacting: Steps in the evolution of public space from Paleolithic to present 473
  23. 16. The pragmatics of linguistic landscapes 523
  24. 17. The pragmatics of written texts in space 549
  25. 18. Co-presence and beyond: Spatial configurations of communication in virtual environments 579
  26. IV. Pragmatics across space and cultures
  27. 19. Pragmatic variation across geographical and social space 611
  28. 20. Pragmatic variation across national varieties of pluricentric languages 637
  29. 21. Mapping perceptions and knowledge of language: Societal multilingualism and its sociopragmatic grounding 679
  30. Bionotes 715
  31. Author index 727
  32. Subject index 735
https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110693713-008

Chapters in this book

  1. Frontmatter i
  2. Preface to the handbook series v
  3. Preface ix
  4. Table of Contents xi
  5. 1. Doing space: The pragmatics of language and space 1
  6. I. Describing space through language
  7. 2. Deictic reference in space 23
  8. 3. The conceptualization of space in signed languages: Placing the signer in narratives 63
  9. 4. Spatiality in written texts 95
  10. 5. Interactional onomastics: Place names as malleable resources 125
  11. 6. Describing motion events 153
  12. 7. Discourses of place: The formation of space and place through discourse 181
  13. 8. Imaginary spaces in storytelling 209
  14. 9. Developmental perspectives on doing talk about space 251
  15. II. Spatial organization of social interaction
  16. 10. Encounters in public places: The establishment of interactional space in face-to-face openings 281
  17. 11. Interactional spaces in stationary, mobile, video-mediated and virtual encounters 317
  18. 12. The pragmatics of gesture and space 363
  19. 13. Distance and closeness: The im/politeness of space in communication 399
  20. III. Communicative resources of constructed spaces
  21. 14. Architecture-for-interaction: Built, designed and furnished space for communicative purposes 431
  22. 15. Building, dwelling, and interacting: Steps in the evolution of public space from Paleolithic to present 473
  23. 16. The pragmatics of linguistic landscapes 523
  24. 17. The pragmatics of written texts in space 549
  25. 18. Co-presence and beyond: Spatial configurations of communication in virtual environments 579
  26. IV. Pragmatics across space and cultures
  27. 19. Pragmatic variation across geographical and social space 611
  28. 20. Pragmatic variation across national varieties of pluricentric languages 637
  29. 21. Mapping perceptions and knowledge of language: Societal multilingualism and its sociopragmatic grounding 679
  30. Bionotes 715
  31. Author index 727
  32. Subject index 735
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