Silent imperatives: A multimodal approach to warning expressions

Alessandra Giorgi; Erika Petrocchi

doi:10.1515/ip-2025-5006

Article

Silent imperatives: A multimodal approach to warning expressions

Alessandra Giorgi
Alessandra Giorgi is a Professor of Linguistics at Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, Italy, where she teaches Theoretical Linguistics. She has published extensively on various topics, including the syntax of noun phrases, the interpretation of pronouns, the temporal and aspectual properties of Romance and Germanic languages, Armenian syntax, and the linguistic expression of emotions. She has authored over 100 research articles in international journals and volumes. Her books include The Syntax of Noun Phrases, Cambridge University Press; Tense and Aspect, Oxford University Press; and About the Speaker, Oxford University Press.
and Erika Petrocchi
Erika Petrocchi earned her PhD in Linguistics from Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, Italy, in 2022. She is a Postdoctoral Researcher at Ca’ Foscari and an Adjunct Professor of Linguistics at the University of Padua. Her main interests include multimodality in language, the syntax and pragmatics of expressive language, the syntax of Italian Sign Language, the analysis of linguistic gestures, and the interface between prosody and syntax.

Published/Copyright: December 16, 2025

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From the journal Intercultural Pragmatics Volume 22 Issue 5

Abstract

This article argues in favor of a formal model that views language as an integrated multimodal system where syntax, prosody, and gestures are linked. It demonstrates that specific syntactic structures trigger sensorimotor realizations, which include intonation, phonology, and gestures. We argue that gestures, in particular non-lexical co-speech gestures, are not merely an additional channel but a fundamental part of grammar, integrated into the same system that governs word order and phonological realization. We suggest a syntactic representation of warning expressions that combines syntactic and pragmatic aspects, based on Italian data and experimental evidence. Specifically, we argue that warnings always include a warning call, which can be either lexical in content or expressed solely through special prosody and gestures.

Keywords: warning expressions; co-speech gestures; multimodality; imperatives; generative grammar; syntax

Corresponding author: Alessandra Giorgi, Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, Venice, Italy. E-mail: giorgi@unive.it

About the authors

Alessandra Giorgi

Alessandra Giorgi is a Professor of Linguistics at Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, Italy, where she teaches Theoretical Linguistics. She has published extensively on various topics, including the syntax of noun phrases, the interpretation of pronouns, the temporal and aspectual properties of Romance and Germanic languages, Armenian syntax, and the linguistic expression of emotions. She has authored over 100 research articles in international journals and volumes. Her books include The Syntax of Noun Phrases, Cambridge University Press; Tense and Aspect, Oxford University Press; and About the Speaker, Oxford University Press.

Erika Petrocchi

Erika Petrocchi earned her PhD in Linguistics from Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, Italy, in 2022. She is a Postdoctoral Researcher at Ca’ Foscari and an Adjunct Professor of Linguistics at the University of Padua. Her main interests include multimodality in language, the syntax and pragmatics of expressive language, the syntax of Italian Sign Language, the analysis of linguistic gestures, and the interface between prosody and syntax.

Acknowledgements

Erika Petrocchi is supported by TheNextGenerationEU and the Italian Ministry of University and Research (MUR) as part of the PRIN Project CUP: H53D23004410006. The authors collaboratively developed all parts of this research; however, regarding legal responsibility, Alessandra Giorgi takes official responsibility for sections 1, 2, 3, 4 and 7. Erika Petrocchi takes official responsibility for sections 5 and 6. We thank the students who completed their internships under Alessandra Giorgi’s supervision and participated in this research: Ester Ferrari, Lisa Gavioli, Francesca Riosa, and Manuel Pittelli. We are grateful to our reviewers for their comments, to Alessandro Capone and the audience at Messina University for interesting discussions, and to Maria Teresa Guasti and Natale Stucchi for valuable insights and suggestions regarding the statistical analysis. All errors are, of course, our own.

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Published Online: 2025-12-16

Published in Print: 2025-11-25

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Keywords for this article

warning expressions; co-speech gestures; multimodality; imperatives; generative grammar; syntax