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Misunderstanding Textual Prominence

Ngo, Hood, Martin, Painter, Smith & Zappavigna (2022: 183, 184):

A paralinguistic beat can also give prominence to interpersonal meaning. The hand beat in image 5 of (17'') not only syncs with the final tonic segment form, but its low-falling trajectory is interpersonally ‘in tune with’ the major pitch contour of a falling tone 1 (see Chapters 3 and 5) – prominence is thus added to the meaning of this tone (here, providing information). 

Blogger Comments:

[1] To be clear, because the hand beat serves the same linguistic tonicity, it gives prominence to whatever metafunctional meaning it highlights as the New element of an information unit.

[2] To be clear, form is the tonic syllable, not the tonic segment. The tonic segment begins with the tonic foot and includes all subsequent feet in the tone group.

[3] To be clear, the direction of a beating gesture does not distinguish tones. For example, there is no rising beat for tone 2, no level beat for tone 3, no fall-rise beat for tone 4, and no rise-fall beat for tone 5. A downward movement is the default direction, regardless of the tone.

[4] This confuses the textual function of TONICITY with the interpersonal function of TONE. The choice of tonic prominence realises the choice of New information, whereas the choice of tone realises the choice of KEY for a given choice of MOOD. The choice of tonic gives prominence to an element of structure, not to the choice of tone.

[5] This confuses SPEECH FUNCTION (semantics) with KEY (lexicogrammar). 'Giving information' (statement) is SPEECH FUNCTION, and it is realised in the grammar by MOOD. The system of TONE, on the other hand, realises the system of KEY for a given MOOD.

Problems With The Authors' Analysis Of Hand Shape

 Ngo, Hood, Martin, Painter, Smith & Zappavigna (2022: 183-4):

In (17'') we present a sequence of images and descriptions of the lecturer’s paralanguage. …

In terms of size, the beat synchronous with the first tonic on (Foucault) and the last (form of power) extends the furthest, with the stroke of the latter extending maximally downwards from shoulder height. The final beat is also extended in duration as it is held beyond the completion of the tone group.

Variation in the shape of the beating hand is noted in image 4 and magnified in (17''') to reveal the co-instantiation of a depicted paralinguistic entity. In this instance the gestural beat synchronises with self; the pronoun refers anaphorically to the semiotic entity form of knowledge. The paralinguistic beat thus assigns textual prominence to an ideational meaning.

Blogger Comments:

[1] To be clear, this display does not present the text as spoken:

[2] To be clear, this distinction in the amplitude of the beat serves the same function as the distinction between tonic salient syllables and non-tonic salient syllables.

[3] To be clear, the location of the holding of the gesture suggests the function of the holding is demarcative.

[4] Clearly, the hand shape is not recognisable as meaning '(it)self' or 'form of knowledge', so it cannot be said to be realising this ideational meaning. 

[5] To be clear, it is the beat of linguistic gesture, not the hand shape, that gives rhythmic salience, highlighting what could have been chosen as realising the focus of New information, but was not. However, the fact that an emphatic pronoun was not given tonic prominence in this analysis, gives reason to doubt the accuracy of the analysis.

Exemplifying Cléirigh's Model Without Acknowledgement

Ngo, Hood, Martin, Painter, Smith & Zappavigna (2022: 183-4):

In (17'') we present a sequence of images and descriptions of the lecturer’s paralanguage. …

The sonovergent beats highlighted with arrows in (17'') are noteworthy in two respects. 

First, the hand beats are synchronous with each tonic syllable in (17'') and with some of its salient syllables – thereby amplifying the prominence of synchronous wording and the meaning they construe. 

Second, there are notable variations in the way they are expressed. They vary in relative size and duration of time held and in the orientation and shape of the beating hand.

Blogger Comments:

[1] As previously explained, the beating of gestures is not sonovergent paralanguage but language, which is why it is termed 'linguistic' in Cléirigh's model. It is language, not paralanguage, because it has the same function as prosodic phonology. Halliday (1989: 30):

[2] To be clear, this just exemplifies Cléirigh's model of linguistic body language, but the authors present their observation without acknowledgement of the fact. The plagiarism in this work is effected in myriad small steps.

[3] As is made clear in Cléirigh's model, it is only the actual beating of the gesture that serves this highlighting textual function. Features of the body part potentially serve different functions, protolinguistic or epilinguistic.

Problems With The Authors' Intonational Analysis

Ngo, Hood, Martin, Painter, Smith & Zappavigna (2022: 182):

In the unmarked case, salient syllables highlight content words (not grammatical ones) and assign a secondary degree of prominence to that information in the discourse. However, in (17) there are two marked instances where grammatical words are made salient: not in the second tone group and is in the third.

These marked choices give prominence to contrastive positions in the discourse (in this case, that which is and is not knowledge). In the first two tone groups the tonic syllables (in bold) carry tone 4 pitch contours. This falling-rising tone movement indicates pending meaning. The tone 1 of the third tone group signals completion.

Blogger Comments:

To be clear, with regard to TONE, it is tone 3 that serves this textual function (Halliday & Matthiessen 2014: 440), and it is likely that the speaker selected tone 3, not tone 4. Tone 4 would be unlikely here because it would realise 'reservation' in terms of KEY, which is inconsistent the proposition being enacted. The fall-rise of tone 4 signals 'seems certain (fall) but isn't (rise)'.

In terms of TONALITY and TONICITY, it is likely that the second tone group actually consists of two tone groups, with the first tonic on not, to mark the contrast as New information for the student audience.

Misrepresenting Halliday On Theme

Ngo, Hood, Martin, Painter, Smith & Zappavigna (2022: 181-2):

As outlined by Halliday (1967, 1970a), English grammar and phonology structure textual meaning as waves of information. One peak of prominence is realised grammatically through Theme at the beginning of an English clause. It functions as the point of departure for the message by encoding an angle on the field. A complementary peak of prominence, termed New, is realised phonologically in the unmarked case through the major pitch movement on the final salient syllable of a tone group – its Tonic segment (Halliday, 1970a; Martin and Rose, [2003] 2007: 189–92). A secondary peak of informational prominence is realised through a salient syllable, which in SFL notation begins each foot. As noted in Chapter 3, Section 3.6, a salient syllable can be made super-salient where there is a significant jump in pitch, usually upwards, which does not involve a choice of tone. Super-salience is indicated via a vertical arrow, ‘↑’, before the syllable.

Blogger Comments:

[1] To be clear, the notion of the textual meaning of a clause as a wave of prominence is first set out in Halliday (1985: 169).

[2] To be clear, the Theme functions as the point of departure for the clause as message. Halliday & Matthiessen (2014: 89):

The Theme is the element that serves as the point of departure of the message; it is that which locates and orients the clause within its context. The speaker chooses the Theme as his or her point of departure to guide the addressee in developing an interpretation of the message; by making part of the message prominent as Theme, the speaker enables the addressee to process the message.

Field, on the other hand, is the ideational dimension of context — two strata above lexicogrammar — which Martin (1992) misunderstands as register.

[3] To be clear, the New is peak of prominence of the information unit, which may or may not be co-extensive with the clause.

[4] This is misleading, because it credits Martin and Rose with theorising that is entirely Halliday's.

[5] To be clear, a salient syllable is a peak of phonological (rhythmic), not informational prominence. Here the authors confuse expression with content. Each salient syllable that is non-tonic realises what was not selected as the Focus of New information.

Crediting Martin With The Ideas Of Others

Ngo, Hood, Martin, Painter, Smith & Zappavigna (2022: 179):

In this section we introduce two additional paralinguistic systems – PARALINGUISTIC RHYTHM and PARALINGUISTIC PERIODICITY. PARALINGUISTIC RHYTHM deals with the sonovergent synchronicity of paralanguage with waves of sound in the prosodic phonology of speech. PARALINGUISTIC PERIODICITY deals with the semovergent coordination of paralanguage with waves of information in unfolding discourse. The metaphor of ‘waves’ references the peaks and troughs of textual prominence as texts unfold (Martin, 1992; Martin and Rose, [2003] 2007: 189).

Blogger Comments:

[1] To be clear, the rhythm of body language serves the same function as the rhythm of speech, just through different body parts. Because of this, it is language, not paralanguage, which why it is termed 'linguistic' body language in Cléirigh's model. Consequently, because it is not paralanguage, it is also not 'sonovergent'.

[2] This is misleading because it misrepresents the source of these ideas as Martin ± Rose. In truth, Halliday (1985: 169) draws on Pike's (1959) triad of 'language as particle, wave and field’:

The textual meaning of the clause is expressed by what is put first (the Theme); by what is phonologically prominent (and tends to be put last – the New, signalled by information focus); and by conjunctions and relatives which if present must occur in initial position. Thus it forms a wave-like pattern of periodicity that is set up by peaks of prominence and boundary markers.

Misleading Claims About The Model Of Paralinguistic Deixis

Ngo, Hood, Martin, Painter, Smith & Zappavigna (2022: 178-9):

The discussion of textual semovergence to this point explores the cooperation of language and paralanguage as they keep track of people, things and places in the flow of discourse. PARALINGUISTIC DEIXIS is realised through an embodied vector which directs a viewer’s gaze to either [actual] or [virtual] phenomena. … As vectors, the expressions of PARALINGUISTIC DEIXIS direct students’ gaze, and thus their attention, to particular [actual] and [virtual] phenomena.

 

Blogger Comments:

[1] This is misleading because it is untrue. As the review of this chapter has so far demonstrated, the authors have not illustrated that body language "keeps track" of 'people, things and places in the flow of discourse'. This is merely Martin's characterisation of his system of IDENTIFICATION. Interestingly, the body language data included instances of endophoric reference, which functions cohesively within body language, but the authors don't recognise the distinction between exophoric and endophoric reference in their system of PARALINGUISTIC DEIXIS.

Moreover, as has also been demonstrated, the authors' system of PARALINGUISTIC DEIXIS is not a system of DEIXIS, because it does not make distinctions by reference to the here-&-now of the gesturer.

[2] To be clear, such a gesture would not signal that an identity is recoverable, and so would not serve a reference (identification) function. However, it was demonstrated that the DEIXIS feature 'virtual' only arises from the authors' misunderstandings. For example, of the' first two instances of virtual DEIXIS, the gesture in the first was not deictic in function, and the gesture in the second was not "unresolved".

Problems With The Authors' Analysis Of The Interaction Of Paralinguistic Deixis And Graduation

Ngo, Hood, Martin, Painter, Smith & Zappavigna (2022: 177-8):

The potential for a deictic gesture to be expressed simultaneously with one or more gestural realisations from other paralinguistic systems was noted in the introduction to this chapter. This is further exemplified in (16) where we zero in once again on the example discussed as (8) and (15) earlier.

In (16) the focus of attention is the deictic gesture realising [virtual:location]. In this instance the realisation of [home] converges with the verbal expression of time – today. The pinching of the thumb and index finger in image 1 selects [narrow] from the SCOPE system – but simultaneously expresses interpersonal semovergence in selecting [sharpen] in PARALINGUISTIC FOCUS (see Figure 5.14 on PARALINGUISTIC GRADUATION; Hao and Hood, 2019). Interpersonally the expression flags maximum exactitude or precision, in this instance flagging definitiveness in relation to the claim you told me today.

Upscaled PARALINGUISTIC FORCE is also enacted through the marked muscle tension involved in the pinching point in image 1 in (16) and a forceful long downward trajectory of forearm and hand indicated by the arrow in image 2 in (16). Here the systems of PARALINGUISTIC DEIXIS and PARALINGUISTIC GRADUATION interact to invoke the significance of the claim.

Blogger Comments:

[1] See the previous post. The gesture makes reference to a spatial location symbolising a temporal location, and 'narrow' is a feature of the expression (hand shape) not the content ("deixis").

[2] To be clear, 'sharp' describes the hand shape (expression), not its function (content). The claim that the finger pointing graduates an appraisal in terms of exactitude, precision or definitiveness is a bare assertion unsupported by evidence (the ipse dixit fallacy). Moreover, if the meaning to be recovered is 'today', then there is no appraisal made by the gesture, and so no graduation of an appraisal.

If, on the other hand, the gesture is interpreted as making reference to the addressee in the speaker's quoted text, then it could be interpreted as an accusatory JUDGEMENT. But this is not the authors' interpretation.

[3] To be clear, as the authors have previously acknowledged, the forceful downward beat coincides with the tonic prominence on today, which highlights it as the Focus of New information. That is, the beat of the gesture functions linguistically ("sonovergently") and textually ('significance'), not epilinguistically ("semovergently") and interpersonally (graduated appraisal).

Problems With The Authors' Scope And Demarcation Analysis

Ngo, Hood, Martin, Painter, Smith & Zappavigna (2022: 176-7):

In example (15) the PARALINGUISTIC DEIXIS identifies time as [virtual:location] and selects for both SCOPE and DEMARCATION. 

In image 1 in (15), the ‘pinch’ point of left thumb and index finger selects for SCOPE as [narrow], as does the left index finger point in image 2. Both these vectors contrast with the right-hand vector in image 2 where an open palm with spread fingers and thumb configures SCOPE as relatively [broad]. The narrow pinch point in image 1 syncs sonovergently with today and semovergently with the meaning of the narrowly defined time reference. The relatively broad righthand point in image 2 syncs sonovergently with future and semovergently with the relatively open time reference. 

The PARALINGUISTIC DEIXIS in (15) also selects for DEMARCATION as [delineation]. In the second image, the left index finger extends outwards from the body, sustaining its semovergence with today. The left index finger delineates a boundary line, a [virtual:location] from which time stretches into the future, the [virtual:location] identified to the right. Our data suggest that the selection of [virtual:semiotic], whether [prospective] or [retrospective], does not select for either relative SCOPE or DEMARCATION.

Blogger Comments:

[1] As previously explained, this is an example of using body language to make endophoric reference, with the left-right dimension of interpersonal space ideationally construing the past-future dimension of interpersonal time, and the pointing gesture signalling that the meanings 'present' and 'future' are recoverable from those construals by body language. Again, the vector is "resolved" and so the "deixis" is not virtual.

[2] To be be clear, selecting features from systems is the process of instantiation, and it is not a (more inclusive) system that does the selecting.

[3] To be clear, gestures don't instantiate ('select') content plane features, they realise them. That is, the authors here confuse interstratal realisation with system instantiation.

[4] To be clear, it is the expression (hand shape) that is broad or narrow, not the content. As previously explained, on the authors' model, this hand shape realises the ENGAGEMENT feature 'expansion'.

[5] To be clear, the timing of the gesture is linguistic and textual, because, like the tonic, it realises the focus of New information, in this case: today and future.

[6] To be clear, the gesture points to a spatial location that symbolises a temporal location. Any location can be construed as a boundary between other locations, but there is no evidence here that the gesture construes the location as a boundary. This is a case of making the data fit the theory instead of using the theory to account for the data.

Problems With The Deixis Feature 'Tracing'

Ngo, Hood, Martin, Painter, Smith & Zappavigna (2022: 176):

The feature [tracing] is realised through a dynamic vector which identifies a part or quality (e.g. shape) of an entity through movement. In (14), a biochemistry lecturer is describing the structure of a water molecule. He traces with his index finger a 90° angle on a projected image of the atoms which compose a water molecule. The tracing motion is shown in arrows in the three sequential images as his index finger moves from right to left and then down. This movement is retraced multiple times in sync with the duration of underlined wordings. The retracing is interrupted in sync with the verbal reset (I’m sorry).

Blogger Comments:

[1] To be clear, the feature 'tracing' is not deictic, because it does not make distinctions by reference to the here-&-now of the speaker/gesturer. Moreover, it is not a feature of the content plane, since like its realisation statement 'insert motion', it characterises the expression that realises content.

[2] To be clear, this gesturing makes a sequence of references that are exophoric to paralanguage. The efficacy of this type of body language diminishes rapidly with distance between the gesture and the referent.

Misconstruing Endophoric Reference As Ideation

Ngo, Hood, Martin, Painter, Smith & Zappavigna (2022: 175-6):

It is important to note here the similarity between the expressions of PARALINGUISTIC DEIXIS in (12) and some depictions of ideational entities realising PARALINGUISTIC IDEATION (see Chapter 4; Hood and Hao, 2021). The difference is illustrated in the two images in (13).

In image 1 the teacher delineates an [actual] entity – a written text. The expression syncs with the verbal specific determiner this in We need some sentences that link this. 

In image 2 the teacher sculpts a paralinguistic entity with her left hand in the gestural space. This expression syncs with the figure How does that sentence link back to the first one?. The semiotic entity realised in sentence in image 2 is depicted (Chapter 4) rather than pointed to.

Blogger Comments:

[1] To be clear, the more likely tone for the WH- interrogative clause is tone 1. Tone 2 here would realise 'tentative' KEY, and there is nothing to suggest that this question from the teacher to her class is tentative.

[2] To be clear, in the first image, the referent of the gesture exophoric to paralanguage is the same referent as that of the exophoric demonstrative this in the spoken language.

[3] To be clear, here the authors misinterpret a gesture that realises a reference endophoric to paralanguage as a gesture that realises ideational meaning: an element ('entity') of a figure. Clearly, the gesture does not construe the meaning 'sentence'. Rather, here the teacher repeats the same gesture she previously used to point to a specific sentence in the written text. In doing so, her gesture makes anaphoric reference to her previous gesture to identify that sentence.

Interestingly, the speaker uses the word that to make exophoric reference to a referent outside language, while her gesture makes endophoric reference to a referent inside paralanguage, though the referent is the same in each case.

Why A Delineating Demarcation Gesture Is Neither Deictic Nor Delineating [2]

Ngo, Hood, Martin, Painter, Smith & Zappavigna (2022: 175, 172):

Elsewhere in the data we find a [delineating] vector configuring boundaries with a bent finger and thumb – as in example (12). In both images the [delineating] DEIXIS identifies segments of a projected written text. (See also example (8).)

Blogger Comments:

[1] As before, this gesture does not serve a deictic function because it does not realise a distinction in relation to the here-&-now of the speaker/gesturer. And, in terms of IDENTIFICATION, the meaning recoverable from the exophoric reference realised by each gesture is simply the meaning realised by the segment of writing in the environment of body language, not the physical boundaries of its realisation.

[2] To be clear, neither this type of gesture nor its meaning is illustrated in (8):

Why A Delineating Demarcation Gesture Is Neither Deictic Nor Delineating [1]

Ngo, Hood, Martin, Painter, Smith & Zappavigna (2022: 174-5):

The feature [delineating] is realised through an embodied vector that configures one or more borders – as in example (11). The image shows a number of lists of thematic categories on the whiteboard. In sync with the underlining in language, the teacher’s left hand is angled at the wrist with fingers straightened to configure PARALINGUISTIC DEIXIS as [delineating]. She is identifying the border between the category heading work and the related list of words underneath.

Blogger Comments:

[1] As before, this gesture does not serve a deictic function because it does not realise a distinction in relation to the here-&-now of the speaker/gesturer.

[2] To be clear, the meaning recoverable from the exophoric reference realised by this gesture is the vertical list of words 'related to the Theme of work'. The actual division between the title and the list of words is irrelevant to the meaning made in the speaker's text, so drawing attention to it with a gesture would serve no purpose.

Misrepresenting The Relative Size Of Referents As Deixis

Ngo, Hood, Martin, Painter, Smith & Zappavigna (2022: 174):

The three images in (10) show variations in SCOPE of paralinguistic deixis through vectors expressed with hand or fingers. SCOPE varies from relatively [broad] via the palm of the hand in image 1, to relatively [narrow] via an index finger in image 2, to maximally [narrow] via a little finger in image 3.

Blogger Comments:

To be clear, these gestures make exophoric reference to metaphenomena in the environment of the paralanguage through physical contact. The identity that recoverable from the different finger gestures in the second and third images is a written word [narrow], whereas the identity that recoverable from the splayed hand gesture is a written paragraph [broad]. The efficacy of the latter gesture diminishes rapidly with distance between the gesture and the referent. Again, 'broad' and 'narrow' are features that distinguish the size of referents. They are not deictic in function because they do not make distinctions with regard to the here-&-now of the speaker/gesturer.

Confusing Reference With Engagement

Ngo, Hood, Martin, Painter, Smith & Zappavigna (2022: 173-4):

In (9), from our cultural studies lecture, the lecturer is eliciting responses from students in relation to a projected orientalist image.

In the first image in (9), the lecturer verbally refers non-specifically to any student as a potential respondent (anyone). In paralanguage synchronous with underlined spoken language she extends both forearms with supine hands in front of her body – angling them outwards at roughly 45°. The deictic gestures select for relatively [broad] in SCOPE – the two diverging vectors effectively identify the whole class. 

In the second image, synchronous with the lexical construal of a location in up the back, the lecturer points with an index finger, narrowing the SCOPE of identification to a specific student.

Blogger Comments:

[1] To be clear, anyone has no reference function because it does not signal that a specific identity is recoverable elsewhere. Non-specific determiners like any do not function as reference items (Halliday & Matthiessen (2014: 365).

[2] To be clear, in the first image, these are not pointing gestures, which is consistent with the absence of reference in the language it accompanies. Instead, on the authors' own model, the supine hands realise the engagement feature 'expansion', acknowledging other voices, which is consistent with the instantiation of the engagement feature 'expansion' in the language it accompanies.

[3] To be clear, if the gesture is interpreted as pointing to the whole class, then the feature 'broad' describes the referent, the class.

[4] To be clear, in the second image, the gesture simply makes exophoric reference to the environment of the paralanguage: to a student remote from the speaker.

Problems With The 'Deictic' Systems Of Range: Scope And Demarcation

Ngo, Hood, Martin, Painter, Smith & Zappavigna (2022: 173, 169):

To the partial system network of PARALINGUISTIC DEIXIS presented in Figure 6.2 we now add a simultaneous system of RANGE in Figure 6.3. …

RANGE itself involves choices in two simultaneous systems, SCOPE and DEMARCATION. SCOPE concerns the relative mass (volume or quantity) of phenomena identified in an expression of PARALINGUISTIC DEIXIS. The slanted square bracket indicates a graded (rather than an either/or) system – a pointing gesture can be relatively [narrow] or [broad] in SCOPE.

The selection of SCOPE as relatively [narrow] or [broad] can support the identification of the quantity or volume of entities encompassed in a deictic gesture – for example, as a single entity among others or as an entire group of entities.

Blogger Comments:

As previously explained for Figure 6.2, the upper network is not a system of DEIXIS, but a classification of referents in the environment of body language. Some of the referents are distinguished in terms of deixis (self vs other, 'home' vs 'away'), but most are not (actual vs virtual, semiosis vs location, retrospective vs prospective). Moreover, the network presents referents as realised by the gestures that point to them (cf. referent 'dog' realised by reference item 'this'), and in four cases, referents are realised by the insertion (+) of a pointing gesture into some unacknowledged structure. And in one case, the feature 'virtual', the referent is realised by the structural insertion of a gesture that does not point to it (+ unresolved vector).

Of the extensions to Figure 6.2 in Figure 6.3, the system of SCOPE is also not a system of DEIXIS, but a classification of referents — their scope — in the environment of body language (see also the following post). On the other hand, the system of DEMARCATION is not a system of DEIXIS, because deixis is concerned with distinctions in relation to the speaker, whereas demarcation is not. And the feature 'tracing' is said to be realised by the insertion (+) of motion into some unacknowledged structure.

Confusing Endophoric Reference With Information Focus

Ngo, Hood, Martin, Painter, Smith & Zappavigna (2022: 172):

Opposing features of [home] and [away] are illustrated in the two images in (8).

In the first image, synchronous with today, the lecturer’s pinched left thumb and index finger configures a vector pointing down in front of the lecturer’s body, in an expression of [home]. 

In the second image, synchronous with future, the right hand and forearm extend from the body pointing to a location to the right, expressing [away]. 

The second image additionally shows the left index finger pointing outwards from the body and slightly to the speaker’s left. The completion of this point synchronises with the completion of that to the right. The simultaneity of the two points delineates a space between present and future – a critical issue with respect to questions of fact or opinion.

Blogger Comments:

[1] To be clear, the timing of the gesture is linguistic and textual, because, like the tonic, it realises the focus of New information, in this case: today and future.

[2] To be clear, this is another example of using body language to make endophoric reference.  In this instance, the left-right dimension represents the past-future dimension of interpersonal time (Halliday & Matthiessen 2014: 332), and the pointing gesture signals that the meanings 'present' and 'future' are recoverable from those construals by body language. Again, the vector is "resolved" and so the "deixis" is not virtual.

[3] To be clear, the timing of gestures does not have a referential function, because the timing does not point to a referent that can recover the identity of the timing. The timing may have demarcative function ('completion'), but demarcation is not reference.

Moreover, 'same time' does not delineate the time interval between 'present' and 'future', if only because 'same time' can be located in the present, in the future, and at every location in between.

Reference Endophoric To Body Language [2]

Ngo, Hood, Martin, Painter, Smith & Zappavigna (2022: 171-2, 166):

The selection [virtual:location] is also realised paralinguistically through an unresolved vector. The more delicate choice [home] is realised by identifying a space occupied by the speaker; and the opposing choice [away] is realised by pointing to a space other than the space occupied by the speaker (Figure 6.2). 

Paralinguistic expressions of [home] and [away] can converge with the identification of both time and space in verbal discourse. The feature [home] can accordingly converge with both ‘here’ and ‘now’. As noted by Calbris (2011: 128), past time may be pointed to as a location behind a speaker. Where the past is expressed in language in relation to the future, synchronous paralinguistic deixis typically points to a space to the left of the speaker then to the right.

Blogger Comments:

[1] To be clear, to claim that a pointing gesture that identifies a location in space is an "unresolved" vector is self-contradiction, since the vector is "resolved" by the location that it points to. So, in such instances, the deixis is not virtual.

[2] As previously explained, Figure 6.2 is not a system of DEIXIS, but a classification of referents in the environment of body language. Some of the referents are distinguished in terms of deixis (self vs other, 'home' vs 'away'), but most are not (actual vs virtual, semiosis vs location, retrospective vs prospective). Moreover, the network presents referents as realised by the gestures that point to them (cf. referent 'dog' realised by reference item 'this'), and in four cases, referents are realised by the insertion (+) of a pointing gesture into some unacknowledged structure. And in one case, the feature 'virtual', the referent is realised by the structural insertion of a gesture that does not point to it (+ unresolved vector).

[3] To be clear, this is another example of using body language to make endophoric reference. In the previous example, material elements of outer experience (mouth, temple) ideationally construe semiotic elements of inner experience (word, encode), and the pointing gesture signals that those meanings are recoverable from those construals by body language. In this example, the left-right dimension of interpersonal space ideationally construes the past-future dimension of interpersonal time (Halliday & Matthiessen 2014: 144, 332), and the pointing gesture signals that those meanings are recoverable from those construals by body language. Again, the vector is "resolved" and so the "deixis" is not virtual.

Resolving An "Unresolved" Vector

Ngo, Hood, Martin, Painter, Smith & Zappavigna (2022: 170-1):

The selection [virtual:semiosis:prospective] is realised through a release vector (cf. Arnheim, 1982) – that is, an unresolved vector in which an arm is directed up and away to an ‘unoccupied’ space (typically to the speaker’s left). In example (7) an academic writing teacher is guiding students to jointly edit a draft of a text on the topic of changing work practices.

 

In the first image of (7) the teacher’s point is to an [actual: other], a space between wordings on the projected text, in sync with a pause in speech. In the second image, she again points to an [actual:other], this time a sequence of words that precede the previously identified space. This syncs with they could work at home and have flexible time. 

In the third, she proposes wording that could improve the draft – However, yeah, there are a number of disadvantages or serious disadvantages. In sync with the proposed wording she extends her left arm and hand, pointing up and away to her left instantiating a release vector that realises [virtual:semiosis:prospective].

Blogger Comments:

To be clear, here the teacher is pointing to the portion of text to be edited, so the vector is not "unresolved", and so, in the authors' terms, the deixis is actual, not virtual.

Confusing Demarcation With Deixis

Ngo, Hood, Martin, Painter, Smith & Zappavigna (2022: 168-70):

Paralinguistically, a [virtual:semiosis] entity may be identified either retrospectively or prospectively through an unresolved embodied vector. In a number of instances in the data the selection [virtual:semiosis:retrospective] is realised through a gestural flick – a small, fleeting vertically directed vector expressed with an index finger or hand (body parts that facilitate speed of movement). The flick gesture synchronises with a silent beat (^) which marks a juncture (e.g. a phase or stage boundary) in the flow of meaning in a text. The deictic gesture identifies a preceding segment of text (a semiotic entity), one that bears a logical connection to the coming phase or stage of discourse. The subsequent text is frequently initiated with an internal connector such as so.

Example (5) shows one such instance from the data. … Following presentation of a phase of argument from the airline’s legal counsel, the plaintiff’s argument is introduced in (5). As the phonological transcription reveals, the vertical flick syncs with a silent beat (^) preceding the commencement of the last tone group, which begins with the internal connector so.

In (6) the first image captures the conclusion of Edmonds’s argument everything’s mucked up. Image 2 shows the vertical flick (circled), realised in sync with the culminative silent beat (^). It retrospectively identifies the preceding semiotic entity – in this case a stage of the storytelling in which both parties (British Airways and Edmonds) put their arguments to the court. The conclusion of that stage converges with the lecturer closing his eyes and dropping his head. In image 3 the lecturer reorients his body to his left in sync with the internal connector so as he commences a new stage of the lecture in which he discusses the logic of the preceding arguments.

Blogger Comments:

[1] To be clear, the timing of the gesture with a pause between a quote and a non-quote might be taken as evidence that the function of the gesture is demarcation (punctuating text) rather than deixis (pointing with respect to the speaker).

[2] To be clear, the authors provide no evidence in support of this claim. It would seem that the authors have given priority to the view 'from below' rather than the view 'from above': that is, since the gesture resembles pointing, it must have a deictic function, therefore it must refer back to the previous text.

Problems With Virtual Paralinguistic Deixis

Ngo, Hood, Martin, Painter, Smith & Zappavigna (2022: 168):

In PARALINGUISTIC DEIXIS the selection of [virtual] is realised through an unresolved vector, that is, one that does not direct a viewer’s gaze to a materially present phenomenon (Figure 6.3). Here a primary distinction in the recoverability of phenomena is made between [virtual:semiosis] and [virtual:location].

Blogger Comments:

[1] To be clear, a gesture that does not direct a viewer's gaze is not deictic, since nothing is related to the here-&-now of the gesturer, and not reference, since it does not signal where an identity is recoverable. It will be seen that of the authors' two examples, the gesture in the first is not deictic, and the gesture in the second is not "unresolved".

[2] To be clear, the features 'semiosis' and 'location' distinguish referents. They do not distinguish the means of referring to them.

Reference Endophoric To Body Language [1]

Ngo, Hood, Martin, Painter, Smith & Zappavigna (2022: 168):

In example (4), a biochemistry lecturer instructs students to take note of and remember a key technical term, saying and that’s a word you should encode. Synchronous with word he points to his mouth (locating the source of words), and synchronous with encode he points to his head (as the location of memory).

Blogger Comments:

To be clear, these are instances of using body language to make endophoric reference. Here material elements of outer experience (mouth, temple) ideationally construe semiotic elements of inner experience (word, encode), and the pointing gesture signals that those meanings are recoverable from those construals by body language.

Exophoric Reference To The Previous Speaker

Ngo, Hood, Martin, Painter, Smith & Zappavigna (2022: 167-8):

Note that when a speaker points to an [actual] entity in the shared material space, that entity may in fact relate indirectly to one referenced in language. Examples are presented in (3) and (4). 

In (3) an academic writing teacher has elicited suggestions from students on approaches to self-editing their work. Following a discussion of a contribution from a particular student the teacher remarks – so using that approach is I think a great idea. The verbal text endophorically tracks to the semiotic entity approach through the specific determiner that while the synchronous paralanguage points to a thing entity – a student, the student who was the source of the suggested approach.

Blogger Comments:

To be clear, the demonstrative reference item that is endophoric to language, indicating that an identity is recoverable from inside preceding text, whereas the pointing gesture is exophoric to body language, indicating that an identity is recoverable from the environment of the gesturing.

Problems With The Authors' Analysis Of 'Actual' Paralinguistic Deixis

Ngo, Hood, Martin, Painter, Smith & Zappavigna (2022: 166, 167): 

Example (2) illustrates contrasting instances accompanying the verbal text you’re wearing a stripy shirt – explain this image to me. In each of the three frames a resolved vector is expressed with a hand or index finger point. …  In the first two frames the point is directed outwards selecting [other], first to a student and then to a projected image. In the third it is directed back to the lecturer, selecting [self].

Each of the entities identified through deictic paralanguage in (2) is also tracked exophorically in the spoken text – to a student (you), to a thing (this image) and to the lecturer herself (me). However, as revealed in the first two images in (2), the resolution of the paralinguistic vector does not sync sonovergently with the verbal expressions of identification (i.e. you and this) but rather with the underlined lexis realising relevant entities – specifically the stripy quality of a student’s clothing and the thing entity image. 

In the third image the PARALINGUISTIC DEIXIS is synchronous with the presuming pronoun me which identifies the entity (lecturer). In this instance me is not salient as might be expected. 

This is accounted for in that the synchronous deictic gesture in image 3 is part of a gestural flow that begins on ‘explain’ and culminates with the completion of the tone group – in this case a tail that follows the tonic. The gestural movement maps the flow of information from ‘about what’ to ‘to whom’.

Blogger Comments:

[1] To be clear, the selection of the features 'other' and 'self' is instantiation. The relation between a pointing gesture and these features is realisation.

[2] To be clear, these three pointing gestures are exophoric to the environment of paralanguage. The features 'other' and 'self', on the other hand, distinguish the referents in the environment of paralanguage (in terms of deixis), not the paralinguistic means of referring to them.

[3] To be clear, this confuses two distinct textual functions of body language: reference and salience. The function of the pointing gesture is reference, and this is a feature of epilinguistic body language, as demonstrated by the fact that members of other species, such as rainbow lorikeets, do not respond to them as meaningful. The function of the timing of the beat of a gesture with speech is salience, and it is a feature of linguistic body language because it serves the same function as the beats of speech rhythm.

The direction of the pointing gestures identifies the referents (you, image), whereas the timing of the beat of the gestures highlights elements as salient (stripy, image), both of which, despite the authors' phonological analysis, are likely to be tonic, with each realising a focus of New information.

[4] To be clear, if the pointing gesture is timed to beat with me, it highlights me as salient. This suggests that the phonological analysis mistakes a salient syllable for a non-salient one. A more congruent rhythm would be:

// 1 ‸ex/plain this / image to / me // 

[5] To be clear, this gallant attempt does not account for the supposed lack of salience, since a lack of salience has to be explained in terms the function of salience — to highlight a potential focus of information — which the authors' account does not do. 

Why The Model Of Paralinguistic Deixis Is Theoretically Invalid

Ngo, Hood, Martin, Painter, Smith & Zappavigna (2022: 166):

Key PARALINGUISTIC DEIXIS options are outlined in Figure 6.2 and illustrated in the following sections.

As modelled in Figure 6.2, PARALINGUISTIC DEIXIS identifying an [actual] person, thing or place opens up a further choice of [self] or [other]. The feature [self] is realised through an embodied vector directed inwards towards to the speaker’s body and [other] through a vector directed outwards from the body.

 

Blogger Comments:

To be clear, Figure 6.2 is not a system of DEIXIS, but a classification of referents in the environment of body language. Some of the referents are distinguished in terms of deixis (self vs other, 'home' vs 'away'), but most are not (actual vs virtual, semiosis vs location, retrospective vs prospective). These inconsistencies alone invalidate the authors' model of PARALINGUISTIC DEIXIS.

Moreover, the network presents referents as realised by the gestures that point to them (cf. referent 'dog' realised by reference item 'this'), and in four cases, referents are realised by the insertion (+) of a pointing gesture into some unacknowledged structure. And in one case, the feature 'virtual', the referent is realised by the structural insertion of a gesture that does not point to it (+ unresolved vector).

On the other hand, this network does model paralanguage as content and expression, so it is both content and expression that are convergent with the content of language (as in Chapter 5, but not in Chapter 4).

The Confusion That Invalidates The Authors' Model Of Paralinguistic Identification/Deixis

Ngo, Hood, Martin, Painter, Smith & Zappavigna (2022: 165):

In spoken language a primary distinction is made between the recoverability of entities from assumed shared knowledge (homophora) and from the immediately present situation (Figure 6.1). If the latter, then recovery is either from within the text (endophora) or from outside the text (exophora). In paralanguage on the other hand, options for the recoverability of entities in discourse primarily distinguish between the feature [actual] realised through a resolved vector that is directed to visibly or sensibly (as if) present phenomena, and the feature [virtual] realised through an unresolved vector – that is, one that cannot be situationally resolved.

Blogger Comments:

[1] This misrepresents the source of this theorising, Halliday & Hasan (1976: 33):

That is, exophoric reference is situational, whereas endophoric reference is textual, as the prefixes make plain. By the same token, homophoric reference is self-specifying.

[2] This is misleading because it is untrue. As the preceding post explained, textual epilinguistic body language also distinguishes between endophoric and exophoric reference. The features 'actual' and 'virtual', on the other hand, are not types of reference, but classifications of referents. It will be seen that the authors' system of PARALINGUISTIC DEIXIS is organised on the basis of this confusion, which thereby invalidates their model.

[3] In mathematics, a vector is a quantity with both magnitude (length) and direction, and a resolved vector is one that has been broken down into smaller component vectors; so an unresolved vector is one that has not been broken down into smaller component vectors. For the authors, however, 'vector' just means the direction of the pointing gesture, and its resolution is the identification of what is indicated by the pointing gesture, the referent.

[4] To be clear, if the referent of a pointing gesture (vector) is not identifiable, then the pointing gesture does not serve a reference function.

Not Recognising The Distinction Between Exophoric vs Endophoric Reference In Body Language

Ngo, Hood, Martin, Painter, Smith & Zappavigna (2022: 164, 165):

Fundamental to the expression of identification is the formation of a vector that indicates some direction for an observer’s eye to follow. … A further point of discussion relates to the directionality of embodied vectors, in particular the contrast between pointing to something present in the physical environment or something not present (e.g. Kendon, 2004: 200). 

Observations of pointing in storytelling (e.g. Gullberg, 1998; Haviland, 2000) note that when characters (entities) or events (occurrences) are construed in a particular position in the gesturing space they may later be identified by pointing to that space. 

This strategy is also widely recognised in sign language literature. Johnston (1989: 145), for example, notes how signers ‘place imaginary persons or objects into the “scene of action” ’. Once established they may be ‘referred to as if they were actually in the assigned locations’. While no instances of this kind were identified in our data, we concur with Johnston’s interpretation. 

Where a paralinguistic entity or occurrence is first depicted in a space and that space is later pointed to, this is taken as an instance of identifying actual (as if present) phenomena.

Blogger Comments:

To be clear, the basic distinction in reference is between exophora and endophora. Applied to paralanguage (epilinguistic body language), this is the distinction between reference to the environment of paralanguage and reference to within paralanguage, respectively. 

As will be seen, most body language reference is exophoric: pointing to something present in the environment of body language. But body language reference is endophoric: anaphoric when it refers back to a meaning previously ideationally construed in body language, as in the storytelling case above (Sign is language, not paralanguage).

Misrepresenting Paralinguistic Deixis And The Problem With Presuming Reference

 Ngo, Hood, Martin, Painter, Smith & Zappavigna (2022: 162-3):

The management of information flow in discourse is supported by the system of textual semovergence we refer to as PARALINGUISTIC DEIXIS. Here the focus is on how paralanguage supports the introduction of people, things and places into texts and keeps track of them once there (Martin, 1992: 95). This section begins with a brief overview of the linguistic system of IDENTIFICATION. … 

The IDENTIFICATION system in English discourse semantics draws a basic distinction between presenting reference, which introduces entities in discourse, and presuming reference, which tracks them once there. …

The types of entities (Hao, 2020a) introduced by presenting reference include people (anyone), concrete thing entities (a stripy shirt, a beautiful green scarf) and semiotic entities (some of the key things, what kind of sense, what feeling, an idea). The linguistic resources deployed include non-specific determiners (e.g. a, an, some), an indefinite nominal group (anyone) and several instances of a ‘wh’ entity (what). …

Proper names also function as presuming reference.

 

Blogger Comments:

[1] To be clear, this 'presuming reference' is Martin's rebranding of anaphoric reference (Halliday & Hasan 1976). It will be seen in later posts that the reference in the system of PARALINGUISTIC DEIXIS is exophoric, not endophoric, and so does not "support" keeping track of people, things and places 'once there' in the text.

[2] To be clear, the notion of 'presenting reference' (Martin 1992) confuses referents with reference items (his, that etc.). It arises from confusing 'reference' as textual meaning with 'reference' as the ideational meaning of lexical items. Halliday & Hasan (1976: 33):

[3] To be clear, none of these resources indicate a recoverable identity elsewhere, so none of them function as reference items.

Foreshadowing Problems With 'Textual Paralanguage'

Ngo, Hood, Martin, Painter, Smith & Zappavigna (2022: 161):

This chapter adopts a textual perspective on embodied meaning-making. It deals with the way paralanguage cooperates with spoken language in the management of information flow – how it keeps track of entities in discourse and how it composes waves of ideational and interpersonal meaning (Martin, 1992; Martin and Rose, [2003] 2007). Two linguistic discourse semantic systems are involved: IDENTIFICATION and PERIODICITY. IDENTIFICATION has to do with the resources for introducing and tracking entities. PERIODICITY, as the term implies, has to do with resources for structuring waves of information in discourse. The discourse semantic systems are introduced in turn, together with the related paralinguistic systems that model the potential for convergence with language, those of PARALINGUISTIC DEIXIS and PARALINGUISTIC PERIODICITY.

 

Blogger Comments:

[1] For the theoretical problems with these discourse semantic systems in these two publications, see

• identification (Martin 1992)
• identification (Martin and Rose 2007)
• texture (Martin 1992)
• periodicity (Martin and Rose 2007).

[2] To be clear, Martin's discourse semantic system of IDENTIFICATION is his rebranding of the lexicogrammatical system of cohesive REFERENCE (Halliday & Hasan 1976) in which he confuses reference with deixis and ideational denotation (e.g. 'introducing entities'). It will be seen in the review of this chapter that the confusion of reference with deixis is the basis of the IDENTIFICATION (REFERENCE) system of PARALINGUISTIC DEIXIS.

[3] To be clear, Martin's discourse semantic system of PERIODICITY is his rebranding of writing pedagogy as linguistic theory, in which 'introductory paragraph' is rebranded 'macro-Theme', 'topic sentence' is rebranded 'hyper-Theme' (a misunderstanding of Daneš's term), 'paragraph summary' is rebranded 'hyper-New', and 'text summary' is rebranded 'macro-New'. it will be seen in the review of this chapter that the system proposed, PARALINGUISTIC PERIODICITY, is largely concerned with lexicogrammatical INFORMATION DISTRIBUTION, as realised through the phonological system of TONALITY. In the authors' terms, this makes the system 'sonovergent', not 'semovergent', which is contrary to their model.